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Tennyson vs Homer Ulysses Vs Oddyseus

Decent Essays
Although Ulysses and Odysseus share similar traits, Homer would not agree with Tennyson 's portrayal of Odysseus in the poem "Ulysses". Whereas Odysseus wishes to complete his journey and find relief, Ulysses seeks to continue on a never-ending one.

Homer 's Odyssey and Tennyson 's "Ulysses" have different desires and their desires lead them on contrasting quests. The hero in Homer 's depicts Odysseus as a hero in the process of completing a journey home. The portrayal of Ulysses is a hero that has already completed his journey, but he wishes to go back on another journey.

Odysseus 's longing for his homecoming is wrought with temptation to swerve from his goal but he resisted it due to his desire to return home. He actually left the
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Both Homer and Tennyson portray their hero 's needing a second journey after their completion of the journey. Ulysses has not completed his understood journey the thirst for knowledge while Odysseus has, and Ulysses has now fallen into a state of indifference as a result of his desire for a second journey.

Both yearn for learning and wish to gain wisdom through adventure, they both wish to expand their minds. Ulysses, like Odysseus, would rather use his mind then use his muscles. "And this gray spirit yearning in desire to follow knowledge like a sinking star, beyond the utmost bound of human thought." (Tennyson Ln. 30) This is a link to the modern hero, because Odysseus and Ulysses both seek to constantly renew themselves, Ulysses through words and Odysseus through actions. The only problem is that Ulysses goes about it the wrong way, he seems to be reflecting more than acting and Odysseus does exactly the opposite. Odysseus is the complete representation of the ideal hero, while Ulysses seems somewhat similar to the hero; he doesn 't exhibit the type of submission to others and himself that is required of a hero. "The hero is the man of self-achieved submission" (Campbell "Myth and Dream" 17).

Homer in his epic tale has Odysseus meet the prophet Teiresias. This blind prophet tells him that after he achieves his homecoming he will need to take yet another journey in which he
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