Tales of Brave Ulysses

Ulysses is the principal character of "The Odyssey," the Homeric epic and early travelogue.   This long poem was written in verse and was memorized as part of the curriculum of young Greek students.   It has been translated into many languages and has received centuries of literary criticism and explication (one line of thought followed that Homer was actually a woman). 

Modern works in the Homeric tradition of Ulysses include "Ulysses" and "Finnegan's Wake," both by James Joyce (I once met a professor who was putting the words of "Finnegan's Wake" to music--James Joyce was a skilled musician).   The best and simplest "Ulysses" of modern times, however, in my opinion, is the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 

In the poem, the old traveler is not content with a life of reflection on the deeds of his past:

I cannot rest from travel:  I will
Drink life to the lees:...

And reflects:

...all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world, ...

The more you know, the more you realize how little you know.   The more you travel, the more you realize what lies unseen.

And:

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

And, as John F. Kennedy quoted in his inaugural address:

                               ...Come, my friends,
"Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Tennyson was only 24 years old in 1833 when he wrote this incredible poem.   "Ulysses" is the ultimate anthem for the perpetual traveler, the scientist, and those whose lives must include daily discoveries of some thing or some place new.