Ulysses
I am Ulysses.And thou too, sleeper?Thy voice is sweet.It may be thou hast followedThrough the islands some divine bard,By age taught many things,--Age, and the Muses;And heard him delightingThe chiefs and peopleIn the banquet, and learned his songs,Of gods and heroes,Of war and arts,And peopled cities,Inland, or builtBy the gray sea. If so, then hail!I honor and welcome thee.
Words in this poem
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ulysses is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matthew Arnold, Ulysses, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/ulysses-2.html, id L07000.
Form and metre
Ulysses is 16 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am Ulysses. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| And thou too, sleeper? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Thy voice is sweet. | 4 | ···· |
| It may be thou hast followed | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Through the islands some divine bard, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| By age taught many things,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Age, and the Muses; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And heard him delighting | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| The chiefs and people | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In the banquet, and learned his songs, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Of gods and heroes, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of war and arts, | 4 | ···· |
| And peopled cities, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Inland, or built | 4 | /··· |
| By the gray sea. If so, then hail! | 8 | ········ |
| I honor and welcome thee. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.