Analysis of Ulysses' Last Voyage
Dante Alighieri 1265 (Florence) – 1321 (Ravenna)
I launched her with my small remaining band
and, putting out to sea, we set the main
on that lone ship and said farewell to land.
Far to starboard rose the coast of Spain,
astern was Sardi, Islas at our bow,
and soon we saw Morocco port abeam.
Though I and comrades now were old and slow,
we hauled till nightfall for the narrow sound
where Hercules had shown what not to do,
by setting marks for men to stay behind.
At dawn the starboard lookout made Seville,
and at the straits stood Ceuta t'other hand.
'Brothers,' I shouted, 'who have had the will
to come through danger, and have reached the west!
our time awake is brief from now until
the senses die, and so I say we test
the sun's own motion and do not forego
the worlds beyond, unknown and peopleless.
Think of the roots from which you sprang, and show
that you are human: not unconscious brutes
but made to follow virtue and to know.'
Scheme | ABA BXX CXX XDA DED ECF CFC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101 0101111101 111101111 111010111 111101101 011101011 110110101 111110101 110111111 1101111101 110101101 0101111101 1011011101 1111001101 10101111101 0101011111 0111001101 01010101 1101111101 111101101 1111010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 888 |
Words | 173 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 51 sec read
- 104 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Ulysses' Last Voyage" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7469/ulysses%27-last-voyage>.
Discuss this Dante Alighieri poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In