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            While I was reading Ulysses, another past reading kept popping up in my head, Beowulf. During the poem the speaker, Ulysses, is continuously stating that he misses the sea and essentially that he wants to embark on another adventure, which reminded me of Beowulf’s last battle before he was killed.

            In Beowulf, after the dragon’s treasure has been stolen, Beowulf embarks on one last adventure to slay the dragon. While he knows that he will likely loose, he goes anyways. While in Ulysses, the speaker never mentions a specific adventure; he doesn’t hesitate to say that he is not done exploring the sea like a warrior. The section I think encompasses this is the last five lines that state, “We are not now that strength which in old days/ Moved earth and heaven…made weak by time and fate, but strong in will/ To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” (65-70). In this section the narrator is recognizing his physical weaknesses, which came with age, while simultaneously pointing to his will as the more important of these two attributes. He might not be able to accomplish what he could do in his youth, but he has the will to try.

My questions are:

·      Are there any other similarities to Beowulf that you could point out?

·      Why do you think these similarities exist?

o   Is there a purpose or was it just random?