[Barbara H.]

Selections from ULYSSES
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments
Myself not least, honour’d of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move
How dull it is to pause, to make an end
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
As tho’ to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
to follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

Come, my friends
“Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
and see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.


When I taught third grade, my students would recite this poem to the parents and guests at the end of their biography presentations. They understood its message and could explain each line. This poem created a huge impact on their understanding of literature and life. To me it also represents Brenda's fighting spirt and her commitment to support us and everyone she meant.

My thoughts are with all of you,
Barbara H.