Literary Interpretation
We should not forget that the poems we are using for character development are fully entitled to simple appreciation as poetry, as they have been since first publication. A significant amount of class time will be devoted to this end. Corresponding attention will also be paid to the reading and appreciation of dramatic literature simple as literature.
In literary, as opposed to dramatic, interpretation we remain observers outside the character. We seek to explain, understand, and illuminate, not to enter into and become the character. Indeed, we may well enjoy analyzing a character whom we might be reluctant to portray. We may find ourselves judging, even condemning. We may resort to comparisons with other works of the same author, biographical knowledge of the author, or knowledge of historical details affecting the author.
For example, we might begin our literary interpretation of Ulysses in the following way, and find meaningful comparisons with Tithonus. Tennyson follows very closely Dante’s account of Ulysses final journey in
The Inferno
. The fact that Ulysses is old is only incidental in Dante, but is a central theme in Tennyson’s Ulysses. Is Ulysses a wise old man or an old fool? What tone is set early in the poem? The language ‘mete,’ ‘dole,’ and a ‘savage’ race is hard, scornful. His view of Penelope, ‘match’d with an aged wife,’ is insensitive. Is Ulysses condescending when he speaks of his son, Telemachus? How can we compare Ulysses and Tithonus? Is Tithonus the very opposite of Ulysses? Is the cold marble palace of Aurora what the barren crags of Ithaca are to Ulysses? Tithonus has been given the gift of immortality. Though he is given immortality, the God failed to give him immortal youth. As he ages does his marriage to Aurora become an unbearable burden? Is he as unhappily matched with an eternally youthful wife as Ulysses is with his aged one? Does Tithonus really want to be relieved of his divine gift and become an ordinary mortal and die? And what of Ulysses and his final voyage? Is this a night voyage into Death.
