Note: In this famous Victorian-era poem, Tennyson imagines the Greek hero Ulysses (aka Odysseus), now an elderly man, bored with his tedious life and wife, rousing his crew to join him for one more adventure. This is the final stanza of the poem. For a shorter version, omit the section within brackets.
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 that we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and] though
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.
