Question

40 POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read these lines from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses."

"It little profits that an idle king,/By this still hearth, among these barren crags,/Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole/Unequal laws unto a savage race,/That horde, and sleep, and feed, and know not me."

Which of the following is the speaker lamenting in the passage above?
a. the long-ago death of his wife
b. a lack of true fulfillment in his life (correct choice)
c. living in a constant state of danger
d. the degree of authority he is forced to wield (incorrect choice)

I chose answer D when taking the test, but the correct answer was B. I need to know why that is. Can someone please help?

Answer 1

The speaker is lamenting in the passage above for:

b. a lack of true fulfillment in his life

Step-by-step explanation:

In the above lines, the speaker says that a king or a figure of authority cannot gain anything if he sits with his wife and enjoys the warmth of the fire. In reality, he has to be present among the common people. It is because of the lack of the king's authority that his subjects become less dedicated to their work. They waste their life by eating and sleeping. This ultimately is a loss of the king and this means that the life of the King has been left unfulfilled.

Answer 2

b. a lack of true fulfillment in his life

Step-by-step explanation:

The poem is a monologue spoken by him, where he not only expresses his discontent, but also describes his desire to keep sailing. He's getting older and doesn't have a lot of time left, so he wants to get busy living rather than busy dying.