Questions and Answers / Victorian Poetry
Questions and answers about Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson
1. Who is the speaker in "Ulysses"?
• Answer: Ulysses, the legendary Greek hero.
2. What is the main theme of the poem?
• Answer: Adventure and travelling in an old age
3. Why does Ulysses feel discontented at home?
• Answer: He finds his life useless compared to his adventurous past.
4. How does Ulysses describe his wife, Penelope?
• Answer: He describes her as aged indicating disconnection with her.
5. What does Ulysses think of his son, Telemachus?
• Answer: He finds his son suitable of ruling his people.
6. What does Ulysses mean by “I am a part of all that I have met”?
• Answer: His experiences have shaped his identity
7. What is Ulysses’ attitude toward aging?
• Answer: He thinks old age as a challenge to overcome and continue
adventure.
8. What is the purpose of Ulysses’ speech to his mariners?
• Answer: To encourages them to set out for a new adventure.
9. What does the line “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” signify?
• Answer: It indicates Ulysses’ strong spirit.
10. How does the poem end?
• Answer: Ulysses confirms his will to continue seeking adventure.
Questions and Answers about My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
1. Who is the speaker in the poem?
• Answer: The Duke of Ferrara.
2. Who is the subject of the Duke’s monologue?
• Answer: His dead wife.
3. What is the significance of the painting in the poem?
• Answer: It represents the Duke’s control over his late wife’s image and
memory.
4. Why was the Duke displeased with the Duchess?
• Answer: He felt she was too friendly with others.
5. What does the line “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”
imply?
• Answer: It suggests that the Duke ordered the Duchess’s death.
6. What literary form does the poem take?
• Answer: A dramatic monologue.
7. How does the Duke portray himself in the poem?
• Answer: As proud and very obsessed with control.
8. What does the Duke’s attitude toward art reveal about his character?
• Answer: He believes art has the ability to immortalize mankind.
9. Who is the Duke speaking to during the poem?
• Answer: He is speaking to a guest.
10. What is the significance of the statue of Neptune mentioned at the end?
• Answer: It represents the Duke’s dominance and control.
Questions and Answers about Mathew Arnold’s Dover Beach
1. What is the setting of the poem?
• Answer: The setting is the coast of Dover.
2. What does the speaker observe at the beginning of the poem?
• Answer: The calm sea, the full tide, and the moonlight.
3. What is the significance of the sound of the waves?
• Answer: The waves symbolize the eternal sadness and uncertainty of human
existence.
4. What does the “Sea of Faith” represent?
• Answer: It symbolizes the declining influence of religion.
5. How does the speaker describe the decline of faith?
• Answer: Like a retreating tide, leaving the world barren.
6. What is the tone of the poem?
• Answer: Melancholic with a sense of despair.
7. What does the speaker ask of their companion?
• Answer: To remain true to one another in a world which lacks certainty.
8. What does the poem suggest about the modern world?
• Answer: It portrays the modern world as a place of confusion and conflict.
9. What is the historical context of the poem?
• Answer: The poem reflects the doubts in the Victorian age.
10. How does the poem end?
• Answer: A world where people struggle in confusion.
