Lord Alfred Tennyson Translated for Travellers

Since seeing Skyfall and seeing Judi Dench reading Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem, Ulysses I decided to take a read of it and I think it is probably one of my favourite pieces of poetry, or even literature. I know if my mother is reading this she is probably thinking " who the hell are you and what have you done with my daughter". As I'm not one to analyze English literature. There was something about this that I found quite beautiful.  I have translated it to a modern travellers perspective. I cut out the opening paragraph and one of the paragraphs in which describes the person in Ulysses son.    The last paragraph s the one in which Judi Dench reads out in Skyfall, I will not translate, I think it is powerful and bold and simple enough to comprehend.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades2
Vexed the dim sea: 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, but honoured of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy3.
I am a part of all that I have met;

 No matter what else we should be doing, our minds are constantly running with where we want to go next and what we want to do next. Although our experiences have had ups and downs, and we've had moments where we all want to curl up in a ball and die wether by ourselves or our fellow travel companions. We have seen many cities and their peoples, experienced different climates, and seen very different places and different people. We are all far from our homes. Every where becomes a part of us some how and we become part of where we have been. 

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though 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 grey spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.



Yet, all of our experiences come from a world that is travelled, and yet so untravelled at the same time and becomes more untravelled, from the more we travel. It is unbelievably boring to stay in the same place, for too long and we are all so small in this world, yet we are lucky cause we are alive and have experiences so many would kill for, and yet we want more knowledge that comes from travelling not from the text books.



There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;


On life's journey dark things are ahead that people have experienced,beaten and will experience but we have free hearts and free minds to deal with them.




Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:


We are young, but we will become old and eventually die. We can do great things and we will do great things we see bright things in seemingly dull objects. We see all the beauty in this world.


The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. 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.


As days go on and we keep going on in our routines and we are surrounded by many voices complaining about life we grow bored and fed up. You must Remember friends, if you don't like your like then change it, you are not a tree. Keep jumping 15,000 feet out of a plane, with no parachute into deep water and teaching your self how to swim in order to change your life, until you are to old to swim anymore.


It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles4,
And see the great Achilles5, 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; 



We may find ourself in too deep at times. We may or may not find true happiness/love and meet our idol's(religious or not). Though in life, much is taken from us much is accepted willingly or unwillingly. We will never be as strong as the forces of nature.
 

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  

The Power Of Sunshine

After a month of uni for Christmas holidays, I am now back and trying to maintain some new years resolutions including procrastinate less, exercise more, be tidier and most importantly, focus on living in the present more as opposed to constantly thinking about the future. Some of the resolutions have gone tits up… primarley procrastinate less and be tidier…oops.

Since returning to the city the weather has been surprisingly pleasant, meaning the sun has come out and its stopped raining for once. This is a very nice change because at times after it has been raining for a week straight with a black sky this city can be as depressing as Germany during the interwar period.  Coming from a country that is infamous for never ending rain and grey then moving to a city that believe it or not gets more rain than London you start to appreciate the sun so much more. This is very much the case for what has happened to me and have now become what I like to call a sunshine slut.

A sunshine slut is someone who whenever the sun pops out gets very excited and goes “ SUNSHINE!” leaps out of bed, grabs some clothes that look half decent and bolt of to play in the sunshine for the day. Explaining why new years resolution of procrastinates less has slowly gone down the toilet. An important thing to note about sunshine sluts is they don’t necessarily want 40-degree weather or blistering heat because they burn very easily they just like knowing the sun exists.

Over the past few days basking in the glories of the sunshine I have come to realize the power of sunshine and its affects on people and how important it is. It’s a known fact that exercise is a part of a balanced healthy lifestyle and when the sun comes out the amount of people out side walking around or running triples.  Obviously some exercise, as a more rigorous than other but the point is more people are running around appreciating the sunshine.

As a result of more people coming outside sunshine makes people more colorful, quite literally. Whether this comes from the exposure to the sun, causing a change in skin pigmentation,  or if it comes from people wanting to imitate the sun by wearing more colorful clothing, which brightens up everyone’s days. This is something I have noticed as a dedicated people watcher, when the weather is crap and dark and gloomy their clothes reflect this and when the suns out the reverse happen.

Sunshine also makes everything more beautiful, by enhancing the colors and the features of the natural landscape that allow people to fall in love with a place all over again and brings a smile to their faces. When people smile it makes them more beautiful and when they smile you can see the best of a person shining through. The sunshine also makes people more beautiful, because, when the sunshine hits a persons face it highlights their best features and makes them stand out more.

Quite often when I think of the places that I have seen, and some of the best days of my life, I think a lot of it has to do with the sunshine. Many parts of the developing world are blessed with more than enough sunshine and the people there tend to be happier. Many people I have discussed this with say,  “ It’s because they have nothing so they enjoy anything that they can get.” This is a valid point and it certainly makes sense but the more I see the power of sunshine I have started to think, is it because these people have more sunshine that they are happier? 

To tell you the truth, I think it might be one of the reasons, because life is a chain of events with ups and downs, and even in our darkest days when all faith in humanity is lost, a little bit of sunshine always allows us to crack a smile.