In contrast “The Lotos Eaters” depicts men who find solace in a mind numbing drug and sitting on a beach doing nothing. “Ulysses” looks at living as a grand adventure and considers inactivity and lethargy as the opposite of true living.
However, a pair of poems that discuss contrasting views on life are “Ulysses” and “The Lotos Eaters”. Whether the poem is “The Lady of Shalott,” ”Marianne,” or one of his other works, the theme of “living” flows throughout much of his poetry.
What does it mean to live? Mankind has been asking this very question since the dawn of time, and it is a recurring theme through many of the poems of Lord Alfred Tennyson.
