Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Ulysses (poem)

The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted 03:02, 26 November 2007.

Ulysses (poem)

previous FAC withdrawn

I am nominating this article about one of Tennyson's best-known poems. Unique challenges present themselves in writing an encyclopedia piece on a 70-line poem, one which has been extensively analyzed. Much research and revision have gone into this article (including three rounds of comment from one of WP's lit luminaries :) and I believe it is feature-worthy. –Outriggr § 02:35, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support This is a solidly-researched, well-written, and comprehensive article on "Ulysses". I checked a couple of quotations for Outriggr in the dusty stacks of my local research library and was happy to discover that what I was reading was so lucidly explained in wikipedia's article. Awadewit | talk 05:28, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Support Very well crafted, constructed, and written. Meets all criteria, and them some. Ceoil (talk) 16:28, 21 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
An interesting, well-written and thorough look at a subject that I would think is not easy to handle in a Wikipedia article. My knowledge of poetry ends at "There once was a man from Nantucket...", but I found this easy to follow without feeling I was being spoon fed. Nicely structured and balanced, it gives enough background on Tennyson and the poem's reception to put the it in context, but doesn't skimp on analysis of the poem itself. Andplus (talk) 17:29, 21 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Support, beautifully done, Outriggr. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 22:19, 23 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you all for commenting. I appreciate the support. –Outriggr § 00:47, 24 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Support. Admittedly I haven't studied 19th century English poetry since high school, but this seems like a brilliant article to me (and it makes most Wikipedia articles look really, really lame, including a few I've written). A few comments/questions, though: I have the feeling that both "I cannot rest from travel" and "always roaming with a hungry heart" are oft-remembered/quoted phrases from the poem, is this so? While the critical reception of "Ulysses" at the time is discussed, was it popular at the time among the literate reading public? The most famous modern interpretation of this story is Joyce's Ulysses; what influence did the Tennyson poem have on that, if any? Did Joyce quote or refer to it at all? (The article cites the work Reading Joyce's Ulysses, but in another context.) Finally, regarding the Scott memorial cross, you might mention its exact location, which is Observation Hill (McMurdo Station). Also, I've seen that nine separate sections or lines of the poem are included in Bartlett's Famous Quotations (15th Ed.), which is a lot for a 70-line poem; is this any kind of useful metric for the poem's fame or degree of canonization? Wasted Time R (talk) 02:27, 24 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your comments here. I'm going to investigate the Bartlett's quotations and add that fact to the Legacy section. The Observation Hill link was present in an earlier version; some editors didn't think the Scott commemoration needs to be mentioned, while I find it a worthwhile way to close the article. I'll add the link. Regarding Joyce, there is no connection other than in title that I'm aware of; the article once had a sentence about Ulysses references after Tennyson, which was found confusing because it was read as if the works were influenced by Tennyson, when they really weren't. The article is trying to get at (the lack of) general popularity of the poem in the early days here: ""Ulysses" was well-received by critics, yet its rise within the Tennyson canon took decades. Tennyson did not usually select it for publication in poetry anthologies..." Do you think that's sufficient? There isn't much I can add and wouldn't want to misrepresent that source.

On a lighter note... I can picture the Homeric Ulysses sailing around listening to "Everybody's got a hungry heart" or Dante's Ulysses blasting "Wherever I May Roam" (And the road becomes my bride / I have stripped of all but pride / So in her I do confide)... but I haven't seen anything in the literature about the lines you mentioned as oft-discussed quotations. –Outriggr § 23:55, 24 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK, thanks for the responses. I definitely think the Scott memorial deserves mentioning here, and indeed Bartlett's also mentions it in a footnote to its inclusion of the final line. And while I knew of the alleged Springsteen song connection, I never imagined a Metallica relation, although now that I think of it, some 19th century British poetry and certain strands of metal probably have a bit more in common than one might think ... Wasted Time R (talk) 01:13, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(I didn't mean there was a connection to the songs, just so that's clear!) It may take me a day or two before I update the article with your suggestions. Thanks, –Outriggr § —Preceding comment was added at 01:18, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Is there a reason why {{-}} is there after the lead? I use a wide screen monitor and there is a rather ugly white space between the lead & the table of contents. Tommy Stardust (talk) 08:50, 25 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.