 The degree to which Tennyson identifies with Ulysses has provided one of the great debates among scholars of the poem . Critics who find that Tennyson identifies with the speaker read Ulysses ' speech " <unk> " , or without irony . Many other interpretations of the poem have developed from the argument that Tennyson does not identify with Ulysses , and further criticism has suggested that the purported inconsistencies in Ulysses ' character are the fault of the poet himself . 
