Assignment #1

Assignment #1: Paradise Lost, Book I lines 1-26 and Tennyson: Ulysses

In reading both of these pieces, I sensed that each character had an
important task that he set out to do. Both characters were motivated and
determined to accomplish an idea they believed in. In Tennyson's Ulysses, a
mariner decides to give up his throne, in order to set sail again in search of
excitement. This mariner is driven by a desire for an exciting life, away from
the boring, unfulfilling life he currently lives. Then, in Paradise Lost Book I
lines 1-26, the speaker informs the reader that he wants to be filled with the
knowledge of the Holy Spirit. The reason the speaker wants to be inspired by the
Spirit is because he wants to present to man the idea that the fall of humankind
into sin was part of a greater plan of God. The speaker, like the mariner, is
driven as well by a force of motivation to prove to man that God's plan is
justifiable.