Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses" was one of Senator Edward Kennedy's favorite poems, as it is mine, and he quoted it often, but most famously in his speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, as his campaign for the nomination against the incumbent President Carter officially ended. He actually misread the poem, which is a brutal rallying cry against the ravages of aging by an aging warrior, or brute, to be blunt. Nevertheless, his misreading of the poem as an ethically pure, inspiring refusal to slip silently into retirement fits his sterling service as a senator. Therefore, I will only quote his favorite quote from the dramatic monologue, and I think it says enough about the man and his incredible resilience in the face of horror:
"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, 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."
R
