The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-03-24
stephen PhiIIips.s Ulysses.

Ulysses Ine last Two arc now iul4il'ito
at the best-known London theaters, under
excellent management Ulysses has been
produced, with pecuniary success. by
Beerbohm Tree at the Haymarket Thea
ter. 1t is said to be accompanied by line
spectacular and artistic display. Among
the many adventures of Ulysses after the
Trojan war but two are selected for the
present drama his sojourn with Calypso
in her enchanted isle and his descent into
hades, and these not according 10 the
Homeric order. The play consists of
prologue devoted TO the conversation of
the gods on Mount Olympus relative TO the
future of Ulysses and three acts. The
first scene is laid In the palace OF Ulysses
at Ithaca. where the suitors who are con-
tending for the hand of Penelope hold high
revel and are apparently the masters, while
Telemachus. son of Ulysses. is nominal
king. Atbene appears and chdes him thus:
Art thou his son?
Art thou the child of the swift and the
Could he who shattered Troy beget thee,
What dost thou here. thy head upon thy
hands
While all the floor runs with thy fathers
wine
And drunken day reels into lustful night?
What more must these men do TO make
thee wrOth?"
Telemachus is aroused by her reproaches
and command the jewellers to depart
Now, on the instant, out!' His commands
are met with jeers; then they attempt 70
SOOthe him by pretenSe OF friendship. the
minstrel is hidden Ito sing a tender song
with the moon in it, While he sings Pencil
ope enters the court and bids him ''sing
some other song Her sutors gather
around her and insist that she choose one
of them when yonder moon is full" She
consents. All depart, save her. She stretch
es out her arms in the twilight, and in
pathetic Invocation pleads with Ulysses:
Come ere tbs too late, at the last last
instant, come"
In the second scene Ulysses and Calypso
are walking on the shore, outside the sea
cave OF the goddess. Calypso asks him:
Art thou content. then, utterly content?"
This is his answer:
"Ill drift no more upon the dreary sea.
No yearning have / now, and no desire.
Here would be, at ease upon this isle
Set in the CLASSY oceans azure swoon,
With sward of parsley and OF violet.
And pOplars shivering in a silvery dream,
And smell of cedar sawn. and sandal wood
And these low crying birds that haunt the
deep"
Hermes comes, as messenger from Zeus,
to announce TO Ulysses:
"Olympian wisdom bids thee waken free
OF white CalypsO's glimmering witchery-
And to Calypso the will of Zeus
THAT you set free Ulysses and watt him
on the deep
If in his heart he hungers for his home"
Calypso whispers to Ulysses:
Il will breathe delicious immortality on
thee;
Stay with me and thou shalt not taste of
death"
Ulysses answers:
Il would not take life but on terms of
DEATH
That sting in the wine of being, salt OF
To me. what rapture i'm the ocean path
Save in the white leap and the dance Of
doom?
o death, thou hast beckon to the brave
Thou last sea OF the navigator, last
Plunge of the diver, and last hunters leap"
Ulysses calls his comrades. who come,
rejoicing at the thought of home. They
hoist the sails and launch the ship. Ulysses
cries:
Now each man to the oar,
And, leaning all together smite the sea-
For it is fated We shall see our honest"
The sails fill. and Calypso calls:
81 breathe a breeze to watt thee over seal
An, could 1 watt thee back again TO mel
The second act has but one scene. and
that includes the descent of Ulysses TO hell.
his wanderings there and questionings of
the ghosts to his wife and her faithful
ness. The seer Tiresias answers that his
wife lives. and only that. His mother 8
shade replies:
/
And when l died still was she true TO thee"
Ulysses exclaims:
"At last. at last, the word that lighteth
hell
One word, and thou alone, mother. couldst
Thy voice alone; thine out of all the dead!'
His mother urges him homeward:
az yearn
To keep thee for little comfort! Yet
Home, get thee hcme"
Ulysses cries:
Farewell. mother, farewell
She lives and she is true 10 me
Think me not deadi o hear me out Of hell
All shall / reach that glimmer? Upward.
up
Faint not Penelopei Faint not, endured"
The third act comprises two scenes both
in Ithaca. The first is on the seashore.
where Ulysses. gaunt and worn by the
perils Of the storm. from which he alone
has escaped. lies sleeping under a tattered
cloak. He wakes mad murmurs
Slowly the mist fades All. the cypress
was so proud to plant as a boy! And
there
The cave, forbidden. which therefore
! o verdure to the seaman that's come home.
! o light upon the land where 1 was born.
| o dear, dear earth, thou warm mother OF
Art glad, art glad in thy brown bosom? Here
l kiss and kiss thee; here ] fling me down
And roll and clasp and cover me with
I shall go mad if I am fooled. Speak
speak,
Is this the earth, the earth where was
born?"
Athene replies: Ulysses. It's at last,
/ tits Ithaca
The most striking and dramatic incidents
| occur in the last act. Ulysses is recognized
/ by his faithful swineherd and makes him
! self known TO his son, whose life he saves
from ruffians who pursue him by order OF
/ the cruel suitOrs, and are even then seek
ing 10 force Penelope 10 choose a second
/ husband. lie enters his home as a beggar
! and from that time to the close the actor
| is swift and admirable. When the wooerS
! fail in the bow-stringing test Ulysses
energies from his rags and appears armed
and I'm the glory OF manhood. His son and
| his faithful servant snatch weapons from
! the walls and stand by him. The would
be despoilers Of his home are slain in
the midst OF thunder. lightning and un
natural darkness, in which CLEANS the APP
! partition of Athene. Ulysses speaks, sol
| emily:
First unto Zeus and TO Athene, praise,
! Go all OF you apart-even thou. my SON
And leave me with Penelope alone!'
Penelope is folded to his breast in silence
while the minstrel sings without:
And We shall fall upon his breast
With never spoken word
And the fire. which has burned low upor
/ the hearth, leaps up in brightness
The drama is OF the essence Of poetry
instinct with life and feeling Granted
that here and there is "A Earring word or
/ superabundance of syllables in some hne'
| and an occasional sentence or phrase which
/ reads like prose. yet. taken "a whole. II;