 The ironic interpretations of " Ulysses " may be the result of the modern tendency to consider the narrator of a dramatic monologue as necessarily " unreliable " . According to critic Dwight Culler , the poem has been a victim of revisionist readings in which the reader expects to reconstruct the truth from a misleading narrator 's accidental revelations . ( Compare the more obvious use of this approach in Robert Browning 's " My Last Duchess " . ) Culler himself views " Ulysses " as a dialectic in which the speaker weighs the virtues of a contemplative and an active approach to life ; Ulysses moves through four emotional stages that are self @-@ revelatory , not ironic : beginning with his rejection of the barren life to which he has returned in Ithaca , he then fondly recalls his heroic past , recognizes the validity of Telemachus ' method of governing , and with these thoughts plans another journey . 
 The ironic interpretations of " Ulysses " may be the result of the modern tendency to consider the narrator of a dramatic monologue as necessarily " unreliable " . According to critic Dwight Culler , the poem <a href='uninflect' title='1'><mark>has</mark></a> been a victim of revisionist readings in which the reader <a href='uninflect' title='2'><mark>expects</mark></a> to reconstruct the truth from a misleading narrator <a href='null_genetive' title='3'><mark>'s</mark></a>accidental revelations . ( Compare the more obvious use of this approach in Robert Browning <a href='null_genetive' title='4'><mark>'s</mark></a>" My Last Duchess " . ) Culler himself <a href='uninflect' title='5'><mark>views</mark></a> " Ulysses " as a dialectic in which the speaker <a href='uninflect' title='6'><mark>weighs</mark></a> the virtues of a contemplative and an active approach to life ; Ulysses moves through four emotional stages <a href='null_relcl' title='7'><mark>that</mark></a><a href='drop_aux' title='8'><mark>are</mark></a>self @-@ revelatory , not ironic : beginning with his rejection of the barren life to which he <a href='been_done' title='9'><mark>has</mark></a> returned in Ithaca , he then fondly <a href='uninflect' title='10'><mark>recalls</mark></a> his heroic past , <a href='uninflect' title='11'><mark>recognizes</mark></a> the validity of Telemachus <a href='null_genetive' title='12'><mark>'</mark></a>method of governing , and with these thoughts <a href='uninflect' title='13'><mark>plans</mark></a> another journey . 
Da ironic interpretations of " Ulysses " may be the result of tdamodern tendency to consider the narrator of a petty monologue as necessarily " unreliable " . According to critic Dwight Culler , thdaoem have been a victim of revisionist readings in which the reader expect to reconstruct thedauth from a misleading narrator  accidental revelations . ( Compare the dae obvious use of this approach in Robert Browning  " My Last Duchess " . ) Culler hisself view " Ulysses " as a dialectic in which the sdaker weigh the vidaes of a contemplative and an active approach to life ; Ulysses moves through four emotional stages self @-@ revelatory , not ironic : beginning with his rejection of the barda life to which he done returned in Ithaca , he then fondly recall his heroic past , recognize the validity of Telemachus  method of governing , and with these thoughts plan another journey .