By Levi

A person’s age is measured by the state of mind. It is not measured by the number of years in a life. As the Becel Margarine jingle says, “Here is the best part: You’ve got a head start, if you are among the very young at heart.” If a person is elderly, it does not automatically mean (s)he is not “young at heart.”

In the dramatic monologue Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses refuses to settle down and stop craving more epic adventures. He says he will live his life to the fullest, that he “will drink life to the lees”. Ulysses feels that there is still something in his life that has not yet been fulfilled. He says that, “Some work of noble note may yet be done.” He is following his destiny. Just because the warrior is old in years, he does not allow himself to start acting as aged people often do. If the body grows old, it does not mean the heart has to follow suit.