What ideas does the poem Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson convey to you about the factors involved in risk-taking?

The
closing line might sum it up quite nicely.  The idea of taking a position in life where one is
driven "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield," is one that embraces a life
committed to risk- taking.  Remember the premise of the poem is what happens to Odysseus when he
returns to Ithaca.  He is reunited with Penelope and Telemachus, and in Homer's work, this is
the end of the narrative.  Yet, someone who was so driven in taking risks, involved in some of
the most intense of experiences, Tennyson concludes, would not embrace the life of domesticity
so easily.  There is a natural element to risk taking that was a part of Odyesseus' life and
this cannot be forsaken now that he has successfully navigated through his quest.  Like
Odysseus, Tennyson seems to be suggesting that all individuals have a natural penchant for risk
taking and for challenge that should never leave our psyches and our experience as a human
being.  This is where we, in Tennyson's mind, are like Odysseus in embracing a life that is not
"dull" or without distinction.  Rather, it is one where we are constantly immersed in
risk taking and making choices that compel us to stand by them and seek out new domains to
exercise this autonomy.