The Part of All — Tennyson Quote T-Shirt

Tennyson wrote "Ulysses" in 1833, in the weeks after his closest friend Arthur Henry Hallam died at 22. He was 24, and needed a reason to keep moving.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses" (1842)

"I am a part of all that I have met;"

What he landed on was a claim, not a comfort: everything you’ve lived through is still part of you — not behind you, in you. The semicolon is his own. The sentence carries on for six more lines, though most people stop right here, where the argument is already made.

The Design

The quote sits across the chest in three lines, unhurried. Gold rule, attribution below. The semicolon is Tennyson’s — the sentence doesn’t close, and neither does the design. A semicolon worn on the body moves when you move; the argument travels with you.

Also on the Part of All Mug and Journal.

About This Tee

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²)
• Retail fit, true to size
• Side-seamed construction
• Machine washable, cold water
• Quoteiac logo on the left sleeve

Who It’s For

• The one who carries losses forward instead of setting them down
• Anyone who met someone briefly and realized years later they’d changed the way they think
• The traveler who came back different and doesn’t hide it — because everything you’ve lived is still, somehow, walking around with you

Wear what you’ve carried.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in Plain English

• Lived: 1809–1892 — one of eleven children of a troubled Lincolnshire rector; he published his first book at seventeen and never really stopped
• "Ulysses" (1842) is one of the most-quoted poems about pressing on — "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" is its last line
• Poet Laureate for 42 years, the longest tenure in the role’s history — the closest thing Victorian Britain had to a national voice
• The semicolon in "I am a part of all that I have met;" is original — the sentence runs six more lines, but this is the one people carry
• His verses were recited at funerals and packed by explorers on expeditions, repeated by people who couldn’t always name who wrote them

Size Chart (Bella + Canvas)