How does Ulysses bring out his thirst to "drink life to the lees?"

makes it
clear early in the poem that he is bored with his sedentary life as king of Ithaca, and indeed
with the responsibilities and drudgery of kingship. He longs to live out his days in the same
way he has spent most of his life, in a spirit of adventure, seeking honor, fame, and new
challenges alongside his faithful mariners:

My
mariners, 
Souls that have tol'd and wrought, and thought with me- 
That ever
with a frolic welcome took 
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed 
Free
hearts, free foreheads - you and I are old; 
Old age hath yet his honour and his
toil; 
Death closes all:  but something ere the end, 
Some work of noble note,
may yet be done, 
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

Ulysses has been an adventurer all of his life, and now, in his
twilight years, Tennyson portrays a man who does not seek leisure, but further challenges. By
drinking "life to the lees," Tennyson means that Odysseus hopes to get as much out of
life as he possibly can. Even though his body is old and fragile, Odysseus is still "strong
in will," and believes that there are still adventures to be had.  For some people, a
quiet, settled life might be something to aspire to. Not so for Odysseus.