Notes on Ulysses - Daniel S. Burt

Episode 11: Sirens (Literary technique: Fuga per canonem (fugue or
polyphony by rule: weaving of various voices and motifs in counterpoint to
one another). Art: Music. Time: 3.38-4.40 pm. Place: Ormond Hotel. Opening lines rehearse a number of aural motifs, comparable to orchestra
warming up and to an introductory overture or prelude. Fugue proper begins
with "Begin," and ends with "Done." Tap of the cane throughout can be
compared with the conductor's baton. Joyce suggested that Bloom may be
considered the novel's tuning fork. Dublin's vocal tradition of opera and
ballad on display. "Martha"/"Croppy Boy." Martha=Bloom's betrayal by Molly;
Croppy Boy=Stephen. Bloom, who is without a male heir, is linked to the
boy who is the last of his race, linked to Stephen in that "in his mother's
grave he forgot to pray. Joyce wrote the chapter in five months. Its
technical difficulties left him exhausted. Note difference here: neither Lydia Douce nor Mina Kennedy tempts Bloom in
any way. Neither do they sing. Molly more likely Siren who tempts men by
her carnality and under the pretext of singing rehearsal. Structurally, Sirens=useful nodal point to which to gather together and
then quickly abandon a number of minor characters-Simon D., Tom Kernan, Ben
Dollard, Richie Goulding-who are never seen again in the flesh on
Bloomsday. Great many converge on the Ormond Hotel, lured by their various
sirens: from the east, Simon; across Essex Bridge, Lenehan; Boylan in his
jauntingcar; and Bloom; from the west, Richie Goulding, who has been at the
Four Courts, while Tom K. crosses Bloody Bridge (Rory O'More). Bloom's Progress Bloom progresses along Wellington Quay following his emergence from the
bookshop passing or mentioning: Wine's (35 Wellington Quay)
D. Moulang's (31 Wellington Quay)=inversion
J. Carroll's (29 Wellington Quay)
A. Bassi's (14 Wellington Quay)
P. Ceppi and sons (8-9 Wellington Quay)
Clarence Hotel (6-7 Wellington Quay)
Crosses Grattan Bridge
Teresa Daly (1 Upper Ormond Quay)
Ormond Hotel
Overture Bronze by gold heard the hoofirons, steelyringing (Barmaids: Miss Douce
(bronze) and Miss Kennedy (gold) who hear the viceregal procession)
Imperthnthn thnthnthn. (The boots mimics Miss Douce's threat to report his
"impertinent insolence") Chips, picking chips off rocky thumbnail, chips. (Simon Dedalus enters the
bar) Horrid! And gold flushed more. (Miss Kennedy protests Miss Douce's "crude"
remark) A husky fifenote blew. (Simon D. prepares his pipe for tobacco) Blew. Blue bloom is on the. (Bloom decides to buy notepaper to write Martha
Clifford) Goldpinnacled hair. (Miss Kennedy's hair) A jumping rose on satiny breast of satin, rose of Castile. (Lenehan and his
pun merge with descriptions of the barmaids) Trilling, trilling: Idolores. (Miss Douce sings a line from the light opera
Floradora) Peep! Who's in the ... peepofgold? (Lenehan's attempt to flirt with Miss
Kennedy) Tink cried to bronze in pity. (Diners summons a waiter by ringing a small
bell; Miss D's pity for the blind stripling) And a call, pure, long and throbbing. Longindying call. (Sound of the
tuning fork that blind stripling has left behind) Decoy. Soft word. But look: the bright stars fade. Notes chirruping
answer. (Lenehan chats with the barmaids and allusion to song "Goodbye,
Sweetheart, Goodbye) O rose! Castile. The morn is breaking. (Combines allusions to The Rose of
Castile and "Goodbye, Sweetheart") Jingle jingle jaunted jingling. (Boylan approaches in his two-wheeled
horsedrawn carriage) Coin rang. Clock clacked. (Clock strikes four as Boylan pays for his sloe
gin) Avowal. SONNEZ. I could. Rebound of garter. Not leave thee. Smack. LA
CLOCHE! Thigh smack. Avowal. Warm. Sweetheart, goodbye! (Miss D. snaps
garter for Lenehan and Boylan; "Sound the Bell") Jingle. Bloo. (Boylan's and Bloom's notes are juxtaposed as Boylan leaves
for 7 Eccles St.) Boomed crashing chords. When love absorbs. War! War! The tympanum. (Simon
D. Ben D., and "Father" Cowley gather round the piano in the Ormond Hotel
saloon. Song="Love and War") A sail! A veil awave upon the waves. (Cowley sings to picture "A Last
Farewell" on the wall) Lost. Throstle fluted. All is lost now. (Richie Goulding whistles "Tutto e
sciolto" (All is Lost) from Bellini's La sonnambula) Horn. Hawhorn. (Combines Lenehan's question "Got the horn or what?" with
Boylan's departure) When first he saw. Alas! (Simon D. is encouraged to sing "m'appari" from
Martha) Full tup. Full throb. (Bloom responds to "M'appari") Warbling. Ah, lure! Alluring. (Bloom recalls Molly singing) Martha! Come! (From "M'appari") Clapclap. Clipclap. Clappyclap. (Applause for Simon's performance) Goodgod henev erheard inall. (Richie recalls occasion when Simon sang
particularly well) Deaf bald Pat brought pad knife took up. (Bloom asks Pat, the waiter, for a
pen, ink, and blotter) A moonlit nightcall: far, far. (Simon imitates the sounds of an Italian
barcarole he once heard in Cork) I feel so sad. P. S. So lonely blooming. (Bloom adds postscript to his
letter to Martha) Listen! (Miss D. holds a seashell to George Lidwell's ear) The spiked and winding cold seahorn. Have you the? Each, and for other,
plash and silent roar. (Shell has various sounds, including an echo of
Lenehan's question "Got the hor or what?") Pearls: when she. Liszt's rhapsodies. Hissss. (Bloom meditates on Molly and
"chamber music") You don't? (Miss D. withdraws her arm from George Lidwell to the
accompaniment of banter about believing and not-believing) Did not: no, no: believe: Lidlyd. With a cock with a carra. (Byplay between
Lidwell and Lydia counterpoints Boylan's rapping at the door of 7 Eccles
St.) Black. Deepsounding. Do, Ben, do. (Ben Dollard is encouraged to sing) Wait while you wait. Hee hee. Wait while you hee. (Bloom improvises on Bald
Pat counterpointing line seven of "The Croppy Boy"-But you must wait, till
I go and see.) But wait! (Bloom decides not to leave the Ormond before the singing of "The
Croppy Boy") Low in dark middle earth. Embedded ore. (Opening chords of the song) Naminedamine. Preacher is he: (Croppy boy prepares for his confession) All gone. All fallen. (Croppy boy recounts the destruction of his family) Tiny, her tremulous fernfoils of maidenhair.(Singing of the song affects
Miss D.) Amen! He gnashed in fury. (Song reaches its climax) Fro. To, fro. A baton cool protruding. (Miss D. fondles the beerpull as she
listens) Bronzelydia by Minagold. (Miss D. and Miss K. are juxtaposed) By bronze, by gold, in oceangreen of shadow. Bloom. Old Bloom. (Bloom is
leaving the hotel) One rapped, one tapped, with a carra, with a cock.(Sound of the blind piano
tuner's cane blending with Boylan's knocking and crowing) Pray for him! Pray, good people! (Closing lines of "The Croppy Boy") His gouty fingers nakkering. (Ben Dollard makes his way to the bar after
his song. "Nakker" is to sound like a kettledrum) Big Benaben. Big Benben. (Ben is applauded) Last rose Castile of summer left bloom I feel so sad alone. (Combines The
Rose of Castile with "The Last Rose of Summer" as Bloom's meeting with the
whore of the lane overlaps the continuing scene in the Ormond) Pwee! Little wind piped wee. (Bloom's digestive processes) True men. Lid Ker Cow De and Doll. Ay, ay. Like you men. Will lift your
tschink with tschunk. (Lidwell, Kernan, Cowley, Dedalus, and Dollard clink
glasses) Fff! Oo! (Bloom farts) Where bronze from anear? Where gold from afar? Where hoofs? (The sounds of
the sirens and viceregal procession fading) Rrrpr. Kraa. Kraandl. (Sound of Bloom's fart is masked by the sound of a
passing tram) Then not till then. My eppripfftaph. Be pfrwritt. (Bloom reads Robert
Emmet's last words in the window of an antique shop) Done. (Last of Emmet's last words) Begin! Lydia Douce and Mina Kennedy, the two barmaids in the Ormond Hotel watch
the Viceregal cavalcade pass. Bloom, having purchased "Sweets of Sin" walks
west along Wellington Quay. Bronze by gold, miss Douce's head by miss Kennedy's head, over the
crossblind of the Ormond bar heard the viceregal hoofs go by, ringing
steel. --Is that her? asked miss Kennedy. Miss Douce said yes, sitting with his ex, pearl grey and EAU DE NIL. --Exquisite contrast, miss Kennedy said.
When all agog miss Douce said eagerly: --Look at the fellow in the tall silk. --Who? Where? gold asked more eagerly. --In the second carriage, miss Douce's wet lips said, laughing in the sun. He's looking. Mind till I see. She darted, bronze, to the backmost corner, flattening her face
against the pane in a halo of hurried breath. Her wet lips tittered: --He's killed looking back. She laughed: --O wept! Aren't men frightful idiots? With sadness. Miss Kennedy sauntered sadly from bright light, twining a loose hair
behind an ear. Sauntering sadly, gold no more, she twisted twined a hair. Sadly she twined in sauntering gold hair behind a curving ear. --It's them has the fine times, sadly then she said. A man. Bloowho went by by Moulang's pipes bearing in his breast the sweets
of sin, by Wine's antiques, in memory bearing sweet sinful words, by
Carroll's dusky battered plate, for Raoul. In the Ormond the boots brings the tea and asks if Miss K. is looking out
at her beau. The boots to them, them in the bar, them barmaids came. For them
unheeding him he banged on the counter his tray of chattering china. And --There's your teas, he said. Miss Kennedy with manners transposed the teatray down to an
upturned lithia crate, safe from eyes, low. --What is it? loud boots unmannerly asked. --Find out, miss Douce retorted, leaving her spyingpoint. --Your BEAU, is it? A haughty bronze replied: --I'll complain to Mrs de Massey on you if I hear any more of your
impertinent insolence. --Imperthnthn thnthnthn, bootssnout sniffed rudely, as he retreated as she
threatened as he had come. The barmaids discuss Lyd