Poems and Shorter Writings


James Joyce
Edited by Richard Ellmann, A. Walton Litz and John Whittier-Ferguson
Faber & Faber, 1991

Chamber Music, 1907

Pomes Penyeach, 1927

Youthful poems

p 75
Yea, for this love of mine
I have given all I had;
For she was passing fair,
And I was passing mad.

Poems from the Chamber Music Cycle

The Holy Office

I, who dishevelled ways forsook
To hold the poet's grammar-book,
Bringing to tavern and to brothel
The mind of witty Aristotle, [...]
For I detect without surprise
That shadowy beauty in her eyes,
The 'dare not' of sweet maidenhood
That answers my corruptive 'would'.
When publicly we meet
She never seems to think of it;
At night when close in bed she lies
And feels my hands between her thighs
My little love in light attire
Knows the soft flame that is desire.

Gas from a Burner

Occasional Poems

47, p 134
Rouen is the rainiesy place getting
Inside all impermeables, wetting
Damped marrow in drenched bones

49, p 135

Troppa grazia, Sant' Antonio!

E. P. is found of an extra inch
Whenever the 'ell it's found
But wasn't J. J. the son of a binch
To send him an extra pound?

60.

Stephen's Green / Les Verts de Jacques

p 140
[same poem in 6 languages: English, French, German, Latin, Dutch, Italian, plus a question of tense, at least —past, present, future]

62.

Pour la Rime Seulement

p 142
[en français]

63.

A Portrait of the Artist as an Ancient Mariner

p 143

65. p 145
There's a genial young poetriarch Euge
Who hollers with heartiness huge:
  Let sick souls sob for solace
  So the jeunes joy with Jolas!
Book your berths! Après mot, le déluge.

Epiphanies

A Portrait of the Artist

Giacomo Joyce

p. 241
A long black piano: coffin of music.

James Joyce, Ireland,
Poetry ToC

Marc Girod