James Joyce Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Robert Scholes

Critical Essay by Robert Scholes

SOURCE: "James Joyce, Irish Poet," in James Joyce Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 4, Summer, 1965, pp. 255-70.

In the following essay, Scholes provides a thematic and stylistic analysis of "Tilly" and "Ecce Puer," and places Joyce's verse within the context of Irish poetry.

—They drove his wits astray, he said, by visions of hell. He will never capture the Attice note. The note of Swinburne, of all poets, the white death and the ruddy birth. That is his tragedy. He can never be a poet. The joy of creation …

[Mulligan to Haines of Stephen, at "The Ship": Ulysses]

… I am a poor impulsive sinful generous selfish jealous dissatisfied kind-natured poet …

… one day you will see that I will...
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