The Poetry of James Joyce

By: James Joyce

Narrated by: Stephen Hogan, Kelly O'Doherty, David Shaw-Parker

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on the 2nd February 1882, in Dublin, into a middle-class family, and the eldest of ten surviving siblings.

Admired as a brilliant student, he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools of Clongowes and Belvedere. From there he went on to attend University College Dublin from 1898, studying English, French and Italian

In 1902, Joyce was now in his early twenties, and went to Paris to study Medicine but soon abandoned his teachings. Back in Dublin to attend to his dying Mother, he met Nora Barnacle. They bonded immediately into a life-long match. Together they decided to emigrate to Europe. The couple lived in Trieste, Rome, Paris, and finally Zürich, where Joyce pursued a variety of jobs and ventures to supplement his literary pursuits but none of these paid off.

After publishing a poetry volume, ‘Chamber Music’, in 1907, his short story collection ‘The Dubliners’, in 1914, helped establish his talent in the rapidly changing world.

Although far from home Joyce’s literary heart and works were set in his recollections of Dublin. Characters are close resemblances of family and friends and indeed enemies. His landmark work ‘Ulysses’, published in 1922, is set in the streets and alleyways of the city as it parallels Homer’s Odyssey in a variety of styles including its famed stream of consciousness.

His pen continued to produce classics of the order of ‘A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man’ and ‘Finnegan’s Wake’, together with several volumes of poetry and a play ‘The Exiles, in 1918.

On the 11th January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zürich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. The next day he fell into a coma. On the 13th after a brief period of lucidity in which he called for his wife and son he passed. He was 58.

1 - The Poetry of James Joyce - An Introduction

2 - Chamber Music by James Joyce

3 - Villanelle of the Temptress by James Joyce

4 - She Weeps Over Rahoon by James Joyce

5 - A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight by James Joyce

6 - Tutto Sciolto by James Joyce

7 - Simples by James Joyce

8 - Bid Adieu to Maidenhood by James Joyce

9 - The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly by James Joyce

10 - Song by James Joyce

11 - Night Piece by James Joyce

12 - Alone by James Joyce

13 - Flood by James Joyce

14 - Bahnhofstrasse by James Joyce

15 - Watching the Needleboats at San Sabba by James Joyce

16 - A Flower Given to My Daughter by James Joyce

17 - On the Beach at Fontana by James Joyce

18 - Ecce Puer by James Joyce

19 - A Prayer by James Joyce

20 - The Holy Office by James Joyce

21 - Gas From a Burner by James Joyce

22 - Tilly by James Joyce

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