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Sirens

 

Chapter 11:  Sirens

The action:  4pm.  This, of course, is the hour that Molly and Blazes are supposed to get together, so it’s a very important chapter to the plot.  The place is the bar/restaurant at the Ormond Hotel, along the north bank of the Liffey River.  In Ireland, you often have bars connected to restaurants by swinging saloon doors, and so in the Ormond the singing that takes place in the bar can be heard in the restaurant.

 

Simon Dedalus is in the bar; he’ll sing “M’appari” (in English translation) from the opera Martha.  Other songs played or sung include “Love and War,” “The Croppy Boy,” “Those Lovely Seaside Girls,” and “Love’s Old Sweet Song”.  The lyrics of those songs are woven into the narrative, largely through the mind of Leopold Bloom, who is in the restaurant eating dinner with Richie Goulding (Stephen’s uncle who lives near Sandymount Strand–you’ll recall Stephen almost went to their house in “Proteus”).  Attached are the lyrics to the songs–if you can, listen to them on YouTube (or better yet, download them on iTunes!) and follow along with the lyrics.  Then you’ll recognize some of the confusing parts of the narrative.

 

In particular, look for Blazes’ progress towards 7 Eccles St., and follow Blooms’ mind as it is “tempted” by the songs.

 

 

The Ormond Hotel

 

One of those motifs is the “Tap Tap” sound of the blind piano tuner as he walks with his cane back to the bar to retrieve his tuning fork.

 

Another interesting tit-bit:  watch Bloom writing a reply to Martha Clifford as he chats with Ritchie Goulding during dinner.

Narrative really gets weird with “Sirens.”  The “art” is music and the “technique” is fuga per canone (think the interlacing themes you hear in a fugue).  The opening section of the episode is often compared to the instruments tuning up before a symphony.  The episode proper does not begin until you see the word “Begin!”

 

Like Peter and the Wolf, certain motifs are associated with certain characters, only the motifs are word phrases:  for example, whenever you hear jingling, think Blazes Boylan.  Bronze and gold are the hair colors of two barmaids, Miss Douce and Kennedy. Miss Douce snaps her garter belt for Lenehan’s and Boylan’s pleasure.

 

Listen for Bloom’s fart at the end of the chapter and note its context!

 

‘Sirens’
Ormond Hotel, Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin

 

11.74: some kind of protrusion (the rectangle) blocks view #1, so she moves to view #2. but this required wrapping the bar along two walls, and moving the main door.

 

Love and War
Lover (tenor):

When Love absorbs my ardent soul,
I think not of the morrow;
Beneath his sway years swiftly roll,
True lovers banish sorrow,
By softest kisses, warm’d to blisses,
Lovers banish sorrow,
By softest kisses, warm’d to blisses,
Lovers banish sorrow.
Soldier (bass):
While war absorbs my ardent soul,
I think not of the morrow;
Beneath his sway years swiftly roll,
True Soldiers banish sorrow,
By cannon’s rattle, rous’d to battle,
Soldiers banish sorrow,
By cannon’s rattle, rous’d to battle,
Soldiers banish sorrow.
Together:
Since Mars lov’d Venus, Venus Mars,
Let’s blend love’s wounds with battle’s scars,
And call in Bacchus all divine,
To cure both pains with rosy wine,
To cure both pains with rosy, rosy wine.
And thus, beneath his social sway,
We’ll sing and laugh the hours away.

(Martha) M’appari
M’appari tutt”amor, il mio sguardo l’incontro:
bella si che il mio cor, ansioso a lei volo:
mi feri, m’invaghi quell’angelica belta,
sculta in cor dall’amor cancellarsi non potra:
il pensier di poter palpitar con lei d’amor,
puo sopir il martir che m’affana e stranzia il cor e stranzia il cor
M’appari tutt’amor, il mio sguardo l’incontro;
bella si che il mio cor ansioso a lei volo;
Marta, Marta, tu sparisti e il mio cor col tuo n’ando!
Tu la pace mi rapisti, di dolor io moriro.
di dolor morro, ah, morro!

SYNOPSIS
Lady Harriet and her maid Nancy, disguised as peasants called Martha and Julia, have unwittingly bound themselves for a years’ service to Lionel and Plunket, two local farmers. The women soon escape, and though time passes, Lionel cannot get Martha out of his mind.

When first I saw that form endearing
Sorrow from me seemed to depart:
Each graceful look, each word so cheering
Charmed my eye and won my heart.
Full of hope, and all delighted,
None could feel more blest than I;
All on Earth I then could wish for
Was near her to live and die:
But alas! ’twas idle dreaming,
And the dream too soon hath flown;
Not one ray of hope is gleaming;
I am lost, yes I am lost for she is gone.
When first I saw that form endearing
Sorrow from me seemed to depart:
Each graceful look, each word so cheering
Charmed my eye and won my heart.
Martha, Martha, I am sighing
I am weeping still, for thee,
Come thou lost one,
Come thou dear one,
Thou alone can’st comfort me:
Ah Martha return! Come to me!

(Charles Jeffreys)

The Croppy Boy
“Good men and true! In this house who dwell,

To a stranger bouchal, I pray you tell

Is the priest at home? Or may he be seen?

I would speak a word with Father Green.”

 

“The Priest’s at home, boy and may be seen;

‘Tis easy speaking with Father Green;

But you must wait ’till I go and see

If the holy father alone may be.”

 

The youth has entered an empty hall –

What a lonely sound has his light footfall!

And the gloomy chamber’s still and bare,

With a vested Priest in a lonely chair.

 

The youth has knelt to tell his sins:

“Nomine Dei,” the youth begins;

At “mea culpa” he beats his breast,

And in broken murmurs he speaks the rest.

 

“At the siege of Ross did my father fall,

And at Gorey my living brothers all;

I alone am left of my name and race,

I will go to Wexford and take their place.

 

I cursed three times since Easter day –

At mass-time once I went to play;

I passed the churchyard one day in haste,

And forgot to pray for my mother’s rest.

 

I bear no hate against living thing;

But I love my country above my King.

Now, Father! Bless me and let me go

To die, if God has ordained it so.”

 

The Priest said nought, but a rustling noise

Made the youth look up in wild surprise:

The robes were off, and in scarlet there

Sat a yeoman captain with a fiery glare.

 

With fiery glare and with fury hoarse,

Instead of blessing he breathed a curse –

‘Twas a good thought, boy, to come here and shrive,

for one short hour is your time to live.

 

Upon yon river three tenders float,

the Priest’s in one if he isn’t shot –

we hold his house for our Lord and King,

and amen say I, may all traitors swing!”

 

At Geneva Barrack that young man died,

And at Passae they have his body laid

Good people who live in peace and joy,

Breathe a prayer and a tear for the Croppy Boy.

Those Lovely Seaside Girls
Down at Margate looking very charming you are sure to meet
Those girls, dear girls, those lovely seaside girls,
With sticks they steer and promenade the pier to give the boys a treat,
In pique silks and lace, they tip you quite a playful wink.
It always is the case you seldom stop to think,
You fall in love of course upon the spot,
But not with one girl, always with the lot.

Chorus: Those girls, those girls, those lovely seaside girls,
All dimples smiles and curls, your head it simply whirls,
They look all right, complexions pink and white,
They’ve diamond rings and dainty feet,
Golden hair from Regent Street,
Lace and grace and lots of face, those pretty little seaside girls.

There’s Maud and Clara, Gwendolen and Sarah where do they come from?
Those girls, dear girls, those lovely seaside girls.
In bloomers smart, they captivate the heart, when cycling down the prom.
At wheels and heels and hose, you must not look ’tis understood,
But ev’ry Johnnie knows, it does your eyesight good,
The boys observe the latest thing in socks,
They learn the time by looking at the clocks.

When you go to do a little boating just for fun you take,
Those girls, dear girls, those lovely seaside girls,
They all say ‘we so dearly love the sea.’ Their way on board to make.
The wind begins to blow. Each girl remarks ‘how rough today,
It’s lovely don’t you know,’ and then they sneak away.
And as the yacht keeps rolling with the tide,
You’ll notice hanging o’er the vessel’s side

2nd Chorus: Those girls, those girls, those lovely seaside girls,
All dimples smiles and curls, each head it simply whirls,
They look a sight, complexions green and white,
Their hats fly off, and at your feet,
Falls golden hair from Regent Street,
Rouge and puffs slip down the cuffs of pretty little seaside girls.

 

Love’s Old Sweet Song

Once in the dear, dead days beyond recall,
When on the world the mists began to fall,
Out of the dreams that rose in happy throng,
Low to our hearts love sang an old sweet song,
And in the dusk where fell the firelight gleam,
Softly it wove itself into our dream

 

Chorus:
Just a song at twilight, when the lights are low;
And the flick’ring shadows softly come and go.
Tho’ the heart be weary, sad the day and long,

Still to us at twilight comes love’s old song,
Comes love’s old sweet song.

 

Even today we hear love’s song of yore,
Deep in our hearts it swells forever-more.
Footsteps may falter, weary grow the way;

Still we can hear it at the close of day.
So ’til the end, when life’s dim shadows fall,
Love will be found the sweetest song of all.
Still we can hear it at the close of day.
So ’til the end, when life’s dim shadows fall,
Love will be found the sweetest song of all.

 

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