How Does Joyce's Writing Work?
Some Tips on Close Analysis of Joyce's Writing Techniques
Laura has asked me to offer some tips on how to perform a close analysis of a passage or passages from ULYSSES.
This is something I am delighted to do, because I truly believe that one can only truly appreciate the genius of Joyce, or any other writer, by applying a very close lens to the actual mechanics of the work – examining the text closely enough to be able to identify what particular stylistic techniques the writer is using at any particular stage in the work they have produced, what might be its intended effect, and what is the actual effect or impact it has on the reader. Of course, I don’t suggest reading every page analytically, though you can if you enjoy it and find it useful. Tackling Ulysses is a literary marathon, so perhaps it is best, at least in the first instance of reading, to select some passages that particularly strike you as interesting. The first six episodes (the “Telemachia” and the start of the “Odyssey”) are where Joyce sets the rules for his game. A close reading here isn’t just about understanding the plot; it’s about decoding the frequency at which the prose is vibrating.
Here is a strategy for dissecting a passage from Episodes 1–6.
1. Establish the “Ground Plane”
Joyce often plunges you into a character’s head without warning. Before looking for deep symbols, identify the literal reality:
The Physical Anchor: Where is the character standing? (e.g., the Martello tower, Sandymount Strand, or the kitchen at 7 Eccles Street). Note how Joyce signals Stephen's discomfort and unhappiness in the first three episodes, and try to establish how the different locations he is described in contribute to his feelings: e.g., the sucking sand of the beach his feet sink into while he is walking along in Episode 3, which signals his feelings of being ‘stuck ‘ in a situation he finds unpleasant and hard to negotiate. Examine the section of the Calypso episode when Bloom is in the marital bedroom with his wife, where Joyce signals Bloom’s unease at his wife’s impending meeting with Blazes Boylan that afternoon, and contrast it with the mood in the earlier scene with the cat in the kitchen.
The Sensory Input: What are they smelling, hearing, or touching? For Bloom (Episodes 4–6), the physical world is vital. If he’s eating a kidney, the “fine tang of faintly scented urine” is a literal detail before it’s anything else. The quirky nature of his personality, as well as his interest in/connection with food and the body, is clearly signalled by Joyce through his choice of words here.
2. Distinguish the “Voices”
In these early chapters, Joyce uses interior monologue (stream of consciousness). You need to differentiate between the following:
Narrative Description: “He walked by the railing.”
Direct Thought: “I should have bought that newspaper.”
External Dialogue: “—Morning, Bloom, says he.”
Tip: Look for the em-dash (—) which Joyce uses instead of quotation marks. If there is no dash and the grammar feels “clipped” or fragmentary, you are likely inside a character’s mind.
3. Analyze the Diction and Rhythm
Joyce’s prose style changes to match the character’s temperament.
Stephen’s Prose (Ep. 1–3): Expect Latinate words, theological jargon, and complex, rhythmic sentences. It’s “heavy” and intellectual.
Bloom’s Prose (Ep. 4–6): Expect shorter, punchier sentences. Bloom is a practical man and an adman; his thoughts are often aphoristic or inquisitive (”Wonder why that is?”).
4. Track the “Leitmotifs” (Recurring Themes)
Joyce uses recurring phrases like musical motifs. If you see a word or image that feels strangely specific, it probably appeared earlier or will appear later.
The “Omphalos” (Navel): Look for references to cords, phone lines, or origins in Stephen’s sections. Note how the same idea recurs in Bloom’s reflections during the Hades episode, establishing the link between the two protagonists.
Metempsychosis (Transmigration of souls): Watch for Bloom trying to explain this word to Molly or thinking about cycles of life.
5. Consult the “Schema” (With caution – I advise you not to get too bogged down in these, or in following up absolutely every annotation: it is far better to concentrate on the content and style of the book itself.)
Joyce created schemas (the Linati and Gilbert schemas) that assign each episode to a specific body part, an art form, and a symbol. You don’t need to have read these, but they are all available online and can be very useful for reference. If you have Stuart Gilbert’s book, you will find them there.
Example: If you are reading Episode 6 (Hades), the “art” is religion and the “body part” is the heart. Knowing these details helps you understand why the prose keeps circling back to the mechanics of death and the rhythm of the funeral carriage, which reproduces the sound of a heartbeat as it rumbles over the bumpy Dublin streets.
A Quick Checklist for Your Passage:
Syntax: Are the sentences long and flowing or short and jagged?
Allusions: Does the passage reference Hamlet, the Bible, or Irish history? (Don’t be afraid to use an annotated guide for this—everyone does).
The Body: Is there a specific body part or physical sensation being emphasised?
Transition: How does a physical object in the room trigger a memory? (e.g., seeing a cloud might trigger a thought of death or cause a sudden sense of depression or both. ).
Are you focusing on the dense, philosophical musings of Stephen on the beach in Proteus or the more grounded, sensory world of Bloom’s breakfast in Calypso?
To demonstrate the method of close reading, I’ve written a short passage imitating the style of Episode 4: Calypso, where we first meet Leopold Bloom. This episode is renowned for its “sensory world”—focusing on the body, hunger, and the mundane details of a Dublin morning. (n.b. It is useful and can be enjoyable to try writing short passages like these in the style of Joyce, as mimicry (copying the techniques of a great stylist) is one of the ways to really learn about literary style.)
The Passage
He passed the red facade of Harrison’s. Warmth of yeast, a heavy doughy breath wafted through the grating. Good. Crisp crusts, dust of flour on the baker’s thumb. He felt the silver coin in his pocket, cool, a smooth disc against his thigh. A fly on the pane, rubbing its legs. Prayer? No, cleaning the filth off. We all do it. The soul’s laundry. He walked on, his shadow trailing limp behind him on the hot flags.
The Close Reading Analysis
To analyse this properly, we break it down using the layers of Joyce’s technique.
1. The Ground Plane (Physical Reality)
The Literal: Bloom is walking past a bakery (Harrison’s).
The Sensory: Notice how the passage starts with olfactory (smell) and thermal (warmth) sensations. Joyce rarely describes a place's appearance first; he describes how it feels or smells. The “heavy doughy breath” personifies the building, making the city feel like a living organism.
2. Interior Monologue vs. Narrative
Narrative: “He passed the red facade of Harrison’s.” (Objective, third-person).
The Shift: “Good. Crisp crusts...” (Subjective). The word “good” is a direct thought. It’s clipped and fragmentary. This is the “Stream of Consciousness”.
The Jump: Notice how the thought of the baker’s thumb leads directly to the feeling of the coin in his own pocket. This is associative thinking—one physical sensation triggers another.
3. Diction and “Bloomisms”
Bloom is a practical man. His sentences are often short: “We all do it.”
Unlike Stephen Dedalus, who thinks in long words and flowing sentences filled with Latin and philosophy, Bloom thinks in terms of mechanics and biology. He looks at a fly and wonders why it moves its legs. He rejects the religious interpretation (”Prayer?”) in favour of a practical one (”cleaning the filth”).
4. The Leitmotif (Recurring Theme)
The “Soul’s Laundry”: In a close reading, you look for metaphors that connect the physical to the metaphysical. Here, the “filth” of the fly and the “laundry” of the soul suggest a theme of guilt or atonement. Bloom is constantly thinking about how to “wash away” the complications of his life (his wife’s infidelity, his shortcomings). The two men’s joint feelings of guilt over the death of a loved one and their need to be punished in some way is one of the key connections between these characters.
5. Rhythmic Analysis
Look at the final sentence: “His shadow trailing limp behind him on the hot flags.”
The word “limp” is key. It suggests a lack of energy or a certain dejection. In Ulysses, the body's movement often mirrors the mind's state. The “hot flags” (paving stones) ground the reader in the specific heat of that June day in 1904.
How to Apply This to the Real Text
When you pick your passage from the first six episodes, ask yourself:
Who is “speaking”? Is it the intellectual, moody Stephen (Ep. 1–3) or the curious, sensory Bloom (Ep. 4–6)?
What is the “Body Part”? If you’re in Episode 4, it’s the Kidneys/Digestive system. If you’re in Episode 6, it’s the Heart. Look for words that relate to those organs.
What is the “External Trigger”? Find the exact moment a sound or a smell causes the character to drift into a memory.
Does this breakdown help you see how the “clutter” of Joyce’s sentences actually fits together?
To move from Bloom’s world to Stephen’s is to move from the stomach to the brain. While Bloom observes the world with the curiosity of a scientist or an ad man, Stephen Dedalus filters everything through a dense fog of theology, Aristotle, and his own “agenbite of inwit” (remorse of conscience).
Here is that same bakery scene, reimagined through Stephen’s “Telemachia” lens (Episodes 1–3).
The Passage
He passed the rutilant facade of Harrison’s. A heavy, fermenting breath, the leaven of some dark alchemy, exhaled through the iron grating. Transubstantiation of wheat into the host of hunger. He fingered the cold silver groat in his pocket, his soul’s solitary ballast against the tide of the street. A fly on the glass, a black monad, rubbed its spindly limbs in a pantomime of prayer. Lustra. To scour the filth of the world. No, the corruption of the flesh is ineluctable. He walked on, his shadow, a dark hound of his own making, lengthening across the sun-scorched flags.
The Close Reading Analysis
1. Diction: Latinate and Arcane
Notice the shift in vocabulary. Where Bloom saw “red”, Stephen sees “rutilant” (a Latinate word for glowing red). Stephen doesn’t just smell bread; he senses “alchemy” and “leaven”.
* The Method: When close reading Stephen, keep a dictionary of theological and philosophical terms nearby. If the word sounds like it belongs in a mediaeval monastery, it’s there to show Stephen’s education and his inability to see the world simply.
2. The Shift to Abstraction
Bloom looked at the bakery and thought of the baker’s thumb (the human element). Stephen looks at the bakery and thinks of “Transubstantiation” and “the host” (the religious element).
The Analysis: For Stephen, a bakery isn’t just a shop; it’s a metaphor for the Catholic Mass. He cannot escape his religious upbringing, even though he has rejected the church. This is the “ineluctable” (unavoidable) nature of his thought process.
3. The “Monad” and the Philosophy
Bloom saw a fly cleaning itself. Stephen calls the fly a “monad”—a term from the philosopher Leibniz referring to an indivisible, elementary unit of reality.
The Method: Look for how Stephen “intellectualises” the mundane. He sees a fly and immediately links it to a philosophical concept. His thought, “No, the corruption of the flesh is ineluctable,” echoes his obsession with decay and his mother’s death, which haunts the early episodes.
4. The Shadow as Symbol
In the Bloom passage, the shadow was just “limp”. In Stephen’s version, the shadow is a “dark hound”.
The Analysis: This variation is a subtle allusion to the “dog” motif that follows Stephen throughout the first three episodes (representing everything from the “God” he rejected to the ghost of his mother). To Stephen, his shadow is a predatory thing, a reminder of his guilt.
How to approach your passage:
If you are doing a close reading of a real passage from Ulysses, try to identify the “hinge”—the exact word where the character stops describing what they see and starts describing what they think.
In Stephen’s case, that hinge usually leads to a library’s worth of references. In Bloom’s, it usually leads to a memory of a meal or a worry about his daughter, Milly.
HADES is one of the most structurally perfect episodes in Ulysses. As the funeral carriages move toward Glasnevin Cemetery, the prose becomes a meditation on the “Heart” (the episode’s organ) and the mechanics of mortality.
When doing a close reading of a passage from this episode, you should pay special attention to these four specific layers:
1. The “Mechanical” View of Death
Bloom is a pragmatist. While others think of the “poor soul,” Bloom thinks about the plumbing of the grave.
What to look for: References to technology, efficiency, or biology applied to the dead.
The “Bloomism”: He thinks about putting a telephone in a coffin so the “dead” could call if they were buried alive, or using the dead as fertiliser (”Gardens of Agony”).
Close Reading Tip: If the passage mentions a physical object (a shovel, a stone, or a wire), look for how Bloom tries to turn it into a “solution” for the problem of being dead.
2. The Heart (The Organ of the Episode)
Joyce assigned the Heart to this chapter. This manifests in the prose as a concern with circulation, rhythm, and stops.
The Pulse of the Prose: Notice the rhythm of the carriage wheels. Joyce often mimics the thud-thud of a heart or the rattling of a hearse in the sentence structure.
The Emotional Core: Look for Bloom’s internal “flinching”. He is trapped in a small carriage with Simon Dedalus (Stephen’s father) and others who represent the “Old Dublin” that often excludes him. His heart is literally and figuratively squeezed. As he is the last person to enter the carriage, we should also assume that he is physically squeezed into a corner by the men who are already comfortably settled inside it.
3. The “Rere” View (The Backside of Dublin)
As the carriage moves, they see the city from a specific angle. They pass the “shambles” (slaughterhouses) and the back lanes.
Symbolism: This scene represents the journey to the “underworld.” You aren’t seeing the grand facades; you’re seeing the guts of the city.
The “Grey” Palette: Note the colours. Unlike the “rutilant” red of the bakery or the blue of the sea, Hades is dominated by black, white, and grey. Look for how Joyce describes the light or the mourners' clothes to create a drained, sombre atmosphere.
4. The Social Outsider (The “Empty” Space)
In the dialogue of Hades, Bloom is often snubbed or speaks at the wrong time.
Close Reading Tip: Look at the pauses and the dashes (—). When Bloom speaks, do the others answer him directly? Often, there is a “beat” of silence or a change of subject.
The “Suicide” Motif: Crucial. Bloom’s father committed suicide. When the men in the carriage discuss suicide as the “greatest sin,” watch Bloom’s internal reaction. The prose will often become very sparse and “internal” as he retreats into himself to hide his pain.
Key Symbols to Watch For:
The Man in the Macintosh: A mysterious 13th mourner who appears unexpectedly. He represents the “accidental” nature of death.
The Dog: A dog runs across the path of the carriage. This mirrors the “Dog/God” motif from Stephen’s earlier episodes, but here it is a scavenger.
The Obelisk: Phallic symbols of the “dead” power of the past. A penis-like stone that is fully erect but impotent – like Leopold Bloom.
A “Hades” Reading Strategy: > Find a paragraph where Bloom is looking out the window of the carriage. Track every verb. Are they verbs of motion (the living world passing by) or verbs of stasis (the cemetery approaching)? The tension in Hades is always between the “pumping” heart of the city and the “still” heart of the grave.
The passage about the decomposition of bodies:
This scene is one of the most famous sequences in the Hades episode. Bloom looks at the graves and, rather than falling into a religious reverie, he begins to think about the “mechanics” of what is happening beneath the soil.
The Passage
“The decomposition. That’s the thing. It starts inside. The gases. The coffin lid cracks. It’s the gas. They have to put a hole in the lid sometimes. A vent. Or the coffin lid will blow off. Or the body. A regular explosion. It must be a nice job. But then, it’s all in the day’s work for them. The maggots are alive. Busy as bees. Turning the contents into something else. Change of address. New management.”
The Close Reading Analysis
1. The Mechanical Perspective (The “Hades” Alert)
Bloom’s mind treats death as a technical problem.
Observation: He uses words like “vent,” “hole,” “gases,” and “cracks.” This isn’t the language of mourning; it’s the language of a plumber or an engineer.
The Method: In your analysis, point out how Bloom avoids “poetic” or “sacred” language. He is more interested in the pressure of the gas than the destination of the soul. This demonstrates his role as the “modern man”—scientific and materialist.
2. Sentence Structure: The Staccato of the Heart
Notice the rhythm: “The gases. The coffin lid cracks. It’s the gas.”
Analysis: These are short, punchy, three-to-five-word sentences. This is the “Bloom Pulse.” It reflects a mind that processes information quickly and objectively to avoid being overwhelmed by the horror of the subject.
Close Reading Tip: Contrast the Bloom Pulse with the flowing, Latinate sentences Stephen uses. Stephen would make death a “symphony of corruption”; Bloom makes it a “regular explosion”.
3. The “Bloomism”: Turning Horror into Business
“Busy as bees”: Bloom uses a cheerful, industrious cliché to describe maggots. This is a classic Joyce technique—using a commonplace idiom in a grotesque context.
“Change of address. New management”: This is the ultimate ad-man’s euphemism. Bloom is reframing the terrifying total erasure of the self as a simple “business transition”.
The Method: Look for where the character uses humour or irony as a shield. Bloom isn’t being cruel; he’s being sane. To survive a funeral, he has to turn the “Dead” into “New Management.”
4. The Biological Cycle (Metempsychosis)
Even though the word isn’t used here, the idea is present.
Analysis: “Turning the contents into something else.” This is Bloom’s version of reincarnation. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he believes in the cycle of energy. The body becomes the maggot; the maggot becomes the earth. This connects back to the overarching theme of the “Odyssey”—the return home, or the “return to the soil”.
Summary Checklist for Your Analysis
When you write your close reading of this passage, organise it into these three “buckets”:
The Physical Layer: The literal description of decay (the gas, the lid).
The Cognitive Layer: How Bloom uses “office” language (management, address) to cope with the reality of the cemetery.
The Structural Layer: How the “heart-beat” rhythm of the short sentences mirrors the episode’s focus on the circulatory system (even if that circulation has stopped for the corpses).
Does focusing on the prose’s “mechanical” side make it easier to see what Joyce is doing, or does it make the passage feel more “cold”?
Analytical reading isn’t for everyone, but I would suggest that you at least give it a go once or twice while reading ULYSSES as it really increases your understanding of just how much technical skill goes into creating even a short passage of writing, let alone a book like this. You will probably also understand why friends who write can find it so hard to do well.
This is excellent. Am going to give it a go.
Wow!! There is so much to take in here.Thank you so much for doing this and for showing just how much technical skill Joyce puts into his writing. No wonder it took him several years to create his books. I feel a bit daunted by your suggestion of trying to write in Joyce's style but I will try as it does seem to be an excellent way of understanding the techniques he was using and why he uses them.