The poem Lycidas in James Joyce's Ulysses

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5, University of Hannover (Englisches Seminar), course: Ulysses, language: English, abstract: The references to other pieces of literature play an important role In James Joyce¿s ¿Ulysses¿.

The title itself, alluding to Homer¿s Odyssey, is the first of such references to be found when

reading the book. Other famous examples are Stephen Dedalus¿ treatment of Shakespeare¿s

¿Hamlet¿ and Chapter 12, which is a parody of different styles of literature. As the reader

should expect of a work deeply concerned with religious matters, John Milton also is one of

the poets whose works are frequently being referred to throughout ¿Ulysses¿. While the

poems ¿Paradise Lost¿ and ¿Paradise Regained¿ (to a lesser degree also ¿Samson Agonistes¿)

are those among Milton¿s poems which are used the most by Joyce, the poem ¿Lycidas¿ plays

a central role in the 2nd chapter. The fact that it is placed so early in the book makes the

poem¿s meaning to the book very special, even more so, as one has to keep in mind that the

structure of ¿Ulysses¿ is elementary for the understanding of its contents.