"Form of Forms": Meter and Sound as Registers of Irish Identity in James Joyce's Ulysses

Abstract:This essay situates meter and sound as important registers of struggles with difference and identity among the triad of male characters iin James Joyce's Ulysses. Dactylic verse connected with Buck Mulligan's name and character, for example, reveals his anxieties about nationality and masculinity, while Stephen's anapestic thinking directly challenges dominant meter and evokes images of fluidity consistent with his beliefs about an Irish natioanl epic and his mother's death. Finally, Bloom's ruminations on the meter and sound of his own thoughts reflect his concerns about his marriage. Through these readings, the essay positions attention to metrical forms as a method of analyzing casts of mind and characters' approaches to language in Ulysses.