The War Poets stood out for their remarkable and moving renditions of wartime conditions, and

their use of abundant detail through extremely concise description, which was achieved through
emerging and pioneering literary devices of the time, which this essay will explore. James Joyce
was of fundamental importance in terms of modernising poetry, and was maintained as highly
influential to emerging writers and poets of his time as well as taking huge inspiration from his
predecessors, which is often noted by literary critics. (Lecuyer, Michelle Lynn, "Dante's Literary
Influence in Dubliners: James Joyce's Modernist Allegory of Paralysis"). The extract of the
funeral which is lifted from Ulysses Part III Chapter 6, Joyce’s most famous work, is what this
essay will focus on.

Interior monologue is what characterized much of twentieth century writing which is what Joyce
beautifully pioneered in his masterpiece Ulysses. It is said that this literary device was around for
many years prior to his works, but it became widely used, as well as becoming a characteristic
literary device which embodied most twentieth century novels, at the turn of the twentieth
century (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia ‘Interior Monologue’). Narrated monologue
in the form of free direct speech and free train of thought was perfectly captured by Joyce. Two
different examples of narration are present in his work, the first is one that remains external to
the character’s mind, while the latter is the expression of the characters’ free flowing stream of
consciousness without interruption, hence the lack of punctuation to emphasise the individual’s
mindfulness. Ulysses Part III Chapter 6:

‘Eaten by birds. Earth, fire, water. Drowning they say is the pleasantest. See your whole
life in a flash. But being brought back to life no. Can't bury in the air however’ (Joyce).

Virginia Woolf, who was another quintessential twentieth century writer, is deemed as being
similar to Joyce in terms of her experimentation with different narrative techniques. She too
brought her characters to life by giving them a stream of consciousness, more notably in her
novel Mrs Dalloway (Lohnes Kate, Encyclopedia Britannica). In Mrs Dalloway she develops
this literary style through her protagonist Clarissa Dalloway, by chronicling her thoughts with
little pause or explanation, much in the same way that Joyce does. Mrs Dalloway:
 ‘She knew nothing; no language, no history; she scarcely read a book now, except
memoirs in bed; and yet to her it was absolutely absorbing; all this; the cabs passing; and
she would not say of Peter, she would not say of herself, I am this, I am that’ (Woolf).

In Ulysses Part III Chapter 6, Bloom is on his way to a funeral which evokes in him a multitude
of thoughts on human fragility and human vulnerability. Ulysses Part III Chapter 6:

‘If we were all suddenly somebody else’ (Joyce).

Bloom goes on to also consider the moment of one’s time of passing and the inevitability of
being forgotten to the world, emphasising the human longing to leave one’s mark before their
time of passing. Ulysses Part III Chapter 6:

‘Besides how could you remember everybody? Eyes, walk, voice, yes: gramophone.
Have a gramophone in every grave or keep it in the house. After dinner on a Sunday’
(Joyce).

Joyce’s humour here is appropriate as Bloom toys with the idea of a human voice living on,
living on past the inevitability of death. It is through Joyce’s interior monologue technique that
the reader is able to establish a real connection and relationship with the character, as the reader
is exposed to all their half thoughts, emotions, and impressions felt by them in that moment of
time. This literary device conveys real intimacy and provides the reader with a more complex
understanding of the character. Ulysses Part III Chapter 6:

‘I do not like that other world she wrote. No more do I. Plenty to see and hear and feel
yet. Feel live warm beings near you. Let them sleep in their maggoty beds. They are not
going to get me this innings. Warm beds: warm full blooded life’ (Joyce).

Here Bloom’s mood is lifted as he is overwhelmed by the joyous feeling that he still has a lot of
life left to live. A feeling which perhaps embodied a lot of streams of consciousness at the end of
World War I, a time of emotional turmoil for so many, allowing the reader to engage and relate to
these characters.

Works Cited

Lecuyer, Michelle Lynn, "Dante's Literary Influence in Dubliners: James Joyce's Modernist
Allegory of Paralysis" (2009). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 10625.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/10625. Accessed 31 March 2021

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Interior monologue". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Jun.

2020, https://www.britannica.com/art/interior-monologue. Accessed 31 March 2021.

Joyce, James 1922, Part III Hades Episode 6, Ulysses,

http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/6/, Jalic Inc. 2020 - 2021, Accessed 31
March 2021

Lohnes, Kate. "Mrs. Dalloway". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Mar. 2020,

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mrs-Dalloway-novel-by-Woolf. Accessed 31 March 2021.

Woolf, Virginia 1925, Mrs Dalloway, ‘The Selected Works of Virginia Woolf’ Wordsworth
Editions 2007 page 132. Accessed 31 March 2021.

Joyce, James 1922, Part III Hades Episode 6, Ulysses,

http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/6/, Jalic Inc. 2020 - 2021, Accessed 31
March 2021

Joyce, James 1922, Part III Hades Episode 6, Ulysses,

http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/6/, Jalic Inc. 2020 - 2021 Accessed 31
March 2021

Joyce, James 1922, Part III Hades Episode 6, Ulysses,

http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/6/, Jalic Inc. 2020 - 2021, Accessed 31
March 202