XX CENTURY

WAR POETS

The poets that wrote their poems during the war were called “WAR POETS” and they voiced their feelings about this
devastating experience. The main topic was the WAR, which, at the beginning, was seen as a mission and a heroic death,
but later as a disillusion, a big lie that brought only negative vibes. First, the form wasn’t innovative, the main topics
were the heroic aspect, the virtue of sacrifice, war seen as a right cause, instead, after the battle of Somme, the poems
will show a sense of absurdity.

THE SOLDIER BY ROBERT BROOKE

In this poem the author tries to describe something, but he never talks about war ,in fact we can understand that it is
a war poem only by the title. Brooke died one year after the beginning of the first world war, so he never had the real
idea of this fight, in fact we can read in his poem that he had a GOOD IDEA OF THE WAR. The sound is kind and he is
talking about England.

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
Se dovessi morire pensa solo questo di me: che c’è un
angolo di una terra straniera che sarà per sempre
Inghilterra. Ci sarà in quella ricca terra straniera una
polvere nascosta ancora più ricca; una polvere che
l’Inghilterra generò, che ha plasmato e reso consapevole,
che diede, una volta, i fiori da amare, le sue vie da
percorrere, un corpo inglese, respirante aria inglese,
lavato dai fiumi, benedetto dal sole di casa.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
E pensa che, questo cuore, liberatosi dal male, una
pulsazione in uno spirito eterno, nondimeno, da qualche
luogo restituisce i pensieri dall’Inghilterra ricevuti; i suoi
panorami e i suoni; i sogni felici come il suo giorno; e la
risata, imparata da amici, e la gentilezza, in cuori in pace,
sotto un cielo inglese.

o 1ST STANZA  the poem has patriotical elements such as the idea that everywhere he will die, THE PLACE
THAT CONTAINS HIS DEAD BODY WILL BE ENGLAND, so in the other places where English people die, the part
of the ground will be part of England. For the author, there will be so much dust (= polvere per indicare corpi
morti) in other places, and this dust of the body was made by England, which is like a mother that gives
everything to her children. So, this body will breathe English air also when he is in foreign places and the body
will be shone by the suns, where suns maybe mean the memories of the family.
o 2ND STANZA  the heart of the author is like a pulsation in the mind of God, where there’s the man at the
center of the universe. These hearts will be in peace under English paradise.

In this poem there is NOTHING ABOUT WAR, everything is a glory of England and of being English. So, this poem is so
patriotic and makes people enthusiastic about war because if they go there, they will fight for England and they are
proud of being part of this country, so they want to go.

DULCE ET DECORUM E ST BY WILFRED OWEN

This title in Latin reminds of a good idea of war because that it is sweet and decorous to die for your honourable country,
but then reading the stanzas you can understand that this title hides an ironic meaning because you understand the
terrible situation of war. Owen went and fought during the war  at first, he went there as a volunteer serving in
France.
There are four stanzas that are divided in two parts, one with a description and the other one with a hiding meaning of
war that the readers could understand. THIS POEM IS AGAINST WAR, of course to fight could be necessary, but could
not ever be decorous. In Brooke we find an enthusiastic person that wants to fight, here we find a person that had
fought and had understood how terrible war was.

o 1ST STANZA  The soldiers have destroyed their knees (they have to stay down if they want to protect
themselves), cough like old people, they blaspheme God in the mud. They go where there is light so there are
bombs to throw and then they return back dragging their bodies. They marched asleep, someone without a
boot, they had blood in their body, they were lame (= zoppi), they were blind, they were drunk with fatigue
and also, they were deaf from grenades. So, in this stanza we find a TERRIBLE DESCRIPTION OF THESE
SOLDIERS.
o 2ND STANZA  In the 1st WW they use GAS, so there is a soldier that is shouting that there is gas in the air,
so the others started moving rapidly and trying to put on their helmet to protect themselves from the inhalation
of the gas. These actions were so fast that some people were still running or stumbling (= cadere), they were
like a man in the fire. The author, with his helmet is fogged up, SAW A MAN WHO IS DYING and his death is
like a drown in a green sea (= the colour of the gas).
o 3RD STANZA  The author said that in all his dreams he will remember the DEATH of this man of the bomb
attack.
o 4TH STANZA  The author has a message for the readers: if only you could see the soldiers marching behind
the wagon where they left the body, if only you could see his white eyes that were dying, if only you could see
his head lowered like a demon that doesn’t want to pray anymore, if only you could feel for each sound the
blood in your lungs that makes sound on them and it is terrible like the cancer, my dear friend, he said, YOU
WOULDN’T EVER TELL TO YOUR CHILDREN THE OLD LYING OF THE GLORIOUS, SWEET AND DECOROUS WAR.

VERGISSMEINNICHT BY KEITH DOUGLAS

This title is German and it means “DON’T FORGET ME”, this poem was written by an English soldier during the 2nd WW.
The structure is regular, it has six stanzas where each stanza is a quatrain, we find a scheme of rhymes.

Three weeks gone and the combatants gone We see him almost with content,
returning over the nightmare ground abased, and seeming to have paid
we found the place again, and found and mocked at by his own equipment
the soldier sprawling in the sun. that’s hard and good when he’s decayed.

The frowning barrel of his gun But she would weep to see today
overshadowing. As we came on how on his skin the swart flies move;
that day, he hit my tank with one the dust upon the paper eye
like the entry of a demon. and the burst stomach like a cave.

Look. Here in the gunpit spoil For here the lover and killer are mingled
the dishonoured picture of his girl who had one body and one heart.
who has put: Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht. And death who had the soldier singled
in a copybook gothic script. has done the lover mortal hurt.

o 1ST STANZA  Three weeks (= time is important) had passed and the English soldiers went back to a place
where they had fought; in that place they found the poor BODY OF A SOLDIER that died shined by the sun.
o 2ND STANZA  They check if he had his gun, the author understood that this dead soldier three weeks before
hit a tank (= carroarmato) like a devil.
o 3RD STANZA  Inside a pocket there is a PICTURE OF A GIRL, her name was Steffi. This picture is considered
dishonoured because everyone now is watching this private picture. In it, there is also something written in
German (the title of the poem) and they thought that was Nazi.
o 4TH STANZA  The soldier saw this man while they were content to see him dead, but he had been
humiliated and he had been taken by his own equipment, so he is dead, but his custom is still in good condition.
 o 5TH STANZA  Talking about the girl in the picture, they understand that she will be so desperate if she sees
flies in the skin of the dead body, there is dust in his eyes and his stomach is opened because probably hit
him in this part of the body. The soldier, first of all, was so HAPPY to see him dead, but when he understood
how his loved ones could feel knowing that man is dead, he regretted it and started to be SAD.
o 6TH STANZA  This dead man was a killer but was also a lover, so he has a body but also a heart necessary
to love. The death separated him from the people that are alive, but on the other hand the death let people
kill each other. So, A SOLDIER DOESN’T ONLY FEEL HATE FOR AN ENEMY, HE ALSO FEELS EMOTIONS AND PAIN
FOR THE ENEMY.

OUT OF THE BLUE BY SIMON ARMITAGE

You have picked me out. but the white of surrender is not yet flying.
Through a distant shot of a building burning I am not at the point of leaving, diving.
you have noticed now
that a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning.
A bird goes by.
The depth is appalling. Appalling
In fact I am waving, waving. that others like me
Small in the clouds, but waving, waving. should be wind-milling, wheeling, spiralling, falling.
Does anyone see
a soul worth saving?
Are your eyes believing,
believing
So when will you come? that here in the gills
Do you think you are watching, watching I am still breathing.
a man shaking crumbs
or pegging out washing?
But tiring, tiring.
Sirens below are wailing, firing.
I am trying and trying. My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging.
The heat behind me is bullying, driving, Do you see me, my love. I am failing, flagging.

This poem was written by SIMON ARMITAGE in 2006 and it is about the ATTACK ON THE TWIN TOWERS. The BIRD that
passes means that nature goes on, it does not care.

GEORGE ORWELL (1905 – 1950)

George Orwell (real name = Eric Arthur Blair) was born in 1903 in Bengal (INDIA) because his father was a British civil
servant. Orwell was sent back to England to study in a boarding school ( private college); he wanted to become an
officer in Neymar. He travelled to Paris and London where he lived as a poor person (in fact he wrote “Down and out”
in 1933 which talks about him living with unemployed and tramps).

He believed in SOCIALISM  he thought that socialism is a possible solution to the evils of society. He also became a
member of the TROTZSKYITE FACTION that was opposed to the Communist Stalinist. In 1941 Stalin entered the war
and, after two years, Orwell wrote ANIMAL FARM (but he couldn’t publish it because it was a satire book of Stalin’s
totalitarian regime). He suffered from tuberculosis, he went to Scotland where he wrote 1984 and he died in 1950.

1984 (1949)

1984 is a DYSTOPIAN NOVEL that talks about the future in a negative way. The novel, in fact, is a WARNING ABOUT
THE FUTURE AND A BITTER POLITICAL SATIRE OF TOTALITARIANISM, which was written as a reaction to the
crumbling of the socialist ideals in Stalin’s Soviet Union.

The novel is divided into three parts, all pivoting (going around) the central character, WINSTON SMITH, an average
man, with no particular talents or distinguishing features, who lives in a dismal world in 1984 (he is from the outer
party). His name “Winston” may be associated with Winston Churchill, the famous politician (hero at the time);
“Smith”, instead, is a very ordinary, anonymous surname. The globe is divided into three superpowers: EASTASIA,
EURASIA and Winston’s homeland, OCEANIA, ruled by BIG BROTHER (the boss). There is also a part of the world called
DISPUTED where there is the war.

In the first part, Orwell progressively builds up the oppressive atmosphere

before the eyes of the reader, showing a totalitarian world where a single,
powerful Party tries to control everyone and everything, including private
thoughts, memories and emotions, thus creating absolute uniformity. One of
the tools (= strumenti) to do this is the official language called NEWSPEAK,
which is used by the party to create and edit past and present history, removing
non – aligned elements and limiting freedom of thought ( cut words, less you
know more you can be controlled). This does not prevent the protagonist
Winston from reacting to the Party’s global control, by starting a PRIVATE
DIARY (he decided to write a diary with his real thoughts and he put it in a
corner with no screens).

In the second part of the novel, he becomes more daring and falls in love with a rebellious, unconventional girl called
JULIA, who becomes the only person to share his hidden emotions and forbidden feelings. Unfortunately, harsh (= dura)
repression is brooding over the couple, in the person of O’BRIEN. After the heroes’ escape into an illegal, small world of
feelings, an infiltrator who plays a double, ambiguous role, O’Brien, betrays them: he is not a friend, but a chief inquisitor
of the Inner Party.

In the third and last part of the novel, Winston is punished for breaking the rules of Oceania: he is IMPRISONED and
TORTURED until he confesses his crimes, then tortured again until he is ready to betray Julia and love Big Brother. The
final part of the novel shows how successful his force rehabilitation has been  NOW HE LOVES BIG BROTHER.

LONDON
Winston could be seen as well as heard, he had to live in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard
and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized. Moreover, he could not remember anything about his childhood
except a series of bright-lit tableaux occurring against no background and mostly unintelligible.

Winston worked at the MINISTRY OF TRUTH (Minitrue in Newspeak)  it was an enormous pyramidal structure of
shining white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 meters into the air. It was possible to read the three
slogans of the Party:

o WAR IS PEACE
o FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
o IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

In London, there were other three buildings of similar appearance and size  they were the homes of the other three
Ministries. In total there were FOUR MINISTRIES between which the entire apparatus of government was divided:

o Ministry of truth  MINITRUE  which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education and the fine
arts
o Ministry of peace  MINIPAX  which concerned itself with war
o Ministry of love  MINILUV  which maintained law and order
o Ministry of plenty  MINIPLENTY  which was responsible for economic affairs

ANIMAL FARM (1945)

This novel is probably an allegory of COMMUNISM with TROTSKY and STALIN portrayed as Snowball and Napoleon
(two pigs).

MR. JONES, a harsh and drunken farmer, manages Manor Farm. The animals gather (= si mettono insieme) one day to
hear OLD MAJOR, a wise old pig, speak. Old Major delivers a speech in which he urges animals to revolt against their
farmers. The proposition enthralled the animals. A few days later, Old Major passes away. The most intelligent
creatures of the farm, the pigs, begin plotting a revolt. SNOWBALL AND NAPOLEON ARE IN CHARGE.

The animals revolt against Mr. Jones and take

over the farm three months later. The name of THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
the farm is changed to "ANIMAL FARM." They
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy
agree that the farm will now be run entirely by
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend
animals, a system they refer to as "animalism."
3. No animal shall wear clothes
They decide to run the farm according to SEVEN
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed
COMMANDMENTS, the most important of which
5. No animal shall drink alcohol
is "All animals are equal." The phrase "four legs
6. No animal shall kill any other animal
good, two legs bad" became a popular sheep
7. All animals are equal
song. Mr. Jones and his friends attack the farm in
an attempt to reclaim it, but the animals drive them away in the "Battle of the Cowshed." Mr. Jones flees. They never
see him again.

Snowball and Napoleon had a falling out because they have opposing viewpoints on how Animal Farm should be run.
Napoleon disagrees with Snowball's ideas to build a windmill. NAPOLEON trains nine puppies into ferocious dogs. They
will be his servants and plan to employ them to chase Snowball off the land once they are fully grown. He eventually
seizes control of the farm and runs it alone (as a DICTATOR). While a pig named Squealer constantly persuades the
animals that everything is OK and that they should support Napoleon. At the same time, Napoleon uses the dogs to kill
any animal that does not agree with him. Napoleon reconsiders his position and chooses to construct a windmill,
claiming that it was his idea all along. The first windmill they built failed. Napoleon accuses Snowball of this (and other
issues). Snowball, he claims, is snooping around Animal Farm and destroying everything. For "being in contact with
Snowball," many animals are murdered mercilessly.

Napoleon begins working with humans outside, despite the fact that this was previously forbidden. One of them is their
next-door neighbour, Mr. Frederick, a farmer. He sends a group of men to the farm. They destroy the second windmill.
In the "Battle of the Windmill," the animals fight them off at considerable cost. BOXER, their strongest horse, loses his
power due to old age and collapses as the animals were building the third windmill. Despite the fact that Boxer was
faithful to Napoleon, he is sent to be killed. The pigs continue to cooperate with people and begin to adopt HUMAN
CHARACTERISTICS, such as living in the farmhouse and walking on two legs. The sheep are taught a new chant: "Four
legs are good, two legs better."

"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS" replaces the previously set
commandments. Eventually, some animals observe the pigs conversing with a group of people and conclude that they
cannot identify which is which.

ALL REVOLUTIONS ARE DOOMED TO FAIL ONCE THEIR LEADERS BECOME CORRUPT AND SEEK ONLY TO SATISFY THEIR
OWN GREED  THE FINAL MESSAGE BECOMES THE NECESSITY TO AVOID THE CORRUPTION OF NOBLE IDEAS.

CHARACTERS
o NAPOLEON  the pig who emerges as the leader of the Animal Farm after the rebellion; based on STALIN, he
uses military force (nine loyal dogs) to intimidate the other animals and consolidate his power.
o SNOWBALL  the pig who challenges Napoleon for the control of Animal Farm after the Rebellion. Based on
TROTSKY, Snowball is intelligent, passionate, eloquent and less subtle and devious than his counterpart,
Napoleon. Snowball seems to win the loyalty of the other animals and cement his power.
o SQUEALER  the pig who spreads NAPOLEON’S PROPAGANDA among the other animals. Squealer justifies
the pigs’ monopolisation of resources and spreads false statistics pointing to the farm’s success. Orwell uses
Squealer to explore the ways in which those in power often use rhetoric and language to twist the truth and
gain and maintain social and political control.
 o OLD MAJOR  the prize-winning pig whose vision of a socialist utopia serves as the INSPIRATION FOR THE
REBELLION. Three days after describing the vision and teaching the animals the song “Beasts of England,” Major
dies, leaving Snowball and Napoleon to struggle for control of his legacy. Orwell based Major on both the
German political economist Karl Marx and the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilych Lenin.
o BOXER  the carthorse whose incredible STRENGTH, dedication, and LOYALTY play a key role in the early
prosperity of Animal Farm and the later completion of the windmill. Boxer shows much devotion to Animal
Farm’s ideals but little ability to think about them independently. His two mottoes are “I will work harder” and
“Napoleon is always right.”
o CLOVER  a good-hearted female carthorse and Boxer’s close friend. She represents the RUSSIAN WOMAN
who is suffering and tries to understand the situation.
o MOSES  plays only a small role in Animal Farm, but Orwell uses him to explore how communism exploits
RELIGION as something with which to pacify the oppressed.
o MOLLIE  craves the attention of human beings and loves being groomed and pampered. She has a difficult
time with her new life on Animal Farm, as she misses wearing ribbons in her mane and eating sugar cubes. She
represents the petit bourgeoisie that fled from Russia a few years after the Russian Revolution.

SAMUEL BECKETT (1906 – 1989)

Samuel Beckett was born in DUBLIN to a well-off Protestant family. He is an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer,
theatre director, poet and literary translator.

WAITING F OR GODOT

Waiting for Godot is a PLAY that takes place in the THEATRE OF ABSURD.

1st ACT  Two men, VLADIMIR AND ESTRAGON, meet near a TREE. They speak about various topics and reveal that
they are waiting there for a man named GODOT. This man has a white beard and at the same time he punishes, he
does nothing and he saves people. Vladimir and Estragon talk about nothing for hours  THE CONVERSATION IS
ABSURD  they ask for a thing and get answers on different topics  they are not listening to each other (no
communication, no memories, NOTHING). While they wait, two other men enter  POZZO is on his way with his slave,
LUCKY, that has a rope around his neck and brings a suitcase and a picnic bag  Pozzo sits on the road, Lucky takes out
a chicken from the suitcase and Pozzo eats it all throwing bones to the ground. They talk and then, they leave. After
Pozzo and Lucky leave, a BOY enters and tells Vladimir that he is a messenger from Godot. He tells Vladimir that Godot
will not be coming tonight, but that he will surely come tomorrow. Vladimir asks him some questions about Godot and
the boy departs. After his departure, Vladimir and Estragon decide to leave, but they do not move.

2nd ACT  The next night, Vladimir and Estragon again meet near the tree to wait for Godot. They are sitting on the
rock talking about the same things. The tree has some leaves now. Lucky and Pozzo enter again, but this time POZZO IS
BLIND AND LUCKY IS DEAF AND DUMB and he does not have the rope. Pozzo does not remember meeting the two men
the night before. They talk and then, Pozzo and Lucky leave ( seems like the road is circular) while Vladimir and
Estragon continue to wait. Shortly after, the BOY enters and once again tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming.
He insists that he did not speak to Vladimir yesterday. After he leaves, Estragon and Vladimir decide to leave, but again
they do not move as the curtain falls, ending the play.

o HAT  Estragon and Vladimir exchange their hats and Lucky's hat back and forth, trying different ones on.
Given the importance of these hats to their individual owners, this scene can be seen as representing the
fluidity and instability of individual identities in the play.
o MOON  at night they can live, but they stay there at last (= end of a terrible day, tomorrow would be better).
o TREE  maybe is a willow (salice) which is the symbol of LIFE, time passing, DEATH and loneliness.
o ROAD  is an open road that represents a destination, the POSSIBILITY TO GO AWAY.
o BOOTS  without the boots you can’t walk, with the boots you can leave.

In the 2nd act, Pozzo and Lucky are different and, moreover, they have a meaning:
 o POZZO  he represents the BRITISH EMPIRE, that controls and exploits the colonies; he is blind because the
British Empire can’t see that the colonies are going to rebel
o LUCKY  he represents the COLONIES; he is deaf and dumb because the colonies have no rights.

JAMES JOYCE (1882 – 1941)

James Joyce was born in DUBLIN; he was the son of a civil servant. He was with NORA BARNACLE and then, they moved
first to AUSTRIA, where Joyce was an English teacher, and second to TRIESTE, where Joyce met Italo Svevo and had the
first child GIORGIO and the second one LUCIA. In 1922 Joyce published ULYSSES, but only in France (the novel was too
vulgar). In 1931 he married Nora and he died in 1941.

ULYSSES (1922)

''Ulysses'' is the story of one day in the life of people living in Dublin, the 16th of June 1904. The three main characters
are LEOPOLD BLOOM, his wife MOLLY and a young man called STEPHEN DEDALUS. There are also dozens of minor
characters of greater or lesser importance. Bloom, 38 years old, is an advertising salesman, not too successful but
making a modest living. The Blooms have a daughter, MILLY, 15, who lives in another town and is learning to be a
photographer. (They also had a son who died aged 11 days).

BLOOM is of Jewish origin but he converted to Catholicism in order to marry Molly. On this day, 16th June 1904, Bloom
spends most of the day GOING AROUND THE CITY. He does a bit of business in the local newspaper offices in connection
with an advertisement, he goes to the National Library, wanders around the city centre and spends some time in pubs
and a restaurant. In the evening he goes to the maternity hospital to enquire about an acquaintance who is having a
baby and who has been in labour for three days.

STEPHEN DEDALUS has also spent the day in various parts of the city. He has left the converted tower where he lives
with two ''friends'', Buck Mulligan and an Englishman named Haines, he has taught in a school (he is a part-time teacher
but doesn't like the job ), he has been in the newspaper offices with various journalists, academics and assorted riff-
raff, he has expounded a rather absurd theory about ''Hamlet'' in the National Library and has been around the streets
and in various pubs. He is an unhappy young man. He has recently come back to Dublin from Paris because his mother
was dying, and after her death he moved out of the family home because he doesn't get on with his father. He is
alienated from society in general. He doesn't like the Catholic church, he doesn't like Ireland's subservience to England,
but he doesn't like the Irish Nationalists either. He is living in a kind of limbo, waiting for a new development in his life.

At different moments during the day the paths of Bloom and Stephen cross or nearly cross as they go about the city.
THEY FINALLY MEET IN THE MATERNITY HOSPITAL. When Bloom has asked about the woman in labour, he is then
invited to join a group of doctors, students and various riff-raff who are talking and drinking in a room in the hospital.
He accepts the invitation although he does not drink much. Stephen is among the men there. Bloom takes an interest
in Stephen because he knows his father and he perceives that his so-called friends are not really sincere in their
friendship. Stephen is rather drunk.

They all go on from the hospital to “NIGHTTOWN”, the brothel area of Dublin. This is the longest chapter in the book,
a phantasmagoria nightmare, a kaleidoscope of dreams, the subconscious and fantasies. It is written in the form of a
play or film-script. We learn particularly of some of Bloom's sexual fantasies and Stephen's memories of his mother. At
the end of it all Stephen gets into a fight with an English soldier and is knocked down. The police are called, the soldier
runs away and Stephen is in danger of being arrested for disturbing the peace. Bloom intervenes and saves Stephen
from arrest. The two then go to an all-night cafe and have SOME COFFEE AND TALK. Stephen, previously, has quarrelled
with his friends and can't go back to the tower and he doesn't want to go to his father's house so he has nowhere to
sleep. Bloom offers him a bed for the night and they go to Bloom's house, but after more coffee (cocoa) and conversation
Stephen declines Bloom's offer and goes away, we don't know where.

Bloom then goes to bed. He is tired, he has been out all day. Why? Because MOLLY IS UNFAITHFUL; she has received a
new lover during the day  Bloom does not know how to deal with the situation so he tries to ignore it. In fact, we
have seen Molly at the beginning of the book (Chapter 4) and for the rest of the book she has not been present, although
she is continually in Bloom's mind. Now, in the last chapter of the book, she has her moment. In a 60-page tour-de-
force, with no punctuation at all, she thinks about her day, her life, her past in Gibraltar where she was brought up, her
lovers, particularly her new one and her husband. In fact, she thinks more about him than about anyone, really. The
final pages of the book show her remembering the day Bloom proposed to her and her acceptance of him. The last
word of the book is “YES”.

EPISO DE 4  CALYPSO
KITCHEN

MR. LEOPOLD BLOOM ATE WITH RELISH THE INNER ORGANS OF BEASTS and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty
gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crust crumbs, fried hen cod’s roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton
kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.

Kidneys were in his mind as he moved about the kitchen softly, righting her breakfast things on the humpy tray. Gelid
light and air were in the kitchen but out of doors gentle summer morning everywhere. Made him feel a bit peckish.

The coals were reddening.

Another slice of bread and butter: three, four: right. She didn't like her plate full. Right. He turned from the tray, lifted
the kettle off the hob and set it sideways on the fire. It sat there, dull and squat, its spout stuck out. Cup of tea soon.
Good. Mouth dry. The cat walked stiffly round a leg of the table with tail on high.

- Mrkrgnao!

- O, there you are, Mr Bloom said, turning from the fire.

The cat mewed in answer and stalked again stiffly round a leg of the table, mewing. Just how she stalks over my writing-
table. Prr. Scratch my head. Prr.

Mr Bloom watched curiously, kindly, the lithe black form. Clean to see: the gloss of her sleek hide, the white button
under the butt of her tail, the green flashing eyes. He bent down to her, his hands on his knees.

- Milk for the pussens, he said.

- Mrkrgnao! the cat cried.

They call them stupid. They understand what we say better than we understand them. She understands all she wants
to. Vindictive too. Wonder what I look like to her. Height of a tower? No, she can jump me.

- Afraid of the chickens she is, he said mockingly. Afraid of the chook chooks. I never saw such a stupid pussens
as the pussens.

Cruel. Her nature. Curious mice never squeal. Seem to like it.

- Mrkrgnao! the cat said loudly.

She blinked up out of her avid shame closing eyes, mewing plaintively and long, showing him her milk white teeth. He
watched the dark eye slits narrowing with greed till her eyes were green stones. Then he went to the dresser, took the
jug Hanlon's milkman had just filled for him, poured warm bubbled milk on a saucer and set it slowly on the floor.

- Gurrhr! she cried, running to lap.

He watched the bristles shining wirily in the weak light as she tipped three times and licked lightly. Wonder is it true if
you clip them, they can't mouse after. Why? They shine in the dark, perhaps, the tips. Or kind of feelers in the dark,
perhaps.

TOILET
Asquat on the cuckstool he folded out his paper, turning its pages over on his bared knees. Something new and easy. No
great hurry. Keep it a bit. Our prize tidbit: MATCHAM’S MASTERSTROKE. Written by Mr. Philip Beaufoy, Playgoers Club,
London. Payment at the rate of one guinea a column has been made to the writer. Three and a half. Three pounds three.

Three pounds, thirteen and six.

Quietly he read, restraining himself, the first column and, yielding but resisting, began the second. Midway, his last
resistance yielding, he allowed his bowels to ease themselves quietly as he read, reading still patiently, that slight
constipation of yesterday quite gone. Hope it's not too big bring on piles again. No, just right. So. Ah! Costive one tabloid
of cascara sagrada. Life might be so. It did not move or touch him but it was something quick and neat. Print anything
now.

AT THE BUTCHER’S

A kidney oozed blood gouts on the willow patterned dish: the last. He stood by the next-door girl at the counter. Would
she buy it too, calling the items from a slip in her hand? Chapped: washing soda. And a pound and a half of Denny's
sausages. His eyes rested on her vigorous hips. Woods his name is. Wonder what he does. Wife is oldish. New blood. No
followers allowed. Strong pair of arms. Whacking a carpet on the clothesline. She does whack it, by George. The way her
crooked skirt swings at each whack.

LAST CHAPTER
In the last chapter of Ulysses, Joyce does not use commons or full stops  he uses only one at the end, after the last
word “Yes”.