2.32 analysing Sirens 1

Here we analyse the first half of the Sirens episode. Joyce endeavours to write music with words...well, sort of. If you are technically musical, you might get a kick out of that. For the rest of us, we will work with that but not get over concerned. Of greater import is that the feted hour of 4 o'clock occurs in this episode. Bloom is worried. Why is Boylan still in the bar and where is he going when he leaves a few minutes after? The Sirens episode turns on two songs, this time M'Appari, a song of love and loss from the opera Martha. Next time, The Croppy Boy, a song to rouse a nationalist tear in the eye of even the most hardened among us. Penguin Classic: 328Gabler: 210Project Guttenberg: Bronze by gold heard the hoofironsThis podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is in the public domain in the UK. This recording includes commentary, interpretation, and contextual explanation, and is not presented as a standalone audiobook. The readings in this podcast are provided for educational and discussion purposes. They are interwoven with commentary and analysis videos and are not intended to reproduce any specific commercial edition. The underlying text of Ulysses is in the public domain in the UK, and the reading here is part of a broader interpretive session. During sessions I refer to several editions of Ulysses for ease of navigation, including the Penguin Modern Classics edition or the Bodley Head 1993 'Gabler' edition or the Project Gutenberg e-book based on pre-1923 print editions. And may read from each and other editions. Page references are provided to help readers follow along in whichever edition they own. The reading itself is embedded within the broader commentary and discussion of the analysis podcasts and is not intended as a verbatim reproduction of any particular edition. This podcast contains or refers to commentary, analysis, and original discussion.© 2026 North London Ulysses and Russell Raphael. All rights reserved.