As I dive deeper into some scholarship on The Wake, I'll try to keep these words by Patrick Kavanagh in mind:
“Who Killed
James Joyce?”
Who killed James Joyce?
I, said the commentator,
I killed James Joyce
For my graduation.
I, said the commentator,
I killed James Joyce
For my graduation.
What weapon was used
To slay mighty Ulysses?
The weapon that was used
Was a Harvard thesis.
To slay mighty Ulysses?
The weapon that was used
Was a Harvard thesis.
How did you bury Joyce?
In a broadcast Symposium.
That’s how we buried Joyce
To a tuneful encomium.
In a broadcast Symposium.
That’s how we buried Joyce
To a tuneful encomium.
Who carried the coffin out?
Six Dublin codgers
Led into Langham Place
By W. R. Rodgers.
Six Dublin codgers
Led into Langham Place
By W. R. Rodgers.
Who said the burial prayers? –
Please do not hurt me –
Joyce was no Protestant,
Surely not Bertie?
Please do not hurt me –
Joyce was no Protestant,
Surely not Bertie?
Who killed Finnegan?
I, said a Yale-man,
I was the man who made
The corpse for the wake man.
I, said a Yale-man,
I was the man who made
The corpse for the wake man.
And did you get high marks,
The Ph.D.?
I got the B.Litt.
And my master’s degree.
Did you get moneyThe Ph.D.?
I got the B.Litt.
And my master’s degree.
For your Joycean knowledge?
I got a scholarship
To Trinity College.
I made the pilgrimage
In the Bloomsday swelter
From the Martello Tower
To the cabby’s shelter.
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