People have found every sort of obscure multilingual pun in every line. A good rule of thumb is to ignore secondary echoes unless they're needed to explain Joyce's exact spellings. Eg, "commodius" seems to require "Commodus" because of the missing "o", but FW2 has restored that "o" so we can ignore Commodus altogether.
The first chapter is a condensed overview of the fundamental archetypes of human history, as Joyce saw them. [digest] We might picture it as the book's "rebooting" sequence.
The first paragraph offers a geographic metaphor of the Liffey River (ALP) flowing through Dublin past Adam and Eve's Church. Howth Castle is chosen mainly for the initials echoing "HCE", which will appear on almost every page.
For "riverrun" I like the French rêverons: "let us dream".
"vicus" can be pronounced VYcus, VEEcus, VIHcus, WIHcus or WEEcus. "Vico" is always VEEco, I think. Howth rhymes with oath.
The second paragraph seems to offer seven primary themes, as "not yet"s (but no neat theory yet accounts for these specific seven):
- Sir Tristram had passencore rearrived
- nor had topsawyer’s rocks exaggerated themselse ["Oconee"]
- nor avoice bellowsed mishe mishe
- not yet had a kidscad buttended isaac [Parnell]
- not yet were sosie sesthers wroth with nathandjoe
- Rot a peck of malt had Jhem or Shen brewed [♬ brewed a peck o'malt]
- rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen
The third paragraph deals with the sin/fall/death/burial of a great man. This emphasis may be entirely coincidental, inspired by Joyce's patron Harriet Weaver's humorous request for a piece about a megalith called the Giant's Grave in nw England:
The first of ten hundred-letter thunderclaps tries to express Joyce's genuine, infantile terror at the sound of thunder. [♬ erse solid man]
Fweet indexes over a hundred motifs, including on just this page: 4-stage Viconian cycle, the Letter, HCE, red/violet, 4 elements, mishe/tauf, Butt/Taff, Shem/Shaun, 100-letter thunderword, and Left/Right. Numerological patterns like 2, 4, 7, 12,and 29 are fundamental to Joyce's love of symmetry.
[oldparr]
FDV: "Howth Castle & Environs! Sir Tristram had not encore arrived from North Armorica, nor stones exaggerated theirselves in Laurens county, Ga, doubling all the time, nor a voice answered mishe mishe to tufftuff thouartpatrick. Not yet had a kidson buttended an isaac not yet had twin sesthers played siege to twone Jonathan. Not a peck of malt had Shem and Son brewed & bad luck to the regginbrew was to be seen on the waterface. The story of the fall is retailed early in bed and later in life throughout most christian minstrelsy. The fall of the wall at once entailed the fall of Finnigan, and the humpty hill himself promptly sends an inquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes. Two facts have come down to us [...] is at the knock out in the park where there have always been oranges on the green always & ever since the Devlin first loved liffey." (Trying to simplify Hayman's FDV is awkward: the oldest layers are hardest to read, and Joyce revised continually as he wrote.)
Healy gives "Environs" the French pronunciation to rhyme with riverrun/reverons.
[0:00-1:26]
I.1: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
riverrun,
ReplyDeletepast Eve and Adam's,
from swerve of shore
to bend of bay,
brings us
by a commodious vicus of recirculation
back to Howth Castle & Environs.
Sir Tristram,
violer d'amores,
fr'over the short sea,
had passencore rearrived from North Armorica
on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe Minor
to wielderfight his penisolate war:
nor had topsawyer's rocks
by the stream Oconee
exaggerated themselse to Laurens County's gorgios
while they went doublin their mumper all the time:
nor avoice from afire bellowsed
mishe mishe
to tauftauf thuartpeatrick:
not yet, though venisoon after,
had a kidscad buttended a bland old isaac:
not yet, though all's fair in vanessy,
were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe.
Rot a peck of pa's malt
had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight
and rory end to the regginbrow
was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.
The fall
(bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!)
of a once wallstrait oldparr
is retaled early in bed and later on life
down through all christian minstrelsy.
The great fall of the offwall
entailed at such short notice
the pftjschute of Finnegan,
erse solid man,
that the humptyhillhead of humself
prumptly sends an unquiring one
well to the west
in quest of his tumptytumtoes:
and their upturnpikepointandplace
is at the knock out in the park
where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green
since devlins first loved livvy.