"Tonight deftly amid wild drink and talk, to pierce the polished mail of his mind."

— Joyce, James (1882-1941)


Work Title
Place of Publication
Paris
Publisher
Shakespeare and Company
Date
1922
Metaphor
"Tonight deftly amid wild drink and talk, to pierce the polished mail of his mind."
Metaphor in Context
For Haines's chapbook. No-one here to hear. Tonight deftly amid wild drink and talk, to pierce the polished mail of his mind. What then? A jester at the court of his master, indulged and disesteemed, winning a clement master's praise. Why had they chosen all that part? Not wholly for the smooth caress. For them too history was a tale like any other too often heard, their land a pawnshop.
(p. 21)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
James Joyce, Ulysses, eds. H.W. Gabler, W. Steppe, and C. Melchior (New York: Vintage, 1984).
Date of Entry
06/17/2011

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.