(no subject)

[c-quilty.livejournal.com]

A Flower Given to My Daughter

Frail the white rose and frail are
Her hands that gave
Whose soul is sere and paler
Than time's wan wave.

Rosefrail and fair -- yet frailest
A wonder wild
In gentle eyes thou veilest,
My blueveined child.

-- James Joyce

Comments

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

that's why he's best known as a novelist

no, I kid

but interesting how old-fashioned his word choice is here ("thou veilest"), compared with his fiction

[c-quilty.livejournal.com]

True, but the poem is really just a steady progression to the startling description of his daughter, which is perfectly compatible with the style of Ulysses.

:P~

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

maybe Joyce wrote:

"youveil; (w)rest!,"

instead of

"thou veilest"

but some editor made a goof