2. “…but a bloody sweep came along and he near
drove his gear into my eye.” (12.2-3)
• The near miss of the chimney sweep’s broom and ladder
(reminiscent of Odysseus’s burning pike of olive wood) suggests
that the narrator is one of the Cyclopes.
3. “…beyond by the garrison church at the corner of
Chicken lane” (12.13-14)
• Garrison Church, attached to Garrison Schools and a military
hospital and the Provost Marshal’s Prison.
4. “Sure, he’s out in John of God’s off his head, poor
man.” (12.55)
• House of St. John of God, Stillorgan Park, County Dublin, was a
“Licensed Private Asylum for the Insane.”
5. “I want to see the citizen.” (12.58)
• Modeled on Michael Cusack (1847-1907), founder of the Gaelic Athletic
Association (1884), which was dedicated to the revival of Irish sports such as
hurling, Gaelic football, and handball.
6. “In Inisfail the fair there lies a land, the land of holy
Michan. There rises a watchtower beheld of men
afar.” (12.68)
• Barney Kiernan’s pub was in St. Michan’s parish.
• The 100-foot-square tower of St. Michan’s dates from the twelfth century and is
considerably older than the church itself.
7. “And there rises a shining palace whose crystal
glittering roof is seen by mariners…” (12.87-88)
• The Dublin Corporation Fruit, Vegetable, and Fish Market, between
St. Michan’s and Arran streets.
8. “Thither the extremely large wains bring foison of the
fields” (12.91)
• Large open horse-drawn vehicles used for carrying heavy loads,
especially of agricultural produce.
9. “Rangoon beans” (12.92-93)
• A variety of muskmelon, two to three feet long, one to three inches
in diameter; they resemble giant string beans and are used
sometimes for preserves but more often as an oddity gourd.
10. “drills of Swedes” (12.93)
• A “Swede” is a large variety of yellow turnip; a “drill” is the small
furrow in which seed is sown.
11. “… from M’Gillicuddy’s reeks the inaccessible and lordly
Shannon the unfathomable” (12.112)
• McGillicuddy’s Reeks, the highest mountain range in Ireland, is in
County Kerry, “the wild southwest.”
• The River Shannon runs south through central Ireland and then west
to the Atlantic.
12. “The eyes in which a tear and a smile strove ever for
the mastery…” (12.161-62)
• From Thomas Moore’s poem “Erin, the Tear and the Smile in Thine
Eyes,” in Irish Melodies.
13. “Cuchulin, Conn of hundred battles” (12.176-77)
• Cuchulin, (The Hound of Culan or Hound of Feats), a legendary figure, the
great hero of the Red Branch Knights of Ulster. (Pictured left)
• Conn of hundred battles, the first of the high kings of Ireland.
14. “Art MacMurragh, […], Father John Murphy, Owen
Roe” (12.177-78)
• Art MacMurragh (1357-1417), he was famous for his refusal to submit to Richard II’s
overlordship of Ireland. (Pictured left)
• Father John Murphy (1753-98), a priest and patriot, one of the first and principal
leaders in the southeast during the Rebellion of 1798. (Pictured center)
• Owen Roe O’Neill (1590-1649), an Irish soldier who served in the Spanish army.
15. “Red Hugh O’Donnell, […], Soggarth Eoghan
O’Growney, Michael Dwyer” (12.179-80)
• Red Hugh O’Donnell (1571-1602), lord of Tyrconnell. He was imprisoned in Dublin
Castle in 1587 but escaped. (Pictured left)
• Father Eugene O’Growney (1863-99), one of the moving spirits of the Gaelic revival
and a founder of the Gaelic League. (Pictured center)
• Michael Dwyer (1771-1816), a leader of the Rebellion of 1798, he eluded the English
for five years. (Pictured right)
16. “Henry Joy M’Cracken, […], Peg Woffington, […],
Captain Boycott” (12.180-82)
• Henry Joy M’Cracken (1767-98), a leader of the United Irishmen in Ulster.
• Margaret Woffington (1720-60), a Dublin street child whose career as one of the
most successful actresses of her time began in 1737. (Pictured center)
• Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-97), an Englishman who was land agent in
Ireland for an absentee landowner, the earl of Erne. He was a widely publicized
victim of the treatment that subsequently bore his name. (Pictured right)
17. “S.Fursa, S.Brendan, […], Charlemagne, Theobald
Wolfe Tone” (12.183-84)
• S. Fursa, an Irish saint, festival 16 January. His mission founded a monastery in Ireland, another
in England, and two on the Continent. (Pictured left)
• S. Brendan (484-577), an Irish saint, festival 16 May. He founded monasteries in Ireland and in
Brittany and was called Brendan the Navigator after his voyages.
• Charles the Great (742-814), king of the Franks after 768 and Roman emperor.
• Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763-98), an Irish revolutionary and one of the founders of the United
Irishmen. (Pictured right)
18. “Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte, John L.
Sullivan” (12.187)
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), famous for, among other things, his “way with the
ladies.” (Pictured left)
• Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), more successful as a conqueror than as a
lover.
• John L. Sullivan (1858-1918), the Irish-American heavyweight champion from
Boston, Massachusetts.
19. “Julius Caesar, Paracelsus” (12.188)
• Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) (Pictured left)
• Phillippus Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541), a German-Swiss alchemist
and physician noted in medical history for his attention to pharmaceutical
chemistry and famous as the author of a visionary Theosophical system.
20. “sir Thomas Lipton, William Tell” (12.188-89)
• Sir Thomas Lipton (1850-1931), a Glasgow-born millionaire merchant of
Irish parentage, known for the tea that still bears his name. (Pictured left)
• William Tell, the hero of a Swiss legend, he was forced by a tyrant to prove
his marksmanship by shooting an apple off his son’s head. (Pictured right)
21. “Peter the Packer, […], Tristan and Isolde, the first
Prince of Wales, Thomas Cook and Son” (12.190-93)
• Peter the Packer, a nickname for Lord Peter O’Brien of Kilfenora (1842-1914), crown counsel and
eventually lord chief justice of Ireland. (Pictured left)
• Tristan and Isolde, the hero and heroine of the legendary love story are associated with Ireland
because Isolde is an Irish princess.
• Edward II of England (1284-1327), was the first heir apparent of the English throne to bear the
subsequently traditional title Prince of Wales (1301).
• Thomas Cook and Son, the travel agency, founded in 1841. (Pictured right)
22. “Arthur Wellesley, Boss Croker” (12.196)
• Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), duke of Wellington. The Dublin-born duke was
not the soul of popularity in his native country. (Pictured left)
• Richard Crocker (1843-1922), an Irish-born American politician; he became
leader of the Tammany Hall Democratic machine in New York City.
23. “Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Don Philip O’Sullivan
Beare” (12.199)
• Jeremiah O’Donovan (1831-1915), a Fenian leader whose advocacy of violent
measures in Ireland’s struggle for independence earned him the nickname
“Dynamite Rossa.” (Pictured left)
• Don Philip O’Sullivan Beare (1590-1660), the Irish-born Spanish soldier and
historian who wrote Historiae Catholicae Iberniae Compendium.
24. “For the old woman of Prince’s street, says the
citizen, the subsidised organ.” (12.218-19)
• That is, the Freeman’s Journal, which was regarded as the “official” newspaper
of the Irish Nationalist cause.
25. “The Irish Independent, if you please, founded by
Parnell to be the workingman’s friend.” (12.220-21)
• The Freeman’s Journal held to its support of Parnell long after most of his
supporters had turned against him.
26. “How’s that for Martin Murphy, the Bantry jobber?”
(12.237)
• William Martin Murphy (1844-1921) was the owner of the Irish Daily
Independent.
27. “…the noble twin brothers Bungiveah and
Bungarilaun” (12.281-82)
• Sir Edward Guinness, Lord Iveagh (pictured left), and Sir Arthur Guinness,
Lord Ardilaun, brothers though not twins, owned Guinness’s Brewery.
28. “…cunning as the sons of deathless Leda.” (12.282-
83)
• In Greek mythology, Castor, the tamer of horses, and Pollux, the adept
boxer, were the twin sons of Leda, who had been impregnated by Zeus
disguised as a swan.
29. “…a testoon of costliest bronze” (12.291)
• A silver-bronze shilling coin introduced in the reign of Henry VIII.
30. “Communication was effected through the pituitary
body…” (12.343)
• Or gland, regarded by some Theosophists and spiritualists as that which
unites the body with the soul.
31. “…for it was reported in devanic circles that Mars
and Jupiter were out for mischief on the eastern
angle where the ram has power.” (12.359-60)
• In astrology, the planet Jupiter signifies a high-spirited, energetic mind,
committed to new and progressive ideas and somewhat religiously inclined.
• Mars signifies a passionate, challenging temperament.
32. “Master Barber” (12.431)
• Barbers were originally surgeons and dentists as well as dressers of beards
and hair.
33. “I heard that from the head warder that was in
Kilmainham when they hanged Joe Brady, the
invincible.” (12.460)
• Kilmainham Gaol, on the western outskirts of Dublin, was notorious for the
generations of Irish patriots who were imprisoned and/or executed within its
walls.
34. “…the men of sixtyseven” (12.481)
• The Fenians made an attempt at rebellion in 1867, but it was abortive for
various reasons.
35. “…the brothers Sheares” (12.498-99)
• Henry (1755-98) and John (1766-98) Sheares were both members of the
United Irishmen in the Rebellion of 1798. Betrayed by an informer, they
were captured and went hand in hand to their execution.
36. “…the Tommy Moore touch about Sara Curran and
she’s far from the land.” (12.500-501)
• Sara Curran was secretly engaged to Robert Emmet, and, on the evidence
of letters found on him when he was captured, implicated in his plot.
37. “…the matchless melody endeared to us from the
cradle by Speranza’s plaintive muse.” (12.538-39)
• Speranza, the pseudonym of Jane Francisca Elgee, Lady Wilde (1826-96),
Oscar Wilde’s mother.
38. “Borus Hupinkoff” (12.566)
• The pun includes Boris Godunov (1551-1605), virtual regent of Russia and
then czar. The reign of the historical Boris was a mixed blessing for Russia.
39. “…as to whether the eighth or the ninth of March
was the correct date of the birth of Ireland’s patron
saint.” (12.573-74)
• St. Patrick (c.385-c.461). Not only is the day of his birth unknown but also
the year and the place.
40. “…which has been in the possession of his family
since the revolution of Rienzi” (12.607)
• Cola di Rienzi (1313-54) was a Roman popular leader. In 1347 he led a
revolution in Rome, successfully displacing the ruling aristocracy and
introducing governmental reforms.
41. “…and there was a fellow with a Ballyhooly blue
ribbon badge” (12.689)
• Identifies the wearer as a member of a temperance brigade founded by the
“apostle of temperance,” the Reverend Theobald Mathew, in Ballyhooly, a
village near Fermoy in County Cork.
42. “the famous Raftery” (12.729)
• Anthony Raftery (1784-1834), the blind Irish poet known as “the last of the
bards.”
43. “Mr Allfours (Tamoshant. Con.)” (12.865)
• In addition to the pun, “Allfours” suggests the Right Honorable Arthur James
Balfour, afterwards Earl Balfour (1848-1930), a Scot, first lord of the
Treasury, leader of the House of Commons, and Conservative prime
minister in 1904.
44. “…the rev. P.J. Kavanagh” (12.928-29)
• Patrick Fidelis Kavanagh (1834-1916), an Irish priest, poet, and historian known
for his ability an an orator and for his History of the Rebellion of 1798.
