Evoking the Female Presence: Tayler Morrissey's Project for English 197I will go back to the great sweet mother,
Mother and lover of men, the sea.
I will go down to her, I and none other,
Close with her, kiss her and mix her with me;
Cling to her, strive with her, hold her fast:
O fair white mother, in days long past
Born without sister, born without brother,
Set free my soul as thy soul is free.
O fair green-girdled mother of mine,
Sea, that art clothed with the sun and the rain,
Thy sweet hard kisses are strong like wine,
They large embraces are keen like pain.
Save me and hide me with all thy waves,
Find me one grave of thy thousand graves,
Those pure cold populous graves of thine
Wrought without hand in a world without stain.
("The Triumph of Time" by Algernon Charles Swinburne, lines 257-72)
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Buck Mulligan references this poem in the "Telemachus" episode of Ulysses when he addresses the sea as "our great sweet mother" (5; 1.80). The speaker of the poem apostrophizes his dead lover, who had, before she died, become distant from his love. To end his suffering, he turns to the sea as "mother and lover of men" (ln. 258). Portrayed as a gentle oblivion, the speaker wishes to drown himself in one last overwhelming experience of pain and catharsis, cleanse himself of desire and depression, and so die a merciful death.
It is interesting that both Stephen and the speaker of the poem relate the ocean as their own personal mother figure. While Stephen is terrified of being overcome or made anonymous, the speaker of "The Triumph of Time" begs to be saved and hidden (ln. 268). The speaker welcomes being enfolded by the female presence of the mother-sea, as the presence of the woman he loves is what he truly longs for. He can find solace in the feminine ocean. Stephen, on the other hand, is incredibly anxious about femininity and the meeting of dichotomies such as man/woman. Much more comfortable when he knows the rules of the game, Stephen would far rather suffer with his pain and guilt than allow himself to concede to the feminine or the sentimental.
Mother and lover of men, the sea.
I will go down to her, I and none other,
Close with her, kiss her and mix her with me;
Cling to her, strive with her, hold her fast:
O fair white mother, in days long past
Born without sister, born without brother,
Set free my soul as thy soul is free.
O fair green-girdled mother of mine,
Sea, that art clothed with the sun and the rain,
Thy sweet hard kisses are strong like wine,
They large embraces are keen like pain.
Save me and hide me with all thy waves,
Find me one grave of thy thousand graves,
Those pure cold populous graves of thine
Wrought without hand in a world without stain.
("The Triumph of Time" by Algernon Charles Swinburne, lines 257-72)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buck Mulligan references this poem in the "Telemachus" episode of Ulysses when he addresses the sea as "our great sweet mother" (5; 1.80). The speaker of the poem apostrophizes his dead lover, who had, before she died, become distant from his love. To end his suffering, he turns to the sea as "mother and lover of men" (ln. 258). Portrayed as a gentle oblivion, the speaker wishes to drown himself in one last overwhelming experience of pain and catharsis, cleanse himself of desire and depression, and so die a merciful death.
It is interesting that both Stephen and the speaker of the poem relate the ocean as their own personal mother figure. While Stephen is terrified of being overcome or made anonymous, the speaker of "The Triumph of Time" begs to be saved and hidden (ln. 268). The speaker welcomes being enfolded by the female presence of the mother-sea, as the presence of the woman he loves is what he truly longs for. He can find solace in the feminine ocean. Stephen, on the other hand, is incredibly anxious about femininity and the meeting of dichotomies such as man/woman. Much more comfortable when he knows the rules of the game, Stephen would far rather suffer with his pain and guilt than allow himself to concede to the feminine or the sentimental.
