PoemsJames Joyce2014

James Joyce, though better known as a novelist, was also an accomplished poet. Chamber Music, his debut collection, fused the styles of the Celtic Revival with his own brand of playful irony and has inspired composers as diverse as Samuel Barber, Luciano Berio and Syd Barrett. His second collection, Pomes Penyeach, written between 1904 and 1924 sounds intimately autobiographical notes of passion and betrayal that resonate through the rest of his work. Other poems include the well-known ‘Ecce Puer’, written for his newborn grandson, and his fierce satires, ‘The Holy Office’ and ‘Gas from a Burner’.