The poem Lycidas in James Joyce's Ulysses

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5, University of Hannover (Englisches Seminar), course: Ulysses, language: English, abstract: The references to other pieces of literature play an important role In James Joyce-s -Ulysses-.
The title itself, alluding to Homer-s Odyssey, is the first of such references to be found when
reading the book. Other famous examples are Stephen Dedalus- treatment of Shakespeare-s
-Hamlet- and Chapter 12, which is a parody of different styles of literature. As the reader
should expect of a work deeply concerned with religious matters, John Milton also is one of
the poets whose works are frequently being referred to throughout -Ulysses-. While the
poems -Paradise Lost- and -Paradise Regained- (to a lesser degree also -Samson Agonistes-)
are those among Milton-s poems which are used the most by Joyce, the poem -Lycidas- plays
a central role in the 2nd chapter. The fact that it is placed so early in the book makes the
poem-s meaning to the book very special, even more so, as one has to keep in mind that the
structure of -Ulysses- is elementary for the understanding of its contents.