The Ballad of Pierce O'Reilly (Humpty Dumpty)

The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly - a poem from the book Finnegans Wake written by James Joyce.

📝 Explanatory Notes on Verses 13 & 14 of The Ballad of Pierce O'Reilly

These verses detail the symbolic burial of HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker), confirming his downfall and emphasizing the finality of his loss. The language mocks nationalist fervor, blends Irish history with Norse/Viking history, and concludes with a definitive inversion of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme.

Verse 13

This verse describes the public celebration and "funeral" of HCE, ironically framed as a nationalist triumph over a foreign/Viking invader.

• Then we'll have a free trade Gael's band and mass meeting
  • Textual Analysis: Refers to a public, possibly political, gathering. "Gael's band" and "mass meeting" mock the spectacle of Irish nationalist rallies. The phrase "free trade" injects an economic, commercial element into the mock-funeral, suggesting the public is quick to profit from HCE's collapse.
  • Key Themes: Public Spectacle & Mock Nationalism: The funeral is treated as a political event and a market opportunity.
• For to sod the brave son of Scandiknavery.
  • Textual Analysis: "sod" means to bury (cover with sod/turf). "Scandiknavery" is a classic Joyce portmanteau combining Scandinavia (referencing the Norse/Viking origins of Dublin and HCE's role as the mythical Viking invader) and knavery (dishonesty/villainy). This identifies HCE as the treacherous foreign element being buried.
  • Key Themes: Viking History & Treachery: HCE is cast as the historical Scandinavian villain, finally defeated and buried by the Irish people (the "Gaels").
• And we'll bury him down in Oxmanstown
  • Textual Analysis: "Oxmanstown" is a historical district in Dublin, located near the River Liffey and associated with early Norse settlements. This grounds the mythic burial in a specific, ancient Dublin location.
  • Key Themes: Dublin Geography: The burial is geographically specific, linking HCE to the city's origins.
• With the deaf and dumb Danes, / The deaf and dumb Danes, / And all their remains.
  • Textual Analysis: The Danes (Vikings) were historically significant invaders of Dublin. The repeated phrase "deaf and dumb" emphasizes their silence and inability to defend themselves or speak (their history/language is dead). HCE is buried among the historical, silenced dead.
  • Key Themes: Silence & History: HCE's fate is to join the silent, conquered history of the Danish invaders.

Verse 14

This verse serves as the definitive anti-climax, directly inverting the famous lines from the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme to declare that HCE's fall is permanent and irreversible.

• And all the king's men and his horses
  • Textual Analysis: This is a direct quotation from the **Humpty Dumpty** nursery rhyme ("All the king's horses and all the king's men..."). By changing the word order, Joyce subtly shifts the emphasis or rhythm while retaining the core allusion.
  • Key Themes: Nursery Rhyme Inversion: Sets up the expectation of the famous failure to reassemble.
• Couldn't resurrect his corpus
  • Textual Analysis: "corpus" (Latin for body) confirms that the "fall" is equivalent to death/complete ruin. The line emphatically states that no power-military or royal (the king's men)-can bring HCE back to his former state.
  • Key Themes: Finality of Death/Ruin: The Humpty Dumpty parallel is resolved: he cannot be fixed.
• And there's no true spell in Connacht or hell
  • Textual Analysis: "Connacht" is the western, mythical, and least "modern" province of Ireland, traditionally associated with magic, folklore, and ancient power. The phrase says neither the magic of Earth (*Connacht*) nor the power of the Underworld (*hell*) can reverse the outcome. Possibly refers to Oliver Cromwell's decree to Irish catholics: "to Hell or to Connacht"
  • Key Themes: The Impossibility of Reversal: No power, earthly or supernatural, can resurrect him.
• That's able to raise a Cain.
  • Textual Analysis: A final, complex pun. 1. It is a slight corruption of the Biblical phrase **"raise the Cain"** (i.e., cause trouble or a commotion). 2. It references the biblical figure **Cain**, the first murderer, establishing HCE's ruin as a deep, primal sin. 3. It implies that HCE, like Humpty Dumpty, is broken beyond resurrection, leaving behind only the legacy of original sin and familial strife (Cain and Abel). The word "able" is also a play on "Abel".
  • Key Themes: Sin and Genesis: The failure to resurrect HCE is tied to original, inescapable sin.

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