Elise\’s Blog

James Joyce “All Day I Hear”

This poem has a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b-a-b-c-b-a-b-c-b. In this poem, Joyce creates a mood that is mundane and gray. He does so by using phrases that represent repetition. For instance, he says “All day I hear the noise of waters” which is him referring to the crashing of the waves, which repeatedly occurs. He also makes the reader feel as though they are stuck in a boring and gray atmosphere by using the word, “Monotone,” as the sixth line. This is going back to the repetition of the waves crashing. Another reference to the repetition of the waves is when Joyce says in his last four lines “I hear the noise of many waters/ Far below./ All day, all night, I hear them flowing/ To and fro.” There Joyce is talking about how no matter when it is, he always hears the waves going back and forth, therefore making it an everyday occurrence and somewhat dull and ordinary. Also, Joyce creates the feeling that a certain sadness is looming over his head wheverever he goes by saying “The grey winds, the cold winds are blowing/ Where I go.” The wind is a symbol of his sadness and it does not seem to go away and it ties in with the continuity of the waves. It seems as though there is a link between the permanent wind (sadness) and the repetitive waves in that they both never seem able to stop or go away.