Joyce: Journal Entry

“Art thou pale for weariness of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, wandering companionless among the stars that have a different birth and ever changing eyes that finds no object worth constancy”.

This poem is the one that Stephen alludes to more than once throughout the novel. This poem reveals that Stephen is loosing his innocence. He has gazed down on the Earth and realizes that the world is harsh and tragic and sometimes lonely. Stephen has lost his innocence and realizes that like the moon he is forever changing and always loving different things and is not always constant with his feelings and emotions. Also, the moon represents that maternal figure that Stephen is longing for and needs in his life. This poem s allowing him as an artist to avoid his maternal threats and forget about his sorrow.