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IV.A.3: Pomes Penyeach

Early Holograph Draft of “A Prayer” in “Work in Progress”/Finnegans Wake MS VI.B.5 (1924):1

Material Description and Collation

See the description of MS VI.B.5. The poem is on pp. [11], [13] and [15] of the “Work in Progress/Finnegans Wake” notebook MS VI.B.5. Joyce wrote the draft horizontally in the notebook in lead pencil and it is heavily revised.

Measurements

The manuscript measures 20.9 (19.2 + 1.7) x 13.6 cm.

Contents

The manuscript is an early, possibly first draft of the poem “A Prayer,” which Joyce first published in Pomes Penyeach (Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927; see Slocum and Cahoon A24), pp. [20]–[21]. It is the last poem Joyce wrote for the collection.

Dating

Joyce probably wrote this manuscript in mid May 1924 in Paris, after MS IV.A.2 and before IV.A.4 was prepared.

Publication

This manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 1.198–200 and JJA 30.007–009 and “A Prayer” was subsequently published in PSW, p. 63.

  1. La Hune, item 157; Slocum and Cahoon, item E.7.b.