What does “Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa” mean?
“Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa!” is the midwife's cry as she lifts a newborn boy, repeated three times near the opening of Episode 14. It anticipates the birth of Mina Purefoy's son later in the episode.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Episode 14, Oxen of the Sun. The opening chants of Oxen of the Sun, in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street.
Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa! Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa! Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa!
What it means in plain English
After the invocation “Deshil Holles Eamus”, Joyce writes the sound of a midwife joyfully dandling a baby. The baby arrives later in the episode.
Immediately after, the prose switches to an imitation of clumsy early Latin-style English.
Literary context
Joyce told Frank Budgen the episode follows the nine months of pregnancy through the growth of English prose.
References
- Ulysses, Episode 14, “Oxen of the Sun”
- Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses (1934)
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Questions readers ask
Is the baby born?
Yes. Mrs Purefoy gives birth to a boy during the episode.
Related terms
Deshil Holles Eamus
“Deshil Holles Eamus” is the chant that opens Episode 14. It mixes Irish (“deiseal”, turning right, sunwise, for luck), the name of Holles Street, where the maternity hospital stands, and Latin “eamus” (“let us go”): roughly, “let us go to Holles Street, sunwise.”
Holles Street
Holles Street is the home of the National Maternity Hospital, where Episode 14 takes place at about 10 pm. Bloom visits to ask after Mina Purefoy, who is in labour, and finds Stephen drinking with medical students.
Parody of English prose styles (Oxen of the Sun)
Episode 14, “Oxen of the Sun”, imitates the history of English prose in order, from Latin-flavoured early writing through Malory, Bunyan, Swift and Dickens to modern slang. The growth of style mirrors the growth of a baby in the womb, as Mina Purefoy gives birth.