What does Bloom say about love in Cyclops?
“Love, says Bloom. I mean the opposite of hatred.” Bloom says this in Barney Kiernan's pub in Episode 12, after the Citizen's attacks on Jews and the English. Asked what real life is, he answers simply that it is love, then leaves, which the drinkers mock.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Episode 12, Cyclops. Bloom in Barney Kiernan's pub, in the middle of an argument about nationality and persecution.
Love, says Bloom. I mean the opposite of hatred.
What it means in plain English
Bloom has been arguing against force, hatred and history. When someone asks what he means, he says it is no use, it is the very opposite of what is really life. “What?” asks Alf. “Love,” says Bloom.
The pub crowd turns it into a joke at once. The narrator follows with a long parody of the idea of universal love: “Love loves to love love.”
Literary context
“Cyclops” is told by an unnamed drinker, broken up by inflated parodies. Bloom stands for tolerance against the Citizen's one-eyed nationalism.
References
- Ulysses, Episode 12, “Cyclops”
- Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman, Ulysses Annotated (revised edition, 1988)
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Questions readers ask
Who says “I mean the opposite of hatred”?
Leopold Bloom, in Barney Kiernan's pub on Little Britain Street.
How do the others react?
They mock him, and the narrator launches a comic parody about love. Soon afterwards the Citizen chases Bloom out.
Related terms
The Citizen
The aggressive nationalist Bloom argues with in 'Cyclops' (Episode 12) — Joyce's one-eyed Cyclops.
“A nation is the same people living in the same place”
“A nation is the same people living in the same place” is Bloom's answer in Episode 12 when the drinkers ask him what a nation is. It is a modest, practical definition, set against the Citizen's fierce nationalism, and the pub laughs at it.
Barney Kiernan's
Barney Kiernan's is the pub on Little Britain Street where Episode 12, “Cyclops”, takes place. Bloom goes there to meet Martin Cunningham about Dignam's insurance and ends up in a row with the Citizen, who throws a biscuit tin at him.
Leopold Bloom
The central character: a kind, curious advertising canvasser whose wanderings give the novel its shape. Joyce's modern Odysseus.