Why is Oxen of the Sun so hard to read?
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.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Episode 14, Oxen of the Sun. One of the first imitated styles, a stiff Latinate English.
Universally that person’s acumen is esteemed very little perceptive concerning whatsoever matters are being held as most profitably by mortals with sapience endowed to be studied
What it means in plain English
Readers often find it the hardest episode. The trick is to follow the action under the styles: the medical students drink, joke and argue, Bloom worries, the baby arrives, and they rush to the pub.
It ends in a jumble of drunken slang, the language of the future.
Literary context
Joyce sketched the plan for Frank Budgen in a letter of 20 March 1920.
References
- Ulysses, Episode 14, “Oxen of the Sun”
- James Joyce, letter to Frank Budgen, 20 March 1920
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Questions readers ask
How many styles are there?
Scholars count about thirty.
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.”
Hoopsa boyaboy hoopsa
“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.
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.