A slightly edited version of this presentation was given by Philip Harvey on the 2 nd of February 2022 via zoom for Bloomsday in Melbourne’s online commemoration of the 100 th anniversary of the publication of ‘Ulysses’ in Paris. The Launch of Ulysses And now, rejoycing in the prosp’rous gales, With beating heart Ulysses spreads his sails, Plac’d at the helm he sate, and mark’d the skies, Nor clos’d in sleep his ever-watchful eyes. There viewed the Pleiads, and the northern Team, And great Orion’s more refulgent beam, To which, around the axle of the sky The Bear revolving, points his golden eye; Who shines exalted on th’etherial plain, Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main. Far on the left those radiant fires to keep The Nymph directed, as he sail’d the deep. Full sev’nteen nights he cut the foamy way; The distant land appear’d the following day; Then swell’d to sight Phaeacia’s dusky coast, And woody mountains, half in vap...