**~ [Finnegans Wake – A Prescriptive Guide](https://steemit.com/literature/@harlotscurse/finnegans-wake-a-prescriptive-guide-1) ~** https://i.imgur.com/tL8MxXs.jpg**The Drunkenness of Noah (Giovanni Bellini)** In the penultimate clause of the second paragraph of _Finnegans Wake_, James Joyce once again blends Biblical imagery with Irish history, something he did in the four preceding clauses. This time, however, the Biblical theme was not obviously present in the first draft: >Not a peck of malt had Shem and Son brewed. ([Hayman 46](http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/JoyceColl/JoyceColl-idx?type=article&did=JoyceColl.HaymanFirstDrft.i0010&id=JoyceColl.HaymanFirstDrft&isize=M&pview=hide)) But the following drafts removed any doubt: >Rot a peck of pa’s malt had Hem or Sen brewed by arclight. (Hayman 46) The final version clarified the allusion to the Dublin whiskey distiller John Jameson & Son, while not undermining the Noachic elements. https://i.imgur.com/Udi1dnJ.jpg**The Drunkenness of Noah (Michelangelo)** # The Drunkenness of Noah # The Biblical passage that informs this clause is the story of the Drunkenness of Noah in the Book of Genesis: >And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. ([Genesis 9:18-27](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A18-27&version=KJV)) This is all grist to Joyce’s mill. There are many elements in this brief tale—wine, intoxication, sleep, nakedness, exposure, voyeurism, paternity, servitude, cursing, blessing—that are all part of the matrix of _Finnegan Wake_. Just don’t ask me to explain what the story of Noah’s Drunkenness means or why it is in the Bible in the first place! https://i.imgur.com/cZdkW1z.jpg**John Jameson (Henry Raeburn)** # Whiskey and Stout # In _Finnegans Wake_ whiskey and [porter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_(beer)) are like a couple of rival twins. This pairing of spirit and beer, as we shall see, is made explicit in the popular ballad of _Finnegan’s Wake_, in which Tim Finnegan is laid out for his wake: >With a gallon of whiskey at his feet >And a barrel of porter at his head. >(Ellmann 544 fn) Whiskey is distilled, whereas porter is brewed, so the phrase yokes together Dublin’s leading distiller John Jameson (a Scotsman) and Dublin’s leading brewer Arthur Guinness. Perhaps these two men can be identified with the twin sons of HCE and ALP. But which is Shem and which is Shaun? # _Willy Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut_ # In a letter to his patron Harriet Shaw Weaver, Joyce himself glossed this passage briefly: >Willy brewed a peck of maut >Noah planted the vine and was drunk >John Jameson is the greatest Dublin distiller >Arthur Guinness [is the greatest Dublin] brewer >(_Letters of James Joyce_ 15 November 1926) The first of these annotations alludes to Robert Burns’ drinking song [_Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut_](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Scottish_Song/Willie_brew%27d_a_peck_o%27_maut):

**Jesse Ferguson, _Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut_** Readers familiar with Joyce’s novel _Ulysses_ will no doubt remember how someone sings a line from the chorus of this song near the end of the _Oxen of the Sun_: >We are nae fou. We’re nae tha fou. (_Ulysses_ 558 ) This might be translated into the Queen’s English as: >We are not full [[_drunk_](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fou#Scots)]. We’re not that full. The song, which was written by Burns in 1789 and set to music by his friend Allan Masterton, commemorates an episode in the poet’s life: >The meeting which it celebrates took place between the Poet, William Nicol, of the High School, Edinburgh, and Allan Masterton, another school-master, and musical amateur. Nicol had bought a small farm named Laggan, in the parish of Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, where he spent the autumn vacations. Allan Masterton and the Poet went on a visit to the “illustrious Lord of Laggan’s many hills.” Nicol, as in duty bound, produced his best. Tradition asserts, that day dawned long ere the guests arose to depart. “The air is Masterton’s,” says Burns, “the song is mine ... We had such a joyous meeting, that Mr Masterton and I agreed, each in our own way, to celebrate the business.” (Whitelaw 216) Around 1800 the song was arranged by Joseph Haydn for the Scottish publisher George Thomson. It has also been known as _The Happy Topers_ and _The Happy Trio_. In _Finnegans Wake_, its three protagonists represent, perhaps, the Biblical trio of Shem, Ham and Japheth, who in turn represent the twin sons of HCE, Shem and Shaun, and the Oedipal figure who embodies them both. https://i.imgur.com/TZUMObC.jpg**Noah’s Offering of Thanks (Joseph Anton Koch)** # Rainbow’s End # _Rot_ is the German for _red_, the colour at one end of the rainbow. Violet was alluded to at the beginning of this paragraph (_violer d’amores_). In the Bible the rainbow is also associated with Noah: >And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. ([Genesis 9:11-17](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A11-17&version=KJV)) _Finnegans Wake_ ends with a Flood, and as it is a circular novel, it is entirely appropriate for the rainbow to appear on the opening page. The _arclight_ is not only a light in Noah’s Ark : it is also the rainbow, or in French _arc-en-ciel_. The colours are reversed, perhaps, because we are coming _back_ to the beginning. _Rot_ also refers to HCE’s urine rotting in the chamber pot. In an earlier article I pointed out how this paragraph takes us on a tour around the master bedroom in the Mullingar House in Chapelizod. This clause represents the sixth of seven stations: the commode, a chair which conceals a chamber pot beneath its seat. Noah’s wine has been transformed into HCE’s urine—_Pa’s rotten malt_. Eventually, this “water” will find its way into Dublin’s public sewer, the Liffey, which will carry it out to Dublin Bay, where it will feed the clouds that sprinkle the raindrops that replenish the Liffey from which fresh water will be taken to brew more porter and distil more whiskey. And so the Viconian cycle rolls on endlessly, represented here by the familiar water cycle. In _Finnegans Wake_, there will be another Flood. The Earth will be destroyed and remade again and again, world without end .... --- ## References ## * Richard Ellmann, _James Joyce_, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1959, 1982) * [David Hayman](http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/JoyceColl/JoyceColl-idx?type=header;pview=hide;id=JoyceColl.HaymanFirstDrft), _A First-Draft Version of Finnegans Wake_, University of Texas Press, Austin TX (1963) * [James Johnson (editor)](https://archive.org/stream/scotishmusicalmu03john#page/n3/mode/2up), _The Scottish Musical Museum_, Volume 3, William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh (1839) * [James Joyce](https://archive.org/stream/finneganswake00joycuoft#page/n7/mode/2up), _Finnegans Wake_, The Viking Press, New York (1958, 1966) * James Joyce, _Ulysses_, Penguin Classics, London (2000) * James Joyce _et al_, _The Letters of James Joyce_, Volumes I, II, III, Stuart Gilbert (editor), Richard Ellmann (editor), Viking Press, New York (1966) * Danis Rose, John O’Hanlon, _The Restored Finnegans Wake_, Penguin Classics, London (2012) * [George Thomson (editor), Joseph Haydn (arranger)](http://imslp.org/wiki/A_Select_Collection_of_Original_Scottish_Airs_(Thomson%2C_George)), _A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice_, Volume 4, George Thomson, Edinburgh (1805) * [Alexander Whitelaw (editor)](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Scottish_Song), _The Book of Scottish Song_, Blackie & Son, London (1843) ## Image Credits ## * [The Drunkenness of Noah](https://www.wga.hu/preview/b/bellini/giovanni/1510-/211noah.jpg): Giovanni Bellini (artist), © [Web Gallery of Art](https://www.wga.hu/index.html), Fair Use * [The Drunkenness of Noah](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo_drunken_Noah.jpg): Wikimedia Commons, Michelangelo (artist), Public Domain * [John Jameson](http://www.irishdistillers.ie/2017/09/05/27437/): © 2016-2018 Irish Distillers, Henry Raeburn (artist), [National Gallery of Ireland](https://www.nationalgallery.ie/) , Fair Use * [Noah’s Offering of Thanks](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Anton_Koch_006.jpg): Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain ## Video Credits ## * [Jesse Ferguson](https://www.youtube.com/user/BardofCornwall): [_Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut_ (Burns)](https://youtu.be/6629JREThy4), Standard YouTube License, Fair Use ## Useful Resources ## * [_Willie Brew’d a Peck o’ Maut_](http://www.robertburns.org/works/281.shtml) * [FWEET](http://www.fweet.org/pages/fw_srch.php) * [The James Joyce Scholars’ Collection](https://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/JoyceColl/) * [FinnegansWiki](http://www.finnegansweb.com/wiki/index.php/Page_3) * [Annotated _Finnegans Wake_ (with Wakepedia)](http://fwannotated.blogspot.ie/search/label/p3) * [James Joyce’s Family Tree](https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Joyce-Family-Tree-1117) ![Kopimi](https://i.imgur.com/7kq532u.png)