i
- We have moved onto Glendalough, Ireland, the home of St. Kevin and his ancient monastery.
- The narrator speaks of both silences and echoes as he listens to the place and the ancient land; he senses the disenfranchisement caused by the English empire here as well.
- Again the sparrow appears, and he knows that if it flies north (toward Dublin), it will still see signs of that empire in the barbed wire that marks the Troubles in Ireland.
- He sees that Ireland is also a nation plagued by war and subjugation—and that the struggle continues.
ii
- The narrator contemplates the moonlit Irish countryside and its history (of hatred and violence), especially as it's symbolized in the Glendalough's tower.
iii
- He journeys to James Joyce's old stomping grounds (a.k.a. Dublin) and stands on the banks of the Liffey, the much-referred-to river in Joyce's masterwork Ulysses (yes, more epic references).
- As he sits in a pub, he hears a song that Maud Plunkett once played. He feels he can see Joyce in the "characters" in the bar, who remind him of those in Joyce's short story "The Dead."
- He sees Joyce himself and then hears him lead the group in the singing of Maud's song. Trippy.