"I fain would be solo. Arouse thee, my valour!"

(164.15-166.19)  The story of Burrus and Caseous picks up with Shaun telling us that Margareen's appearance brings us to "a period of pure lyricism of shamebred music."  (There's a nice reference in that to Joyce's early poetry collection, Chamber Music.)  Margareen has inspired at least two songs:  "I cream for thee, Sweet Maragareen" (a less-successful, heartbreaking and "shoddy" song written by Caseous) and "O Margareena!  O Margareena!  Still in the bowl is left a lump of gold!" (a song used for toasts written by Burrus).  The lump of gold (reminiscent of butter, or margarine) in Burrus's song reminds Shaun of "a particular streak of yellow silver" that is seen in certain hairstyles and leads to a digression in which he says he intends to talk about this with certain local hair stylists.  Shaun returns to the topic of singing and complains about unskilled singers who "pervert our wise ears" by subordinating "the space-element" (the melody) to "the time-factor" (the tempo) of music.  In keeping with his general airs of authority, Shaun offers to help the novice singers fix this problem.

Once again recognizing his digression, Shaun says he'll save what he has to say "about the acoustic and orchidectural management of the tonehall" and instead "pursue Burrus and Caseous for a rung or two up their isocelating biangle."  This reintroduces geometry into the Wake:  as two equal, opposing forces, Burrus and Caseous are heading toward the same point from opposite ends.  Shaun explains that he has painted a "goulache" of Margareen entitled "The Very Picture of a Needlesswoman."  This painting (which, in order to "evoke the bush soul of females" leaves the final touches to be mentally added by "the experienced victim," i.e., love-sick men) is constructed in a kind of Cubist style by which the geometrical figures used to form the image of Margareen -- "Rhomba, lady Trabezond" -- also form "the climactogram up which B and C may fondly be imagined ascending."  So, Margareen is the unifying shape/force that draws Burrus and Caseous upward.  

Shaun, ever the renaissance man, claims to have perfected a method of reproducing these shapes for profit.  He also says that there's no doubting that he has perfectly captured the essence of Maragreen, and that he can see her type in any public garden, wearing fashionable clothes, thinking about romance, going to the movies, or babysitting an infant boy (whom she holds above a gutter so that he can urinate).

What else will we learn about Margareen?  And what does the twelfth and final question of this chapter hold in store for us?  We'll find out tomorrow, when we reach the sixth chapter's conclusion.