make the pattern, break the pattern

As contrived and structured as the chapters of Ulysses are, they often contain a lyrical passage towards the end which is written in a mode unrelated to the style and theme of the chapter and unrelated to the style and mode of thinking of the character or narrator in question. The style of these passages is the style of the last paragraph of “The Dead”: pure poetry. Or pure corn. Was Joyce lowbrow at heart? Middlebrow? Is this one reason Ulysses is so baffling?