Just my opinion, but I see each verse as being a Zen Koan, a story to help Zen students reach enlightenment. In each verse he acknowledges some attachment: meaning of life, loneliness and anxiety, desire, and finally an attempt to surrender to drunkenness. In each verse he also hints at how he deals with each of those attachments: the journey to find Ulysses and now it's sitting on the table, his daily routine despite loneliness, "we could leave all our fear behind", and finally his "delight" that the "bottles were all taken". Each of these mundane details, paradoxical reactions, and truly equanimous reactions are exactly what you would find in a Zen story.
Just my opinion, but I see each verse as being a Zen Koan, a story to help Zen students reach enlightenment. In each verse he acknowledges some attachment: meaning of life, loneliness and anxiety, desire, and finally an attempt to surrender to drunkenness. In each verse he also hints at how he deals with each of those attachments: the journey to find Ulysses and now it's sitting on the table, his daily routine despite loneliness, "we could leave all our fear behind", and finally his "delight" that the "bottles were all taken". Each of these mundane details, paradoxical reactions, and truly equanimous reactions are exactly what you would find in a Zen story.