curs optional engleza celtic paradigm

8/6/2019 Curs Optional Engleza Celtic Paradigm

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Dunarea de Jos University of GalatiFaculty of Letters

The Celtic Paradigm

in

Modern Irish Writing

(Optional Course in English Literaturefor 1st Year Students)

Course tutor:Associate Professor Ioana Mohor-Ivan


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Obiective. Tematic

The Celtic Paradigm in Modern Irish Writing4

Obiective:

familiarizarea studentilor cu particularitatile istorico-culturale ale

spatiului irlandez;

evidentierea specificului celtic al traditiei literare irlandeze;

depistarea traiectului temelor si motivelor literare celtice in literatura

irlandeza moderna si contemporana;

dezvoltarea deprinderilor cercetare individuala concretizata prin

personalizarea informatiei teoretice si modelelor de analiza de textoferite in eseu.

Tipuri si modalitati de activitate didactica:

prelegere teoretica

analiza de text discutie

eseu.

Tematica:

Beginnings in the Celtic world: Celtic society and culture.

Early Irish Literature. The Mythological Cycle. Mythological masks in

W.B. Yeatss early poems.

The Cycle of Ulster. Cuchulain and the Yeatsian theatre. The myth of

Deirdre and Naoise in Brian Friels plays.

The Cycle of Munster. From Fion to Joyces Finnegans Wake. Oisin in

Yeatss vs. Paul Vincent Carrolls vision.

The King Cycle of tales. The Madness of Sweeney. The Sweeney

figure in Irish literature, from Flann OBrien to Seamus Heaney.

Early Irish Lyrics. The Dinnseanachas and the Irishpoet.


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Cuprins

The Celtic Paradigm in Modern Irish Writing 5


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Chapter 1 Beginnings in the Celtic World


dwelling for the gods. Saint Patrick is said to have come to Tara to confrontthe ancient religion of the pagans at its most powerful site.

1.2. Celtic SocietyThe following attributes characteristic of the Celtic social organisation point tothe Celts as being an archetypal Indo-European people:

Tribal: the greatest political unit is the tribe (tuath), led by a king (r) Familiar: kinship groups form the basis of the tribe

Hierarchical (Celtic society is divided into three main classes): Equites: warrior aristocracy Druides: the learned class (draoi, fl, breitheamb,

seanchadh) Plebs: the body of freemen, smiths, leeches and small

farmers Pastoral: the Celts had no towns in the modern understanding of

the term, their hill-forts were of primarily military significance.Cattle-raising was regarded as a superior form of social activity,while farming was relegated to the plebs.

1.3. Celtic Religion

The religion of the Celts exhibits the following characteristics:


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Chapter 1 Beginnings in the Celtic World


Pantheism: the Celts believed in the consciousness of all things.This explains their worship of trees, water, stones (La Fil), or thevarious animal cults (boars, fish, bulls, birds etc.)

Metempsychosis: the souls were immortal, they could migratefrom the human world to the Otherworld (e.g. Tr-na-n-og); theycould dwell within other creatures and objects (shape-changing)

Polytheism: divine organisation mirrors that of the Celtic society;Celtic gods and goddesses belong to a particular tribe, which isbased on kinship relations.

1.4. Celtic LiteratureThe learned class of the Celtic society are the creators of the early Irishliterary texts, which, until the coming of Christianity in the 5th century, aretransmitted by means of an oral tradition.This oral character of Irish literature is reflected in the division of the wholecorpus of early Irish literary texts according to the tale-type to which they

belong (as evidenced in their titles): Togla (destructions) Tna (cattle-raids) Tochmarca (wooings) Fessa (feasts) Aislinga (visions) Aitheda (elopments Serca (loves) Aided (violent deaths) Catha (battles) Immrama (voyages)

Dinnseanchas (tales of place names)

After the arrival of Christianity and the adaptation of the Latin alphabet to theIrish language, the tales are collected and incorporated into four main cycles,namely:

Mythological Ulster (The Red Branch) Finn (Fenian, Munster) King (historical)

Task:

Write a 4000-word essay on Cultural Landmarks of the Celtic World.


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Chapter 2 The Mythological Cycle and Its Modern Reworkings


Chapter 2 - The Mythological Cycle and Its ModernReworkings

2.1. The Mythic Invasions

Though all the tales included in the existing corpus of early Irish literary textsdisplay a strong mythological component, by a process of exclusion themythological cycle includes only those stories that intend to provide amythical history of the occupation of Ireland, previous to the arrival of theGaels.Most of these texts are preserved in a 12th century manuscript known asLebor Gabla renn(Book of Invasions of Ireland).

According to this manuscript, the main settlers of Ireland are:

Cesair(granddaughter of Noah) and Fintan Mac Bochra. Theywere the first to invade Ireland at the time of the Flood.

The Partholanians (named after their leader Partholan, son ofSera, who was the king of Greece) arrived 312 years afterCesair and her followers.

They encountered the Fomorians (a race of ugly, misshapengiants, who lived on Tory Island), whom they managed todefeat.

The Nemedians (followers of Nemed, a descendant ofJapheth) arrived from Spain 30 years after the extinction of the

Partholonians from pestilence. They were attacked by theFomorians, and the few survivors fled to Greece. The Firbolgs (descendants of the Nemedians) returned to

Ireland 230 years later, but their power in Ireland only lasted for37 years before the Tuatha D Danann arrived.

2.2. The Celtic Pantheon

The Tuatha D Danann is the tribe of the Irish gods who conquer and settleIreland.Here follows an extract from Mary Heaneys Over Nine Waves, in which theirarrival is described:


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THE TUATHA DE DANAAN

LONG AGO the Tuatha De Danaan came to Ireland in a great fleet ofships to take the land from the Fir Bolgs who lived there. Thesenewcomers were the People of the Goddess Danu and their men of

learning possessed great powers and were revered as if they weregods. They were accomplished in the various arts of druidry, namelymagic, prophesy and occult lore. They had learnt their druidic skills inFalias, Gorias, Findias and Murias, the four cities of the northernislands.

When they reached Ireland and landed on the western shore, they setfire to their boats so that there would be no turning back. The smokefrom the burning boats darkened the sun and filled the land for threedays, and the Fir Bolgs thought the Tuatha De Danaan had arrived ina magic mist.

The invaders brought with them the four great treasures of their tribe.From Falias they brought Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny. They broughtit to Tara and it screamed when a rightful king of Ireland sat on it.From Gorias they brought Lughs spear. Anyone who held it wasinvincible in battle. From Findias they brought Nuadas irresistiblesword. No one could escape it once it was unsheathed. From Muriasthey brought the Dagdas cauldron. No one ever left it hungry.

Nuada was the king of the Tuatha De Danaan and he led them againstthe Fir Bolgs. They fought a fierce battle on the Plain of Moytura, the

first one the Tuatha De Danaan fought in a pace of that name.Thousands of the Fir Bolgs were killed, a hundred thousand in all, andamong them their king, Eochai Mac Erc. Many of the Tuatha DeDanaan died too, and their king, Nuada, had his arm severed from hisbody in the fight.

In the end the Tuatha De Danaan overcame the Fir Bolgs and routedthem until only a handful of them survived. These survivors boardedtheir ships and set sail to the far-scattered islands around Ireland.

When the Fir Bolgs had fled, the Tuatha De Danaan took over thecountry and went with their treasures to Tara to establish themselvesas masters of the island. But another struggle lay ahead. Though theyhad defeated the Fir Bolgs, a more powerful enemy awaited them.These were the Formorians, a demon-like race who lived in theislands to which the Fir Bolgs had fled.

(from Marie Heaney, Over Nine Waves, London, Faber and Faber,1994.)


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The Tuatha D Danann are the tribe of the Goddess Dana (or Danu), amother-goddess signifying fertility and plenty, married to the god Bile (orBelenos), a sky-centred deity.

The father to most of the gods of the tribe is the Dagda, the good God inthe Celtic sense of good at anything. A figure of immense power, he is oftenpictured as a rustic old man, clothed in garb, and possessing three magical

objects: a gigantic club (with which he can both kill enemies and curefriends), a cauldron that never gets exhausted, a harp that plays by itself.

The Dagda is the father of Ogma (the Irish god of eloquence), and Brigid (orthe "Fiery Arrow or Power".) Brigid is a Celtic three-fold goddess. Her threeaspects are (1) Fire of Inspiration as patroness of poetry, (2) Fire of theHearth, as patroness of healing and fertility, and (3) Fire of the Forge, aspatroness of smithcraft and martial arts. She is mother to the craftsmen.

Through the goddess Boann (whose spirit lives within the Boyne river and isgoddess of poetic inspiration and powerful spiritual insight) the Dagdafathered Aengus (Oengus) Og, the Celtic god of youth and love, described

in the following terms by the Irish poet A.E.:". . . An energy or love or eternal desire has gone forth which seeksthrough a myriad forms of illusion for the infinite being it has left. It isAngus the Young, an eternal joy becoming love, a love changing intodesire, and leading on to earthly passion and forgetfulness of its owndivinity. The eternal joy becomes love when it has first merged itself inform and images of a divine beauty that dance before it and lure it fromafar. This is the first manifested world, the Tr nan g or World ofImmortal Youth. The love is changed into desire as it is drawn deeper intonature, and this desire builds up the Mid-world or World of the Waters.

And, lastly, as it lays hold of the earthly symbol of its desire it becomes onEarth that passion which is spiritual death . . .

One of the most beautiful lyrical tales in the cycle, Aislinge Oengusa (TheVision of Aengus) recounts how Aengus, in a dream, has the vision of abeautiful girl, who prompts a quest that will take years until he will find hershape-changed in a bird.

Manannn MacLiris the god of the oceans, who lives in Tr-na-n-og (TheLand of Eternal Youth) and is married to the beautiful goddess Fand, whosename is translated as The Pearl of Beauty. Stories of rebirth and theOtherworld are associated with him, while his name is commemorated in that

of the Isle of Man.Manannns father, Lir, was an Irish god who dwelt on the cliffs of Antrim.One story in the cycle (The Story of the Children of Lir) recounts thetribulations of his other four children who were transformed into swans by anevil step-mother, and endured cruel hardship for many centuries untilrestored to their human shape. This story, among others, were translated inEnglish by Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932) in a collection of Irish mythsentitled Gods and Fighting Men:


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The Fate of the Children of Lir

Then Lir came to the edge of the lake, and he took notice of the swanshaving the voice of living people, and he asked them why was it theyhad that voice.

I will tell you that, Lir, said Fionnuala. We are your own fourchildren, that are after being destroyed by your wife and by the sisterof our own mother, through the dint of her jealousy. Is there any wayto put you into your own shapes again? said Lir. there is no way,said Fionnuala, for all the men of the world could not help us till wehave gone through our time, and that will not be, she said, till the endof nine hundred years.

When Lir and his people heard that, they gave out three greatheavy shouts of grief and sorrow and crying.

Is there a mind with you, said Lir, to come to us on the land, sinceyou have your own sense and your memory yet? We have not the

power, said Fionnuala, to live with any person at all from this time;but we have our language, the Irish, and we have the power to singsweet music, and it is enough to satisfy the whole race of men to belistening to that music. And let you stop here tonight, she said, andwe will be making music for you.

So Lir and his people stopped there listening to the music of theswans, and they slept there quietly that night. And Lir rose up early onthe morning of the morrow and he made this complaint:

It is time to go from this place. I do not sleep though I am in mylying down. To be parted from my dear children, it is that is tormentingmy heart.

It is a bad net I put over you, bringing Aoife, daughter of Oilell ofAran, to the house. I would never have followed that advice if I hadknown what it would bring upon me.

O Fionnuala, and comely Conn, O Aodh, O Fiachra of the beautifularms; it is not ready I am to go away from you, from the border of theharbour where you are.

Then Lir went on to the palace of Bodb Dearg, and there was awelcome before him there; and he got a reproach from Bodb Dearg fornot bringing his children along with him. My grief! said Lir. It is not Ithat would not bring my children along with me; it was Aoife there

beyond, your own foster-child and the sister of their mother, that putthem in the shape of four swans on Loch Dairbhreach, in the sight ofthe whole of the men of Ireland; but they have their sense with themyet, and their reason, and their voice, and their Irish.

Bodb Dearg gave a great start when he heard that, and he knewwhat Lir said was true, and he gave a very sharp reproach to Aoife,and he said: This treachery will be worse for yourself in the end,Aoife, than to the children of Lir. And what shape would you yourselfthink worst of being in? he said.

I would think worst of being a witch of the air, she said. It is intothat shape I will put you now, said Bodb. And with that he struck her

with a Druid wand, and she was turned into a witch of the air there andthen, and she went away on the wind in that shape, and she is in ityet, and will be in it to the end of life and time.


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Cath Maige Tuired (The Battle of the Plain of Tuired) is the best-knowntale of the cycle, dealing specifically with the climactic battle between theTuatha and the Fomori. The God Lugh assumes the leadership of the tuthaand leads them to victory after he himself kills Balor of the Evil Eye, the mostformidable of the fomori. Lugh becomes thus a divine archetype of kingship,

while he is also the Samildnach (the many-gifted one), mastering all thearts and the crafts, moving between all the activities of society and be patronof each one.

The Irish female deities usually indicate sexuality and fertility, with powerfulmagical and warlike connotations. There are five goddesses identified withwar, and inspiring battle madness. The Morrgan ("terror" or "phantomqueen") is the greatest of them, being associated with war and death on thebattlefield, sometime appearing in the form of a carrion crow. Othergoddesses of war are the Badb (fury), Dea (the hateful one) Nemain(frenzy), while Macha (who is also goddess of the horses) is also included

here. Another triad is formed by the goddesses identified with the sovrantyand spirit of Ireland, represented as three sisters, Eire, Banba and Fotla.Some of these deities attracted singular worship, associated with thefestivals that marked the Celtic year:

Samhain: celebrated around 31 October, it began the Celtic year. Itwas a time when the veil between this world and the Otherworld wasthought to be so thin that the dead could return to warm themselves atthe hearths of the living, and some of the living - especially poets -were able to enter the Otherworld through the doorways of the sidhe,such as that at the Hill of Tara in Ireland.

Imbolc (or Oimelc) celebrated at lambing time, around 31 January, it

marked the beginning of the end of winter. Women met to celebratethe return of the maiden aspect of the Goddess Brigid. Beltain, celebrated around 1 May, was a fire festival sacred to the god

Belenos, the Shining One. Cattle were let out of winter quarters anddriven between two fires in a ritual cleansing ceremony that may havehad practical purposes too. It was a time for feasts and fairs and forthe mating of animals.

Lughnasadh was a summer festival lasting for two weeks that fellaround 31 July. It was said to have been introduced to Ireland by thegod Lugh, and so was sacred to this god. This festival was celebratedwith competitions of skill, including horse-racing (perhaps this is why

the festival was also linked to the goddess Macha)

2.3. The Milesians

The last invaders of Ireland, who overthrew the power of the Celtic gods,were the Milesians, whom many view as the forefathers of the Gaels.According to the Book of Invasions, the Milesians were the sons of MlEspine (Miled), whose ancestors had originally come from Scythia, but hadthen settled in Spain.Amergin (a warrior and a bard) was the leader of the invasion. His first

words upon landing were the poem that is known today as the "Song ofAmergin":


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The Song of Amergin

I am a stag: of seven times,I am a flood: across a plain,I am a wind: on a deep lake,I am a tear: the Sun lets fall,

I am a hawk: above the hill,I am a thorn: beneath the nailI am a wonder: among flowers,I am a wizard: who but ISets the cool head aflame with smoke?

I am a spear: that rears for blood,I am a salmon: in a pool,I am a lure: from paradise,I am a hill: where poets walk,I am a boar: ruthless and red,

I am a breaker: threatening doom,I am a tide: that drags to death,I am an infant: who but IPeeps from the unhewn dolmen arch?

I am the womb: of every holt,I am the blaze: on every hillI am the queen: of every hiveI am the shield: for every head,I am the grave: of every hope.

(Transl. by Robert Graves)

The three sister goddesses of the D Danann, Banba, Fodla and Eriu,asked the Milesians to name Ireland after one of them. It was Eriu who wonthe honour. Ireland became known as Erin or Erinn.The Tuatha D Danann, though defeated, did not leave Erin, but continued tolive there, with their conquerors. Manannan (in other accounts, the Dagda)placed a powerful spell of invisibility over the many parts of Ireland; magicalpalaces were hidden under the mound. The places were called Sidh orSidhe. The Tuatha D Danann became spirit people, or fairies.

2.4. The World of the Sdhe

After their being defeated by the Milesians, the Danaan were allotted spiritualIreland.They became spirit people, inhabiting the sdhe (another name for theOtherworld), which was associated with barrows, tumuli, mounds, hills.This new habitat led to another name for the Danaan, aes sdhe(people ofthe Sdh) or fairy people.Some important figures emerging in Irish fairy lore are:

The Bean Sdhe (woman of the hills): a female fairy attached to a

particular family. She had the function of keening like a mortal womanwhen a family member died.


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Leprechaun: a diminutive guardian of a hidden treasure (origin: Lugh-chromain little stooping Lugh)

Puca (Puck):a supernatural animal who took people for nightmarishrides; a mischievous spirit who led travellers astray.

Slua Sdhe: the fairy host who travel through the air at night, and areknown to 'take' mortals with them on their journeys.

2.5. The Sidhe in W. B. Yeatss Early Poems

Poet, dramatist, mystic and public figure, W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) was bornto an Anglo-Irish Protestant family, but turned into a committed Irishnationalist, becoming thus the primary driving force behind the Irish LiteraryRevival a movement which stimulated new appreciation of traditional Irishliterature, encouraging the creation of works written in the spirit of Irishculture, as distinct from English culture.Yeats was also co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, another great symbol of theliterary revival, which served as the stage for many new Irish writers and

playwrights of the time.After the establishment of the Irish Free State, Yeats was appointed to thefirst Irish Senate Seanad ireann in 1922 and re-appointed in 1925.He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for what the NobelCommittee described as "his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artisticform gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation".With regard to his poetic output, this corresponds to three main phases:

The first phase is associated with the Irish Revival of the 1890s whichbrought about an upsurge of interest in Celtic myth and legend. Thisallowed Yeats, as well as other writers, to bring mythical motifs andfigures into their works as symbols and expressions of Irishness pastand present.

Collections: The Wanderings of Osin and Other Poems (1889) The Countess Kathleen and Other Legends and Lyrics

(1892) The Wind Among the Reeds (1899) In the Seven Woods (1903)

The poetry of Yeatss mid-career is dominated by his commitment toIrish nationalism. Hence the poems employ a simpler and moreaccessible style. They are more public and concerned with the politics

of the modern Irish state. Collections: The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910) Responsibilities (1914) The Wilde Swans at Coole (1919) Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)

Yeatss later poetry is less public and more personal. The poems arecharacterised by a mature lyricism, exploring contrasts between thephysical and spiritual dimensions of life, between sensuality andrationalism, between turbulence and calm, which inform Yeatsstheories of contraries and of the progression which can result from

reconciling them. Collections:

The Tower (1928) The Winding Star (1933)


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Parnells Funeral and Other Poems (1935) Last Poems and Two Plays (1939)

It is the early poems that Yeats draws heavily on Irish myth, employingmythological figures and mythic motifs alongside with theories drawn fromoccult writings (in which he was also interested.) Though dissimilar at a firstglance, the two areas bear comparison in several aspects:

The natural (world in time, manifestation) as opposed to thesupernatural (that which is beyond manifestation);

Metaphysical content; The exile, the quest, the voyage: symbols of the spirits journey from

life to death.On the basis of these, Yeats constructs his own system of opposites, whichmay be seen to inform his poetry:

The Sdhe The natural world

Spirit Matter

Imagination Reason

Eternal Ephemeral

Immortal Mortal

Id Ego

Water & air Earth

Night Day

Though opposed, points of contact may be established between the two

realms, which are associated with states that may be labelled as in-between: Shores, lakes, islands Twilight, dawn Dreams, visions

In The Stolen Child (a poem based on Irish legend) the faeries beguile achild (presumably in a dream) to come away with them.

The Stolen Child

Where dips the rocky highlandOf Sleuth Wood in the lake,There lies a leafy islandWhere flappy herons wake


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The drowsy water-rats;There weve hid our faery vats,Full of berriesAnd of reddest stolen cherries.Come away, O human child!To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glossesThe dim grey sands with light,Far off by furthest RossesWe foot it all the night,Weaving olden dances,Mingling hands and mingling glancesTill the moon has taken flight;To and fro we leap

And chase the frothy bubbles,While the world is full of troublesAnd is anxious in its sleep.Come away, O human child!To the waters and the wildWith a faery, hand in hand,For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand.[. . .]Away with us hes going,The solemn-eyed:Hell hear no more the lowing

Of the calves on the warm hillsideOr the kettle on the hobSing peace into his breast,Or see the brown mice bobRound and round the oatmeal-chest.For he comes, the human child,To the waters and the wildWith a faery, hand in hand,For a world more full of weeping than he can understand.

Such points of contact between the two worlds allow for visionary states, ableto produce artistic creation. But, usually, this involves a great cost: thedreamers (like the one in The Man Who Dreamed of Fairyland) remaincaught in-between the two, never allowed to find comfort in this life, for theirthoughts are constantly turned to the world of the imagination, or spirit.

The Man who Dreamed of Faeryland

He stood among a crowd at Drumahair;His heart hung all upon a silken dress,And he had known at last some tenderness,Before earth took him to her stony care;

But when a man poured fish into a pile,It seemed they raised their little silver heads,And sang what gold morning or evening shedsUpon a woven world-forgotten isle


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Where people love beside the ravelled seas;That Time can never mar a lovers vowsUnder that woven changeless roof of boughs:The singing shook him out of his new ease.

He wandered by the sands of Lissadell;

His mind ran all on money cares and fears,And he had known at last some prudent yearsBefore they heaped his grave under the hill;But while he passed before a plashy place,A lug-worm with its grey and muddy mouthSang that somewhere to north or west or southThere dwelt a gay, exulting, gentle raceUnder the golden or the silver skies;That if a dancer stayed his hungry footIt seemed the sun and moon were in the fruit:And at that singing he was no more wise.

He mused beside the well of Scanavin,He mused upon his mockers: without failHis sudden vengeance were a country tale,When earthly night had drunk his body in;But one small knot-grass growing by the poolSang where - unnecessary cruel voice -Old silence bids its chosen race rejoice,Whatever ravelled waters rise and fallOr stormy silver fret the gold of day,And midnight there enfold them like a fleece

And lover there by lover be at peace.The tale drove his angry mood away.

He slept under the hill of Lugnagall;And might have known at last unhaunted sleepUnder that cold and vapour-turbaned steep,Now that the earth had taken man and all:Did not the worms that spired about his bonesProclaim with that unwearied, reedy cryThat God has laid His fingers on the sky,That, from those fingers, glittering summer runs

Upon the dancer by the dreamless wave.Why should those lovers that no lovers missDream, until God burn Nature with a kiss?The man has found no comfort in the grave.

In The Song of the Wandering Aengus Yeats re-works Aislinge Oengusa.Adopting the mythological mask of the Irish god of love and youth, the poetexpresses the same predicament of the dreamer, who has a vision of thesidhe in the form of a beautiful girl, a symbol of the perfection of theimaginative world.


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The Song of the Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,Because a fire was in my head,And cut and peeled a hazel wand,And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,And moth-like stars were flickering out,I dropped the berry in a streamAnd caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floorI went to blow the fire aflame,But something rustled on the floor,And some one called me by my name:It had become a glimmering girlWith apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ranAnd faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wanderingThrough hollow lands and hilly lands,I will find out where she has gone,And kiss her lips and take her hands;And walk among long dappled grass,And pluck till time and times are doneThe silver apples of the moon,The golden apples of the sun.

2.6. The Sidhe with Contemporary Women Poets

If Irish ancestral culture allowed room for the exercise of an autonomousfemale creative potential, such as evidenced in

Myth: Dana, Brigid, Eire Folklore: Cailleach Beare (the Hag of Beare) Society: bean fle (woman poet)

through the medieval to modern periods women are gradually excluded fromthe social, political and cultural spheres, being relegated to the domestic

sphere. Proof may be found in different areas, such as: Proverbs and formulaic expressions (e.g. the three worst

curses that can befall a village are: to have a wet thatcher, aheavy sower and a woman poet.)

Religious constructs: the Virgin (Mother of God), Mother Ireland Literary tradition (dominated by male poets, who employ

women simply as symbols or motifs in their texts, denying themtheir complexity.)

Contemporary women poets (Eavan Boland, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Eillen NiChuilleanain, Eithne Strong, Medb McGuckian) are committed to the 3 Rsof Irish feminist writing:

to resist and revise reductive images and perceptions of womenand


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to revive /re-posses energies related to creativity, fertility andself-sufficiency which some connect to the Celtic ideals ofwomanhood.

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill (1952-) is one of the most popular of contemporaryIrish poets. Writing in Irish her work draws upon themes of ancient Irishfolklore and mythology, combined with contemporary themes of femininity,sexuality, and culture. As she herself confesses:Irish is a language of enormous elasticity and emotional sensitivity; of quickand hilarious banter and a welter of references both historical andmythological; it is an instrument of imaginative depth and scope, which hasbeen tempered by the community for generations until it can pick up and singout every hint of emotional modulation that can occur between people.Her collections include An Dealg Droighin (1981); Far Suaithinseach (1984);Rogha Dnta/Selected Poems (1986, 1988, 1990); Pharoh's Daughter(1990), and Feis (1991).In Swept Away, the fairy woman becomes the carrier of a powerful female

energy, able to subvert and transform the traditional representations of thefeminine:

SWEPT AWAY (FUADACH)

The fairy woman marchedright into my poem.

She didnt close the door.She didnt ask.I was too politeto throw her out

so I decidedto act all nice:

Stay, if youre in a hurry,and of course you are.

Sit up to the fire;eat; have a drink.

Mind you, if I were in your housethe way youre in mineId go home right away,

but never mind: stay.So she did. She got up and started

doing housework. She made the beds,washed the dishes. Put the dirty clothes

in the machine.When my husband came

home for his tea,he didnt notice she wasnt me.

But Im in the fairy field

in everlasting dark.I/m freezing, with onlythe mist to cover me.

And if he wants me back


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heres what he must do:get a fine big ploughshare

and butter it well,then make it red-hot in the fire.

Then go to the bedwhere that bitch is lyingand let her have it!

Push it into her face,burn her and scorch her,

and all the time shes going,Ill be coming.

All the time shes going,Ill be coming.

The daughter of an Irish diplomat Eavan Boland (1944-) spent much of heryouth living in London and New York City.One of Ireland's few recognized women poets, Boland addresses broadissues of Irish national identity as well as the specific issues confrontingwomen and mothers in a culture that has traditionally ignored theirexperiences. As she herself has stated,

As an Irish woman poet I have very little precedent. There were none inthe 19th century or early part of the 20th century. You didnt have athriving sense of the witness of the lived life of women poets, and whatyou did have was a very compelling and at time oppressive relationshipbetween Irish poetry and the national tradition.

In Bolands view we all [women] exist in a mesh, web, labyrinth ofassociations we ourselves are constructed by the construct images arenot ornaments, they are truths.Her collections of poems include In Her Own Image (1980), Night Feed(1982), Outside History(1990), In a Time of Violence(1994).She has also written a prose memoir, Object Lessons: The Life of theWoman and the Poet in Our Time(1995).In The Woman Turns herself Into A Fish, Boland engages directly withYeatss The Song of the Wondering Aengus, re-writing the mermaid image:

The Woman Turns Herself into a Fish

its done:I turn,I flab upward

blub-lipped,hiplessand I am

sexlessshed

of ecstasy,

a pale


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swimmersequin-skinned,

pealing eggsscreamlesslyin seaweed.

Its whatI set my heart on.Yet

rudderingand musclingin the sunless tons

of new freedomsstill

I feela chill pull,a brightening,a light, a light

and howin my loomy cold,my greens

still

she moonsin me.

Task:

Choose one of the following topics to develop into a 4000-word essay of theargumentative type:

1. The Celtic Pantheon in its Indo-European Context.2. The World of the Sidhe with W.B. Yeats and Nuala NiDhumnaill.3. The Dreamers Mermaid or the Mermaids Dream? (The Song of the

Wandering Aengusvs. The Woman Turns Herself Into a Fish)


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Chapter 3 The Ulster Cycle and the Celtic Hero


Chapter 3 - The Ulster Cycle and the Celtic Hero

3.1. The Ulster (Red Branch ) Cycle

The cycle of Ulster contains a group of heroic tales relating to the Ulaid andtheir military order known as the House of the Red Branch.

The main part of the Ulaid Cycle is set during the reigns of Conchobar inUlaid (Ulster) and Queen Medb in Connacht (Connaught).

The cycle centers on the greatest hero in Celtic myths, C Chulainn (CuChulainn or Cuchulain).

The Ulaid Cycle is supposed to be contemporary to Christ (1st century BC)since Conchobar's death coincides with the day of Christs crucifixion.

Thomas Kinsella, in the Introduction to his translation of The Cattle Raid ofCooley, asserts the following:

The origins of the Tain are far more ancient than these manuscripts [8th century manuscripts in which it was preserved]. The language of theearliest form of the story is dated to the eighth century, but some of theverse passages may be two centuries older and it is held by most Celticscholars that the Ulster cycle, with the rest of early Irish literature, musthave had a long oral existence before it received a literary shape, and a

few traces of Christian colour, at the hands of the monastic scribes. As tothe background of the Tain the Ulster cycle was traditionally believed torefer to the time of Christ. This might seem to be supported by thesimilarity between the barbaric world of the stories, uninfluenced byGreece or Rome, and the La Tene Iron age civilisation of Gaul andBritain. The Tainand certain descriptions of Gaulish society by Classicalauthors have many details in common: in warfare alone, the individualweapons, the boastfulness and courage of the warriors, the practices ofcattle-raiding, chariot-fighting and beheading.

3. 2. Emain Machais the seat of power in Ulaid (Ulster), situated near

modern Armagh.The dun (hill-fort) was named after the Red Queen Macha, said to be itsfounder. Macha had used her brooch to mark the boundary of her capital, sothe name Emain Macha could mean the "Brooch of Macha".Macha was identified as the Irish goddess of fertility, war and of horses,being one of the aspects of Morrgan. She was portrayed as red goddess,either because she was dressed in red or that she had red hair.She reappeared in the Ulaid Cycle as wife of Crunnchu and was associatedwith the curse placed upon the men of Ulster. In this version, Emain Machameans "The Twins of Macha", such as asserted in one tale of thedinnseachas type, entitled the Pangs of Ulster.


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3.3. Main characters of the Cycle

Conchobar MacNessa was the son of Ness, or Nessa and FachtnaFthach, a giant and king of Ulster. Fachtna was either the brother or half-brother of Fergus Mac Roich.In a more popular version, Conchobar's father was Cathbad, the ard-druid

(high druid) of Ulster, who later became Conchobar's adviser.During his reign, Ulster prospered. Conchobar established a military order ofelite warriors called the Red Branch. His uncle, Fergus served as captain ofthe Red Branch, and with his teaching, he produced the greatest warriors ofUlster, Conall Cernach and Cu Chulainn.Conchobar had many wives, including Medb (Maeve), who fleed to Connachtto become his mortal enemy.

Medb (Maeve) had actually come from the province of Leinster. Her fatherwas Eochaid Feidlech, king of Tara. Like her three sisters, she was at onetime married to Conchobar Mac Nessa, king of Ulster. She left Conchobar

and became Conchobar's chief enemy throughout the rest of her life.In Connacht she had three different husbands, who each became king of theprovince. As such, Medb represents the Sovereignity of Connacht. The bestknown of her husbands was Ailill Mac Mata.Medb had many children, most of them by Ailill. Apart from her Finnabair andseveral other daughters, she also had seven sons, all of them with the nameMaine.Medb had many lovers, but Fergus Mac Rioch was the best known and wasseen as her most frequent lover.

C Chulainn (Cuchulain) is the greatest hero of the Ulster Cycle.Cuchulain was the son of Deichtine and the sun god, Lugh Lamfada. ThoughLugh was his father, he called himself C Chulainn Mac Sualtam, after hisstepfather, who was the brother of Fergus Mac Roich. Cuchulain was alsograndson of the great druid Cathbad.Cuchulain was called Stanta at birth. His name was to change to CChulainn ("Hound of Culann) when, still a boy, he killed a great houndbelonging to Culann, Conchobars master-smith.

3.4. Main Tales of the Cycle

3. 4. 1. The Exile of the Sons of Usneach

The tale of Deirdre and Naosi, son of Uisnech, is the most famous Irishromance. This romance of a love triangle was to influence other tales, suchas The Pursuit of Diarmait and Grainne of the Fenian Cycle and the legend ofTristan.It also holds Conchobar responsible for the defection of Fergus and 3000other warriors, including his own son, Cormac, to Ulster's traditional enemy Connacht, when he had the sons of Uisnech put to death.

THE EXILE OF THE SONS OF USNACH

The Ulaid feasted one day in the house of Fedlimid, the chronicler ofKing Conchobar, and as the feast came to an end, a girl-child wasborn to the wife of Fedlimid; and a druid prophesied about her future.[Her name is to be Deirdre. The child will grow to be a woman of


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wonderful beauty and will cause enmity and trouble and will depart outof the kingdom. Many will die on account of her.]

The Ulaid proposed to kill the child at once and so avoid thecurse. But Conchobar ordered that she be spared and reared apart,hidden from mens eyes; and that he himself would take her for hiswife. So Deirdre was entrusted to foster-parents and was reared in adwelling apart. A wise woman, Leborcham, was the only other personallowed to see her.

Once the girls foster-father was flaying a calf outside in thesnow in winter to cook it for her, and she saw a raven drinking theblood in the snow. Then she said to Leborcham, Fair would be manupon whom those three colours should be: his hair like the raven, andhis cheek like the blood, and his body like the snow. Grace andprosperity to you! said leborcham. He is not far from you, insideclose by: Naoisi the son of Usnach. I shall not be well, said she,until I see him.

Once that same Naoisi was on the rampart of the fort sounding

his cry. And sweet was the cry of the sons of Usnach. Every cow andevery beast that would hear it used to give two-thirds excess of milk.For every man who heard it, it was enough of peace andentertainment. Good was their valour too. Though the whole provinceof the Ulaid should be around them in one place, if the three of themstood back to back, they would not overcome them, for the excellenceof their defence. They were as swift as hounds at the hunt. They usedto kill deer by their speed.

When Naoisi was there outside, soon she went out to him, asthough to go past him, and did not recognise him. Fair is the heiferthat goes past me, said he. Heifers must grow big where there are

no bulls, said she. You have the bull of the province, said he, theking of the Ulaid. I would choose between you, said she, and Iwould take a young bull like you. No! said he. Then she sprangtoward him and caught his ears. Here are two ears of shame andmockery, said she, unless you take me with you.

Naoisi sounded his cry, and the Ulstermen sprang up as theyheard it, and the sons of Usnach, his two brothers, went out to restrainand warn him. But his honour was challenged. We shall go intoanother country, said he. There is not a king in Ireland that will notmake us welcome. That night they set out with 150 warriors and 150women and 150 hounds, and Deirdre was with them.

Conchobar pursued them with plots and treachery, and they fledto Scotland. And they took service with the king of Scotland and built ahouse around Deirdre so that they should not be killed on account ofher. One day the steward saw her and told the king of her beauty, sothat he demanded her for wife; and the sons of Usnach had to flee andtake refuge on an island in the sea.

Then Conchobar invited them back and sent Fergus as a surety;but when they came to Emain, Naoisi and his followers were killed,and Deirdre was brought to Conchobar, and her hands were boundbehind her back.When Fergus and Cormac heard of this treachery, they came and didgreat deed: three hundred of the Ulaid were killed, and women werekilled, and Emain was burnt by Fergus. And Fergus and Cormac went


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to the court of Ailill and Maeve, and for sixteen years the Ulaid had nopeace.

But Deirdre was for a year with Conchobar, and she never smiledor raised her head from her knee.[. . .] And when Conchobar wascomforting her she used to say:

Conchobar, what are you doing? You have caused me sorrowsand tears. As long as I live, I shall not love you.

What was dearest to me under heaven, and what was mostbeloved, you have taken from me, - a great wrong - so that I shallnot see him till I die.Two bright cheeks, red lips, eyebrows black as a chafer, pearlyteeth bright with the noble colour of snow.Do not break my heart. Soon I shall die. Grief is stronger than thesea, if you could understand it, Conchobar.What do you hate most of what you see? said Conchobar. You,she said, and Eogan son of Dubhthach. you shall be a year with

Eogan, said Conchobar. He gave her to Eogan. They went nextday to the assembly of Macha. She was behind Eogan in thechariot. She had prophesied that she would not see two husbandson earth together. Well, Deirdre, said Conchobar. You look likea sheep between two rams, between Eogan and me. There was abig rock in front of her. She thrust her head against the rock, sothat it shattered her head, and she died.That is the exile of the Sons of Usnach, and the exile of Fergusand the Tragic Death of the sons of Usnach and of Deirdre. Finit.Amen. Finit.

Summary by Myles Dillon

3. 4. 2. Tin B Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)

Tin B Cuailnge is the best known and longest tale of the cycle (closest toan Old Irish epic.)Main plot concerns the invasion of Ulster by the army of Connacht led byMedb who wants to capture the Brown Bull of Cooley.As the Ulsterman are debilitated by the curse of Macha, Cuchulain (who isexempt from it) defeats Medbs army single-handed.Though the Brown Bull is captured and sent to Cruachain, he kills the White

Bull of Connacht but dies of exhaustion after galloping back to Ulster with hisrival on his back.There follows a summary of this tale:

TAIN BO CUAILNGE

Once when their royal bed had been made ready for Ailill and Maevethey conversed as they lay on the pillows. It is a true saying, girl, saidAilill, that the wife of a good man is well off. It is true, said the girl.Why do you say so? Because, said Ailill, you are better off todaythan the day I wed you. I was well off without you, said Maeve. I

had not heard or known it, said Ailill, but that you were an heiressand that your nearest neighbours were robbing and plundering you.That was not so, said Maeve, for my father, Eochu Feidlech son of


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Finn, was high king of Ireland. And she went on to boast of her riches,and he of his.

Their treasures were brought before them, and it appeared thatMaeve had possessions equal to those of Ailill, save for a splendidbull, Whitehorn, which had belonged to Maeves herd but hadwandered into the herd of Ailill because it would not remain in awomans possession. All her wealth seemed to Maeve not worth apenny, since she had no bull equal to that of Ailill. She learned thatthere was one as good in the province of Ulster in the cantred ofCuailnge, and she sent messengers to ask a loan of it for a year,promising a rich reward. If the reward was not enough, she wouldeven grant the owner the enjoyment of her love. The messengersreturned without the bull and reported the owners refusal. There is noneed to smooth over difficulties, said Maeve, for I knew that it wouldnot be given freely until it was taken by force, and so it will be taken.

Maeve summoned the armies of Connacht and Cormac son ofConchobar and Fergus son of Roech, who were in exile from Ulster at

the time, and set out to carry off the precious bull. Before theexpedition started, she consulted her druid for a prophesy. He told herthat she at least would return alive. Then she met a mysteriousprophetess who rode on the shaft of a chariot, weaving a fringe with agold staff, and she asked her to prophesy. The woman answered, Isee crimson upon them, I see red. Four times Maeve appealedagainst this oracle, but each time the answer was the same; and theprophetess then chanted a poem in which she foretold the deeds ofCuchulainn.

On the first day the army advanced from Cruachan as far as CuilSilinni, and the tents were pitched. Ailills tent was on the right wing of

the army. The tent of Fergus was next, and beside it was the tent ofCormac, son of Conchobar. To the left of Ailill was the tent of Maeveand next to hers that of Findabair, her daughter. [...] Fergus wasappointed to guide the army, for the expedition was a revenge for him.He had been King of Ulster for seven years and had gone into exilewhen the sons of Usnach were killed in violation of his guaranty andprotection. And so he marched in front. But he felt a pang of longingfor Ulster and led the army astray northward and southward while hesent warnings to the Ulstermen. But the Ulstermen had been strickenwith a mysterious sickness which afflicted them in times of danger, theresult of a curse laid upon them by Macha, a fairy whom they had

wronged. Cuchulainn and his father, Sualtam, were exempt from thecurse, and they set out to oppose the enemy. They arrived at ArdCuillenn, and Cuchulainn told his father to go back and warn theUlstermen to depart from the open plains into the woods and valleys.He cut an oak sapling with a single stroke, and, using one arm, oneleg, and one eye, he made it into a hoop, wrote an ogam on it, andfixed it around a stone pillar. Then he departed to keep a tryst with agirl south of Tara.

The Connacht army reached Ard Cuillenn and saw the ogam.Fergus interpreted it for them. Any man who advanced farther thatnight, unless he made a hoop in the same way, would be slain byCuchulainn before morning. Ailill decided to turn aside into the forestfor the night. In the morning Cuchulainn returned from his tryst andfound the army at Turloch Caille Moire, north of Cnogba na Rig. There


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he cut off the fork of a tree with a single stroke and cast it into theearth from his chariot, so that two-thirds of the stem was buried in theearth. He came upon two Connaught warriors and beheaded themand their charioteers. He set their heads upon the branches of thetree-fork and turned their horses back toward the camp, the chariotsbearing the headless bodies of the men. [. . . ]

The Man who did this deed, Fergus said, is Cuchulainn. It is hewho struck the branch from its base with a single stroke, and killed thefour as swiftly as they were killed, and who came to the border withonly his charioteer.

What sort of man, Aillil said, is this Hound of Ulster we heartell of? How old is this remarkable person?

It is soon told, Fergus said. In his fifth year he went to studythe arts and the crafts of War with Scathach, and courted Emer. In hiseight year he took up the arms. At present he is in his seventeenthyear.

Is he the hardest they have in Ulster? Maeve said.

Yes, the hardest of all, Fergus said. Youll find no harderwarrior against you - no point more sharp, more swift, more slashing;no raven more flesh-ravenous, no hand more daft, no fighter morefierce, no one of his own age one third as good, no lion moreferocious; no barrier in battle, no hard hammer, no gate of battle, nosoldiers doom, no hinderer of hosts, more fine. Youll find no onethere to measure him - for youth or vigour, for apparel, horror oreloquence; for splendour, fame or form, for voice or strength orsternness, for cleverness, courage or blows in battle; for fire or gury,victory, doom, or turmoil; for stalking, scheming or slaughter in thehunt; for swiftness, alertness or wilderness; and no one with the battle-

feat nine men on each point - none like Cuchulainn.On the next day the army moved eastward, and Cuchulainn wentto meet them. He surprised Orlam son of Ailill and Maeve and killedhim, and the next day he killed three more with their charioteers. Thearmy advanced and devastated the plains of Bregia and Muirthemne,and Fergus warned them to beware of Cuchulainns vengeance. Theywent on into Cuailnge and reached the river Glaiss Cruind, but it roseagainst them so that they could not cross. A hundred chariots wereswept into the sea. Cuchulainn followed hard upon them seekingbattle, and he killed a hundred men. Maeve called upon her ownpeople to oppose him in equal combat. Not I, not I! said each one

from where he stood. My people owe no victim, and if one were owingI would not go against Cuchulainn, for it is not easy to fight with him.That night a hundred warriors died of fright at the sound ofCuchulainns weapons.

Maeve sent a messenger to summon Cuchulainn to a parley withher and Fergus, but he would accept no conditions; and for the nextthree days the army lay without pitching their tents and withoutfeasting or music, and Cuchulainn killed a hundred men each night.The messenger was sent again to ask for terms, and he refused allthat were proposed. There was one condition that he would accept,but he would not himself declare it. Fergus was able to tell thatCuchulainn would agree to single combat with a warrior each day, ifthe army would advance only while the combat lasted and would haltwhen the warrior had been killed until another was found. Maeve


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decided to accept the proposal, because it would be better to lose oneman every day than a hundred every night. [. . .]

Meanwhile Maeve turned northward to Dun Sobairche, andCuchulainn followed her. He turned back to protect his own territoryand found Buide son of Ban Blai, with twenty-four followers, driving theBrown Bull of Cuailnge, which they had found in Glenn na Samisce inSliab Cuilinn. The bull was accompanied by twenty-four of his cows.Cuchulainn challenged Buide and killed him, but, while they wereexchanging casts of their spears, the great bull was driven off, andthat was the greatest grief and dismay and confusion that Cuchulainnsuffered on that hosting. Maeve plundered Dun Sobairche, and thenafter six weeks the four provinces of Ireland with Ailill and Maeve andthose who had captured the bull came into camp together. [. . .]

In the morning, when the sun was up, the Ulstermen attacked, andthe men of Ireland [the Connaught army] came to meet them. Threetimes the Men of Ireland broke through northward and each time theywere driven back. The Conchobar himself went into the field, where

the enemy had been advancing, and found Fergus opposed to him.They fought shield to shield, and Fergus struck three mighty blowsupon the shield of Conchobar so that it screamed aloud. But,remembering that he was an Ulsterman, he turned his anger againstthe hills, and three hills were shorn of their tops by his sword.

Cuchulainn heard the scream of Conchobars magic shield wherehe lay prostrate from his wounds. He rose up in heroic frenzy andseized no mere weapons but his war-chariot, body and wheels, towield against the enemy. Fergus had promised, if ever he andCuchulainn should meet in the battle, that he would retreat before him.When Cuchulainn now came against him, he led his company out of

the fight, and the Leinstermen and Munstermen followed them, so thatonly Ailill and Maeve and their sons with nine battalions remained inthe field. At noon Cuchulainn came into the battle. At sunset he haddefeated the last battalion, and of his chariot there remained a few ribsof the body and a few spokes of the wheels.

Meanwhile, Maeve had sent the Brown Bull of Cuailnge toCruachan, so that he at least should come there, whoever else mightfail to come. Then she appealed the Cuchulainn to spare her armyuntil it should go westward past Ath Mor, and he consented. [. . .]

When the Brown Bull came to Cruachan, he uttered three mightybellows, and the Whitehorned Bull heard that and came to fight him.

All who had returned from the battle came to watch the bull-fight. Theywatched until night fell, and when night fell they could only listen to thegreat noise of the fight. The bulls travelled all over Ireland during thenight, and in the morning the Brown Bull was seen going pastCruachan with the Whitehorned Bull on his horns. He galloped back toUlster, scattering fragments of the dead bulls flesh from his horns onthe way, and when he came to the border of Cuailnge, his heart broke,and he died.

Summary by Myles Dillon

3.4.3. Tin B Fraoch (The Cattle Raid of Fraoch)Tin B Fraoch is the second most popular cattle raid tale in Old Irishliterature.


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Its first part, in which Medb plots the death of Fraoch (a young Connachwarrior who has fallen in love with Finnabair) forcing him fight a monster whodwells in a lake, has echoes in the anglo-saxon poem of Beowulf. After killingthe monster, Fraoch marries Finnabair, and the second part of the talerecounts how both she and his cattle herds are kidnapped and carried offfrom Connacht.

3.5. Celtic Myth in the Theatre of W.B. Yeats

3.5.1. The Cuchulain Cycle of PlaysCuchulain appears as the main hero in 5 plays written by William ButlerYeats from 1902 to 1938. In these plays Yeats blends elements of Irish mythmade available to him through the translations of the Tan, and Lady AugustaGregorys Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902), with his personal symbolism thatcarries forward the oppositions between the real and the spirit world evolvedin his poems.In their chronological order, the Cuchulain plays are:

3.5.1.1. On Bailes Strand (1904)3.5.1.2. The Green Helmet (1910)3.5.1.3. At the Hawks Well (1916)3.5.1.4. The Only Jealousy of Emer (1916)3.5.1.5. The Death of Cuchulain (1938)

At the Hawks WellSources: Macgnmartha/boyhood deeds, narrated by Fergus in the Tan;Tochmarc Emire (the Courtship of Emer).Cuchulain overhears from Cathbad that the youth who take up arms that daywould become the greatest warrior in Ireland; his life would be most glorious,

but short. He makes his choice immediately and asks the king to let him takeup arms like a man.Cuchulain receives his training first under Fergus and then under Scathach, afamous warrior woman from the Land of Shadow (island of Skye).While in Scotland, he has to fight Scathachs sister, Aife, whom he finallymanages to defeat. Becoming her lover, he begets Aife a son, Connla.Play: Cuchulain, as a Young Man, arrives at a Well, whose waters are saidto give immortality. An Old Man, who has spent 50 years waiting for thechance of drinking from its waters, urges him to join him, for else his life willbe spent in ceaseless warfare. Cuchulain decides to pursue the Hawkguardian of the well, and in doing so he embraces his heroic destiny.

The Green HelmetSource: Fledd Bricrenn (Bricrius Feast)Bricriu, a mischief-maker, invites the warriors of Ireland to a feast, where hemaliciously exploits the contention that the choicest portion of meat is givento the greatest hero. Cuchulain, Conall Cernach and Laegaire Buadach claimthe title in turn. To decide which of these warriors is the greatest, a giant ordemon, named Uath (Horror) appears and challenges them into a beheadinggame. Only Cuchulain accepts the challenge and beheads the giant, to bethen proclaimed by Uath the greatest champion in Ireland.Play: Cuchulain makes a sacrificial gesture in offering himself to the RedMan from the sea (Manannan in disguise) to kill.


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On Bailes StrandSource: Aided Oenfhir Aife (Violent Death of Aifes Son)Before the birth of his son, Cuchulain placed a geis upon him: Connla was tonever reveal his name to any man; he was to fight any man who impeded hispath.

When Connla grew into a young man, he set out for Emain Macha in search

of his father. There he encountered many warriors of the Red Branch, butrefused to give each warrior his name, and he either wounded or killed them.Finally Conchobar send Cuchulain against the boy, and, though warned byEmer that the young man was possibly his son by Aife, his duty to his kingforced him fight and kill Connla.Play: Reluctantly, Cuchulain swears loyalty to Conchobar and is forbidden byhim to befriend an unknown young man sent by Aife. After learning that theyouth he killed was his own son, Cuchulain dies fighting the waves, mistakentheir foam for Conchobars crown.A Blind Man and a Fool act as chorus, framing the main action of the play.

ON BAILES STRAND (1901, P.1904)

FOOL: What a clever man you are though you are blind! Theresnobody with two eyes in his head that is as clever as you are. Whobut you could have though that the henwife sleeps every day alittle at noon? I would never be able to steal anything if you didnttell me where to look for it. And what a good cook you are! Youtake the fowl out of my hands after I have stolen it and plucked it,and you put it into the big pot at the fire there, and I can go outand run races with the witches at the edge of the waves and getan appetite, and when Ive got it, theres the hen waiting inside forme, done to the turn.

BLIND MAN [who is feeling about with his stick]: Done to the turn.FOOL [putting his arm round Blind Mans neck]: Come now, Ill have a

leg and youll have a leg, and well draw lots for the wish-bone. Illbe praising you while youre eating it, for your good plans and foryour good cooking. Theres nobody in the world like you, BlindMan. Come, come. Wait a minute. O shouldnt have closed thedoor. There are some that look for me, and I wouldnt like them notto find me. Boann herself out of the river and Fand out of the deepsea. Witches they are, and they come by in the wind, and they cry,

Give a kiss, Fool, give a kiss, thats what they cry. Thats wideenough. All the witches can come in now. I wouldnt have thembeat at the door and say, Where is the Fool? Why has he put alock on the door? Maybe theyll hear the bubbling of the pot andcome in and sit on the ground. But we wont give them any of thefowl. Let them go back to the sea, let them go back to the sea.

BLIND MAN [feeling legs of big chair with his hand] Ah! [Then, in alouder voice as he feels the back of it]. Ah - ah -

FOOL: Why do you say Ah - ah?BLIND MAN: I know the big chair. It is to-day the High King Conchubar

is coming. They have brought out this chair. He is going to be

Cuchulains master in earnest from this day out. It is that hescoming for.FOOL: He must be a great man to be Cuchulains master.


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BLIND MAN: So he is. He is a great man. He is over all the rest of thekings of Ireland.

FOOL: Cuchulains master! I thought Cuchulain could do anything heliked.

BLIND MAN: So he did, so he did. But he ran too wild, and Conchubaris coming to-day to put an oath upon him that will stop his

rambling and make him as biddable as a housedog and keep himalways at his hand. He will sit in this chair and put the oath uponhim.

FOOL: How will he do that?BLIND MAN: You have no wits to understand such things. [The Blind

Man has got into the chair]. He will sit up in this chair and hell say:Take the oath, Cuchulain. I bid you take the oath. Do as I tell you.What are your wits compared with mine, and what are your richescompared with mine? And what sons have you to pay your debtsand to put a stone over you when you die? Take the oath, I tellyou. Take a strong oath.

FOOL [crumpling himself up and whining]: I will not. Ill take no oath. Iwant my dinner.BLIND MAN: Hush, hush! It is not done yet.FOOL: You said it was done to a turn.BLIND MAN: Did I, now? Well, it might be done, and not done. The

wings might be white, but the legs might be red. The flesh mightstick hard to the bones and not come away in the teeth. But,believe me, Fool, it will be well done before you put your teeth in it.

FOOL: My teeth are growing long with the hunger.BLIND MAN: Ill tell you a story - the kings have story-tellers while they

are waiting for their dinner - I will tell you a story with a fight in it, a

story with a champion in it, and a ship and a queens son that hashis mind set on killing somebody that you and I know.FOOL: Who is that? Who is he coming to kill?BLIND MAN: Wait, now, till you hear. When you were stealing the

fowl, I was lying in a hole in the sand, and I heard three mencoming with a shuffling sort of noise. They were wounded andgroaning.

FOOL: Go on. Tell me about the fight.BLIND MAN: There had been a fight, a great fight, a tremendous great

fight. A youg man had landed on the shore, the guardians of theshore had asked his name, and he had refused to tell it, and he

had killed one, and others had run away.FOOL: Thats enough. Come on now to the fowl. I wish it was bigger. I

wish it was as big as a goose.BLIND MAN: Hush! I havent told you all. I know who that young man

is. I heard the men who were running away say he had red hair,that he had come from Aoifes country, that he was going to killCuchulain.

II.CUCHULAIN: Because I have killed men without your bidding

And have rewarded others at my own leisure,Because of half a score of trifling thing,Youd lay this oath upon me , and now - and now


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you add another pebble to the heap, And I must be your man, well-nigh your bondsman,

Because a youngster out of Aoifes countryHas found the shore ill-guarded.

CONCHUBAR: He came to landWhile you were somewhere out of sight and hearing,Hunting or dancing with your wild companions.

CUCHULAIN: He can be driven out. Ill not be bound.Ill dance or hunt, or quarrel or make love,Wherever and whenever Ive a mind to.If time had not put water in your blood,You never would have thought it.

CONCHUBAR:I would leaveA strong and settle country to my children.

CUCHULAIN: And I must be obedient in all things;Give up my will to yours; go where you please;Come when you call; sit at the council board

Among the unshapely bodies of old men;I whose mere name has kept this country safe,I that in early days have driven outMaeve of Cruachan and the northern pirates,The hundred kings of Sorcha, and the kingsOut of the Garden in the East of the World.Must I, that held you on the throne when allHad pulled you from it, swear obedienceAs if I were some cattle-raising king?Are my shins specked with the heat of the fire,Or have my hands not skill but to make figures

Upon the ashes with a stick? Am ISo slack and idle and I need a whipBefore I serve you?

CONCHUBAR: No, no whip, Cuchulain,But every day my children come and say:This man is growing harder to endure.How can we be at safety with this manThat nobody can buy or bid or bind?We shall be at his mercy when you are gone;He burns the earth as if he were a fire,And time can never touch him.

CUCHULAIN: And so the taleGrows finer yet; and I am to obeyWhatever child you set upon the throne,As if it were yourself!

CONCHUBAR: Most certainly.I am High King, my son shall be High King;And you for all the wildness of your blood,And though your father came out of the sun,Are but a little king and weigh but lightIn anything that touches government,If put in balance with my children.

CUCHULAIN: Its well that we should speak out minds out plainly,For when we die we shall be spoken ofIn many countries. We in our young days


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Have seen the heavens like a burning cloudBrooding upon the world, and being moreThan men can be now that clouds lifted up,We should be the more truthful. Conchubar,I do not like your children - they have no pith,No marrow in their bones, and will lie softWhere you and I lie hard. [ . . . ]

IV.FOOL: He is going up to King Conchubar. They are all about the young

man. No, no, he is standing still. There is a great wave going tobreak, and he is looking at it. Ah! Now he is running down to the sea,but he is holding up his sword as if he were going into a fight.[pause]. Well struck! Well struck!

BLIND MAN: What is he doing now?FOOL: O! he is fighting the waves!BLIND MAN: He sees kind Conchubars crown on every one of them.

FOOL: There, he has struck at a big one! He has struck the crown off it;he has made the foam fly. There again, another big one!BLIN MAN: Where are the kings? What are the kings doing?FOOL: They are shouting and running down to the shore, and the people

are running out of the houses. They are all running.BLIND MAN: You say they are running out of the houses? There will be

nobody left in the houses. Listen, Fool!FOOL: There, he is down! He is up again. He is going out in the deep

water. There is a big wave. It has gone over him. I cannot see himnow. He has killed kings and giants, but the waves have masteredhim, the waves have mastered him!

BLIND MAN: Come here, Fool!Fool: The waves have mastered him.BLIND MAN: Come here!FOOL: The waves have mastered him.BLIND MAN: Come here, I say.FOOL [coming towards him, but looking backwards towards the door]:

What is it?BLIND MAN: There will be nobody in the houses. Come this way; come

quickly! The ovens will be full. We will put our hands into the ovens.[They go out].

The Only Jealousy Of EmerSources: Serglige con Chulainn (Cuchulains Illness) and Oenet Emire (TheJealousy of Emer)When cuchulain tries to kill two magical birds, he is horsewhipped in a dreamby two women of the sdh. He spends a year in a coma at Emain Macha, until, in a further vision, he is told that Fand needs him to fight off three demonswho besieged her palace. Cuchulain enters the Otherworld, defeats thedemons, and spends a month in Fands loving arms. When he returns to thesurface, he promises to meet Fand again. Emer plans to kill Fand at themeeting-place, but instead each woman offers to surrender her love. Fandleaves, but all three are distraught until Manannan uses his magic cloak tocast a spell of oblivion upon them.


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We also came my ladies, out of wombsand the danger yet remainsmorning noon and eveningthat the ground will openand opened to us all will beBrufon na hAlmhaine

Br

na B

inneor Teach Da Deigewith its seven doorsand hot cauldrons.

Dont threat us again with your youth againsmall poor dark manC Chulainn.

TaskChoose from one of the following topics to develop into a 4000-word essay of

the argumentative type:1. Tain Bo Cualgne and the Celtic Framework.2. Constructing and De-constructing Mythic Heroism: representations

of Cuchulain in Tain Bo Cualgne, W. B. Yeatss Cuchulain playsand Nuala NiDhumnaills Chuchulain I.


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Chapter 4 The Cycle of Munster (the Finn Cycle)


Chapter 4 - The Cycle of Munster (the Finn Cycle)

4.1. The Fionn Cycle (Fenian, Ossianic, Munster)The Fionn Cycle contains a group of tales developed in Munster and Leinsterand dating to the 3rd century A.D.Most stories centre on the exploits of the mythical hero Fionn mac Cumhaill,his son Oisn, and other famous members of the fian (warrior-band) of Fionn,collectively known as the Fianna, who hunt, fight, conduct raids, and live anopen-air nomadic life.This set of literary conventions reflects a feature of early Irish society in thatsuch bands of warriors did live outside the structures of that society whileretaining links with it.Another characteristic is its frequent celebration of the beauty of nature,

evoked in vivid language.

4.2. Fenian Heroes and TalesFionn mac Cumhaill is the leader of the Fianna under the High King Cormacmac Airt, Fionn was to some extent an outlaw; yet he was also a poet,diviner, and sage, and, therefore, endowed with traditional, and, in earlyIreland, institutional attributes.His father, Cumhall, had led, in his turn, the Tara fian, while his mother,Muirne (Muireann) was the daughter of the druid Tadg, said to bedescending from the Danann. As such, his parentage combined warrior andvisionary elements.As well as being endowed with physical courage, Fionn possesses a gift ofspecial insight which he can summon by biting his finger.According to one account of his origin, his finger was injured when a fairywoman caught it in the door of the fairy-fort at Femun.In folklore the injury is caused by Fionns burning his thumb on the Salmon ofKnowledge from the Boyne, which he is cooking for Finnegas, his druidteacher.Thereafter he finds himself inspired with imbas (great knowledge), which alsobrings him the gift of poetry.His famous hounds, Bran and Sceolang, are said to be his cousins

(Muirnes sister having been turned into an animal during her pregnancy.)Among his romances, the most famous is the one with the goddess Sadb,the mother of Osin, who came to him in the form of a deer.In The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grinne, Fionn appears as a vindictiveand jealous older man, initially threatened by the youthful lover, buteventually getting his bride back.When Cormacs son succeeds to the thrown, he declares war on the Fianna.At the battle of Gabhra (Cath Gabhra), Oscar(Fionns grandson) and manyof the Fianna are killed.Afterwards, Osin is lured away to Tir-na-nOg by Niamh, Manannansdaughter, where he spends 300 years until returning to Ireland.


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4.3. Oisin in the Land of Youth (From the Finn Cycle)

Hundreds of years after Finn and his companions had died, Saint Patrickcame to Ireland bringing the Christian religion with him. He had heard manystories about the adventures of the Fianna and he was interested in these oldheroes whom the people spoke about as if they were gods. Their story was

written into the very landscape of Ireland; hills and woods resounded withtheir legends, rivers and valleys bore their names, dozens marked theirgraves.

One day a feeble, blind old man was brought to Patrick. His body wasweak and wasted but his spirit was strong. Patrick preached the newdoctrines to him but the old warrior scorned the newcomers and their ritualsand in defiant response sand the praises of the Fianna, their code of honourand their way of life. He said he was Oisin, the son of Finn himself. Patrickdoubted the old mans word since Finn had been dead for longer than thespan of any human life. So to convince the saint that his claim was true,Oisin, last of the Fianna, told his story.

After the battle of Gowra, the last battle the Fianna fought, Oisin, Finnand a handful of survivors went south to Lough Lene in Kerry, a favouritehaunt of theirs in happier times. They were dispirited because they knew theirday was over. They had all fought many battles in their time, but this lastbattle had brought them total defeat and bitter losses. Many of theircompanions had been killed at Gowra, among them the bravest warrior of theFianna, Oisins own son, Oscar. When Finn, the baule-hardened old veteran,had seen his favourite grandson lying dead on the field, he had turned hisback to his troops and wept. Only once before had the Fianna seen theirleader cry and that was at the death of his staghound Bran.

Around Lough Lene the woods were fresh and green and the early

mists of a May morning were beginning to lift when Finn and his followers setout with their dogs to hunt. The beauty of the countryside and the prospect ofthe chase revived their spirits a little as they followed the hounds through thewoods. Suddenly a young hornless deer broke cover and bounded throughthe forest with the dogs in full cry at its heels. The Fianna followed them,rejuvenated by the familiar excitement of the chase.

They were stopped in their tracks by the sight of a lovely youngwoman galloping towards them on a supple, nimble white horse. She was sobeautiful she seemed like a vision. She wore a crown and her hair hung inshining, golden loops down over her shoulders. Her long, lustrous cloak,glinting with gold-embroidered stars, hung down over the silk trapping of herhorse. Her eyes were as clear and blue as the May sky above the forest andthey sparkled like dew on the morning grass. Her skin glowed white and pinkand her mouth seemed as sweet as honeyed wine. Her horse was saddledand shod with gold and there was a silver wreath around his head. No onehad seen a better animal.

The woman reined in her horse and came up to where Finn stood,moon-struck and silent. Ive travelled a great distance to find you, she said,and Finn found his voice.

Who are you and where have you come from? he asked. Tell usyour name and the name of your kingdom.

I am called Niamh of the Golden Hair and my father is the king of Tirna n-Og, the Land of Youth, the girl replied.


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Then tell us, Princess Niamh, why have you left a country like thatand crossed the sea to come to us? Has your husband forsaken you or hassome other tragedy brought you here?

My husband didnt leave me, she answered, for Ive never had ahusband. Many men in my own country wanted to marry me, but I wouldntlook at any of them because I loved your son.

Finn started in surprise. You love one of my sons? Which of my sonsdo you love, Niamh? And tell me why your mind settled on him? he asked.Oisin is the champion Im talking about, replied Niamh. Reports of

his handsome looks and sweet nature reached as far as the Land of Youth.So I decided to come and find him.

Oisin had been silent all this time, dazzled by the beautiful girl andwhen he heard her name him as the man she loved he trembled from head totoe. But he recovered himself and went over to the princess and took herhand in his. You are the most beautiful woman in the world and I wouldchoose you above all others. I will gladly marry you!

Come away with me, Oisin! Niamh whispered. Come back with me

to the Land of Youth. It is the most beautiful country under the sun. You willnever fall ill or grow old there. In my country you will never die. Trees growtall there and treed bend low with fruit. The land thaws with honey and wine,as much as you could ever want. In Tir na n-Og you will sit at feasts andgames with plenty of music for you, plenty of wine. You will get gold andjewels, more than you could imagine. And a hundred swords, a hundred silktunics, a hundred swift bay horses, a hundred keen hunting dogs. The Kingof the Ever Young will place a crown on your head, a crown that he hasnever given to anyone else, and it will protect you from every danger. You willget a hundred cows, a hundred calves, and a hundred sheep with goldenwool. You will get a hundred of the most beautiful jewels youve ever seen

and a hundred arrows. A hundred young women will sing to you and ahundred of the bravest, young warriors will obey your command. As well asall of this, you will get beauty, strength and power. And me for your wife.

Oh, Niamh, I could never refuse you anything you ask and I will gladlygo with you to the Land of Youth! Oisin cried and he jumped up on the horsebehind her. With Niamh cradled between his arms he took the reins in hishands and the horse started forwards.

Go slowly, Oisin, till we reach the shore! Niamh said.When Finn saw his son being borne away from him, he let out three

loud, sorrowful shots. Oh, Oisin, my son, he cried out, why are you leavingme? I will never see you again. Youre leaving me here heartbroken for I

know well never meet again!Oisin stopped and embraced his father and said goodbye to all his

friends. With tears streaming down his face he took a last look at them asthey stood on the shore. He saw the defeat and sorrow on his fathers faceand the sadness of his friends. He remembered his days together with themall in the excitement of the hunt and the heat of battle. Then the white horseshook its mane, gave three shrill neighs and leapt forward, plunging into thesea. The waves opened before Niamh and Oisin and dosed behind them asthey passed.

As they travelled across the sea, wonderful sight appeared to them onevery side. They passed cities, courts and castles, white-washed bawns andforts, painted summerhouses and stately palaces. A young fawn rushed past,a white dog with scarlet ears racing after it. A beautiful young woman on abay horse galloped by on the crests of the waves, carrying a golden apple in


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her right hand. Behind her, mounted on a white horse, rode a young prince,handsome and richly dressed with a gold-bladed sword in his hand. Oisinlooked in awe at this handsome couple but when he asked Niamh who theywere, she replied that they were insignificant compared to the inhabitants ofthe Land of Youth.

Ahead of them and visible from afar, a shining palace came into view.Its delicate, marble facade shone in the sun.

Thats the most beautiful palace I have ever see! Oisin exclaimed.What country are we in now and who is the king?

This is the Land of Virtue and that is the palace of Fomor, a giant,Niamh replied. The daughter of the king of the Land of Life is the queen. Shewas abducted from her own country by Fomor and he keeps her a prisonerhere. She has put a geis on him that he may not marry her until a championhas challenged him to single combat. But a prisoner she remains for no onewants to fight the giant.

Niamh, the story youve told me is sad, even though your voice ismusic in my ears, Oisin said. Ill go to the fortress and try to overcome the

giant and set the queen free.They turned the horse towards the white palace and when they arrivedthere they were welcomed by a woman almost as beautiful as Niamh herself.She brought them to a room where thy sat on golden chairs and ate anddrank of the best. When the feast was over, the queen told the story of hercaptivity and as tears coursed down her cheeks she told them that until thegiant was overcome she could never return home.

Dry your eyes, Oisin told her. Ill challenge the giant. Im not afraid ofhim! Either Ill kill him or Ill fight till he kills me.

At that moment Fomor approached the castle. He was huge and uglyand he carried a load of deerskins on his back and an iron bar in his hand.

He saw Oisin and Niamh but did not acknowledge their presence. He lookedinto the face of his prisoner and straight away he knew that she had told herstory to the visitors. With a loud, angry shout he challenged Oisin to fight. Forthree days and three nights they struggled and fought but, as powerful asFomor was, Oisin overpowered him in the end and cut off his head. The twowomen gave three triumphant cheers when they saw the giant felled. Whenthey saw that Oisin was badly injured and too exhausted to walk unaided,they took him gently between them and helped him back to the fortress. Thequeen put ointments and herbs on his wounds and in a very short time Oisinhad recovered his health and spirits. They buried the giant and raised his flagover the grave and caned his name in ogham script in stone. Then they

feasted till they were full and slept till dawn in the feather beds that wereprepared for them.

The morning sun awoke them and Niamh told Oisin they mustcontinue on their journey to Tir na n-Og. The queen of the Land of Virtue wassad to see them go, and indeed they were sad to leave her, but she was freenow to return home, so they said goodbye to her and that was the last theysaw of her. They mounted the white horse and he galloped away asboisterously as a March wind roaring across a mountain summit.

Suddenly the sky darkened, the wind rose and the sea was lit up byangry flashes of light. Niamh and Oisin rode steadily through the tempest,looking up at the pillars of clouds blotting out the sun until the wind droppedand the storm died down. Then, ahead of them, they saw the most delightfulcountry, bathed in sunshine, spread out in all its splendour. Set amid thesmooth rich plains was a majestic fortress that shone like a prism in the sun.


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Surrounding it were airy halls and summerhouses built with great artistry andinlaid with precious stones. As Niamh and Oisin approached the fortress atroop of a hundred of the most famous champions came out to meet them.

This land is the most beautiful place I have ever see! Oisinexclaimed. Have we arrived at the Land of Youth?

Indeed we have. This is Tir na n_og, Niamh replied. I told you thetruth when I told you how beautiful it was. Everything I promised you, you willreceive.

As Niamh spoke a hundred beautiful young women came to meetthem, dressed in silk and heavy gold brocade, and they welcomed the coupleto Tir na n-Og. A huge glittering crowd then approached with the king andqueen at their head. When Oisin and Niamh met the royal party, the king tookOisin by the hand and welcomed him. Then he turned towards the crowd andsaid. This is Oisin, Finns son, who is to be married to my beloved daughter,Niamh of the Golden Hair. He turned to Oisin. Youre welcome to this happycountry, Oisin! Here you will have a long and happy life and you will nevergrow old. Everything you ever dreamt of is waiting for you here. I promise you

that all I say is true for I am the king of Tir na n-Og. This is my queen and thisis my daughter Niamh, the Golden-haired, who crossed the sea to find youand bring you back here so that you could be together for ever.

Oisin thanked the king and queen and a wedding feast was preparedfor Ois

curs optional engleza celtic paradigm

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