EVOLUTION OF THE FAIRY DEPOSITED BY THE COMMITTEE ON (Srafcuate Studies. \ W No. LlDrary ol iflcii University MONTREAL. Receiyed THE EVOLUTION OF THE FAIRY WORLD WITH 8PECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS TREATMHMT IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, by Ariel Marguerlta Macnaughton 1910. Thesis submitted for the Master of Arts* Degree* INDEX. The Evolution of the Fairy World, With Special Reference to its Treatment in English Literature. Preface. p^ 1% Chapter 1. The theories ofthe origin of the fairy race, • 1. Former theories* 2. Agricultural ritualistic origin . Fg. 5. Chapter II. The fairy world in early Celtic Literature. 1. Its creation , its Qualities an* its influence upon English Literature. Pg% 26 Chapter in. The medieval conception of fairyland. 1. The new features literature developed in the fairy of the Spenserian portrayal. 2. Oberon. Chapter IV. Shakespearia3. The fairn ytreatment mythology. of England. Pg% 33. l% r£?e influences that moulded his conceptions. 2. The nature of Shakespearian presentment. Pg.66 Chapter V. ffilsn1^ of fal^nd in 1. Its imitative nature and revival of oltf traditions. 2. The new attributes it bestowed on the fairy.Pgf6 Chapter VI. The nineteenth-century foix-lore revivals and UtJmSS8006 ln StePlng falr^ intern X' ftSSK.!* feStUre b6CaUSe effib0<^ contemporary 2. The latest aspect of the fairy wana and its part in modern life. pi ., The Evolution of the Fairy World with special reference to its treatment in English Literature. Few things have been more lovely in the marvellous English poetry of the last three centuries than its pictures of the fairy world, real to our ancestors. So persistent was the fairy note throughout the evolution of our literature, that from ShaKespeare, Drayton and HerricK, to Swinburne, Tennyson and Rossetti the tribute to the elfin realm was paid, and to-day in Ireland and Gaelic Scotland the horns of Elfland still blow "of perilous seas in faery lands forlorn." No other literature save Greece has given us glimpses of the mysterious land of phantasy and charm that equal the pictures of the English poets. Why then the fairy world should be especially prominent in English literature is a question whose answer lies deep not only in the psychology but the history of the race. National temperament and historical conditions have both played their part in developing the folK beliefs of the -2- people. Eighteen hundred years ago the fairy creed of Europe was identical with that of Ireland and England. Yet it is only England and Ireland to-day whose literature can show an uninterrupted chain in the development of the fairy conception. Why Europe so lost the distinct reality of her folK belief that it found no embodiment in the writings of her people is answered by her history. Wile Gaeldom was unaffected by Roman influence, the tribal system survived and preserved local mythology, - hence the continued existence among the Celts of the reality of their belief. But Europe, on the contrary, peopled by one and the same Aryan family of similar temperament, so developed that one tribal community, Greece and Rome, c forced its peculiar and individual mythology upon all the others,and we have the vast pantheon of classical literature accepted by the ancient civilized world. The result was a confusion in the minds of the borrowers: for when the brief flower of "Classical Faery" had withered beneath the sturdy blast of Christian zeal, no other European family, save the Gaels, had sufficient tenacity of imagination to embody their belief in their literature. On the other hand, owing to historical conditions, Celtic mythology, which had sprung from -3- the same origin as all Aryan folk-lore, was left at liberty to develop upon its own lines, and portray the truth and living charm of its own racial peculiarity. To this Celtic treasure-house, through the Arthur saga, England fell heir; and her poets? through the inspiration of the ancient narratives;gave life and form to their own peasant lore. Therefore since the close link between the fairy of old heroic saga, whom they met in Arthurian romance, and the fairy of the peasant, celebrated in every country neighbourhood was recognized by English writers, their productions are alive and vivid while those of the Continent seem alien and unreal. English writers have caught the living beauty of the belief as it existed among the people of their day. The elf world of the Elizabethans is a realm of poetry and fancy, yet so much of the spirit of the age breathes out from such fanciful pictures that we§ feel their truth to life, and the fairy world becomes almost as real and alluring to us as it was to the fifteenth century Bnglishman. To understand the position which the fairy poetry of Shakespeare and modern writers occupies in the history of Faery is here used in its right sense, The land of fairies"; KeIghtley;page*9 -4- literature, it will be necessary to trace the conception of the fairy world, from its earliest presentations of fairy belief, at a time in the history of our people previous to the most ancient records of earth1 s races, to its £*. final presentation in the poetry of the nineteenth century Yeats and Tennyson. In the treatment from century to century we shall see what are the qualities it has retained of its early nature, as it undergoes change in the hands of generations of bards. Each successive epoch gives something, each historical change leaves its mark; and each singer moulds afresh the influences of preceding creations. From its origin in Aryan mythology it took certain characteristics that it never lost. Lt Later, the Celtic romance singers peopled this fairy realm with a race of Fay-dwellers, who were distinguished by theold ritual qualities of Aryan custom* Ttoen came the Medieval story-tellers to enrich the Land of Fa6ry with the exuberant illusion of an age that produced the extravagance of Chivalry. With Shakespeare^ a union of the beauties of a past inspiration with the simple beliefs 10T the people of his day*, came to English poetry. He, for all time, till fairies reign again, established a tradition for later English poets to follow. At last the nineteenth -5- century, because the living belief in fairies had departed, ushers in revivals and echoes of a past in its poetry. Tennyson returns to medieval "Avalon" and "Arthur", and Yeats to the Celtic "Land of Youth" and "Oisin". CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF THE FAIRY RACE An examination of the qualities of the fairy race forces us to consider theorigin of this belief in a fairyland,- -a belief which is so old, and so universal, that the Russ in his wintry dwelling, or the Irish peasant by his fire of turf, tells to those around the same tale of fairy pranks and plays as those which hush the Japanese to sleep. Such an identity suggests a common origin in the tradition and rights of a common family in a primitive state. Among the many theories advanced to account for the diffusion of the fairy conception among the nations is the borrowing of stories from one another. Equally satisfactory is the explanation of the similarity of the tales in different parts of the world by the pyschologlcal reasoning in men's minds that similar conditions will produce similar results. -6- Therefore at certain stages of civilization early man reasoned himself into a belief in fairies and their doings, because at that time his mind had reached a certain stage of develop­ ment which existing circumstances aided him in controlling usee and classifying. This psychological factAto account for the diffusion of tales is based on the same reasoning as an explanation to account for the origin of the fairies. The Naturalistic theory has found many tsuppdrfcers • The Naturalistic Theory Such eminent scientists as Grimm, Max Miiller and John Fiske have considered the belief in fairies to be primitive man1 s explanation of the causes of natural phenomena. They claim that the fairies are the inhabitants of a vast pantheon, which was the direct result of man's attempts to account for nature. This hypothesis is very plausible^ for in man, imagination is a strong faculty, and -rwhen he cannot understand a thing imagination pictures it for him and supplies a reason. Storm winds are gnomes or demons who destroy, and gentle breezes are fairies. To him all nature is alive, and here is the first step towards his creation of an elfin world. In the Iliad we see a grand old fairy-tale where each tree -7- has its fairy, each pool its elusive sprite, and where nymph and dryad are wooed and loved by mortal, and appear in the m most beautiful forms the human imagination can picture. The naturalistic or Aryan theory of origin proves that in the Latin and Greek writings the old classical mytholgoy was identical with the religion of thepeople. So the first stage of any mythology is its existence as the religious creed of the race. When in such primitive reasoning man begins to realize a personality in separation from the natural object , which exists as the inhabitant of mountain, tree, or river, he has begun to perceive the importance of matter, and yet has to refer whatever life the object apparently possessed to some outside supernatural being. Thus to hirn^at first, the hamadryad dwells in her tree, feels its injuries, and dies with it; but as time goes on, man considers her i apart from the natural object, and endows her with mortal and supernatural qualities. Then our world holds beings, such as the German elves and gnomes, who are spirits of the mountain but not identical with it.