Tolkien, the Saint Brendan Story, and the Idea of Paradise in the West
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Volume 17 Number 4 Article 3 Summer 7-15-1991 Sailing West: Tolkien, the Saint Brendan Story, and the Idea of Paradise in the West Norma Roche Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Roche, Norma (1991) "Sailing West: Tolkien, the Saint Brendan Story, and the Idea of Paradise in the West," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 17 : No. 4 , Article 3. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol17/iss4/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To join the Mythopoeic Society go to: http://www.mythsoc.org/join.htm Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON July 31 - August 1, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm Mythcon 52: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico; July 29 - August 1, 2022 http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm Abstract Discusses the idea of a paradise in the West—its mythological and literary sources, its relationship to history, and Tolkien’s use of it in the poem “Imram.” Additional Keywords Brendan, St.—Voyages of; Cardinal Directions—Symbolism; Paradise; Tolkien, J.R.R. “Imram” (poem); Western paradise This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol17/iss4/3 Issue 66 - SummcR 1991 CPgTHLORe T©11kicir\ rhc Srfinr BiReindkm SroiRg, and tihe Idea oF IRamdisc 1m chc ClJcsr NoRma Roche n 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien published a poem called Imram, dinner, the island begins to shake and m ove, and Brendan based on the story of the voyage of Saint Brendan, an explains that the island is actually a whale, named Jas- Irish monk who sailed to a marvelous land far in the West. conius. Next the monks land at the Paradise of Birds, Published in Time and Tide (3 December 1955, p. 1561), it where they find a great tree filled with a multitude of white was originally part of an unfinished work called The Notion birds singing hymns. One of the birds explains that they Club Papers, and, to m y knowledge, has not yet been pub are fallen angels, banished from heaven and deprived of lished elsewhere.1 Imram expresses an idea that is impor the vision of God for approving the sin o f Lucifer. tant throughout Tolkien's works, that of a deathless land in the West. I would like to take a look at this idea, first as After sailing about for a long time, they come an island it is expressed in the Saint Brendan story itself, one of the where dwells a community of silent monks, whose lamps best-known and most popular tales of the European Mid are lit every night by a fiery arrow that comes through the dle Ages; then at Tolkien's use of it, in Imram and else window. Brendan and his crew spend Christmas there and where, its sources in European myth and literature, and its set out after Epiphany. On the next Holy Thursday they interesting relationship to historical fact. find themselves back at the Island of Sheep, and again they spend Holy Saturday on the back of Jasconius, and Easter The word imram means "rowing about."2 There is in at the Paradise of Birds. The talking bird predicts that they Irish literature a tradition oiimrama, stories of sea voyages, will repeat this cycle from Christmas through Pentecost for of which the Saint Brendan story is the best known. Saint a total of seven years. Brendan was a historical figure, an Irish monk who lived from about 486 to 575 A.D., during the time Ireland was in During the long voyage the m onks' boat is attacked by transition to Christianity. The Navigatio Sancti Brendani a sea monster, but another sea m onster arrives and kills it. was first written down in the ninth or early tenth century They come to an island, lush with fruit, where lives a by an unknown Irish monk, possibly one living in Europe community of monks. One of the extra monks decides to as a refugee from the attacks of the Vikings.3 The earliest join the community and stays behind. surviving manuscript is dated late 10th century.4 Brendan's voyage was a much-loved tale in Europe right One day they sail through water so clear they can see up until the time of the actual western discoveries. There fish going about far below. Another day they come upon are over 120 known manuscripts of the story in Latin from a great crystal column surrounded by a silver canopy. all over Europe, and more in translation, even a popular Eight days later the wind drives them toward the Island of printed book from the 15th century (Selmer, vii, xxxii). Smiths, a barren place dotted with slag heaps. The swarthy inhabitants throw pieces of blazing slag at them. The next To tell the bare bones of the story: Saint Brendan hears day they see a mountain with smoke belching from its of the Land of Promise of the Saints, a green and fruitful peak. One of the extra monks leaps overboard and is country where it is always light and "the very stones drawn toward the island, and the others see him being led beneath one's feet are precious." Consumed with the away by devils and set afire. Seven days later they meet desire to visit this place, Brendan chooses 14 monks and Judas Iscariot perched on a rock, battered by the waves. prepares a leather curragh, the traditional Irish boat. Three He is allowed to sit there every Sunday as a vacation from other monks join the voyage at the last minute, but Bren his torment in hell. Three days later they reach the island dan predicts that they will not return. They sail into the of Paul the Hermit, who lived for 30 years on fish brought west, and come to an island where they find a great hall to him by an otter. where food is set out for them, but they see no one. One of the extra monks tries to steal a silver bridle, Brendan casts When they return to the Island of Sheep for the last a devil from him, and he dies. On Holy Thursday, they time, the Steward joins the voyage to guide them to the reach the Island of Sheep, where they meet a man they call Land of Promise. After 40 days' journey, they are en the Steward. On Holy Saturday, they leave there and come veloped in darkness. An hour later they reach shore and a to a small, bare island. W hen they light a fire to cook their brilliant light shines around them. They wander through CPgTHLORG 188uc66 - SummeRl991 Page 17 this land for 40 days, eating from trees laden with fruit. Although Tolkien tells a story similar to that of Jasconius They come to a great river, and while they are pondering the whale in his poem Fastitocalon (Tolkien Reader, p. 48-49), how to cross it, a young man appears and says to them, he doesn't mention Jasconius, or any other sea creature, "Now, at last, you have found the land you have been here, nor does he mention the crystal column, which is seeking all these years. The Lord Jesus Christ did not allow probably a description of an iceberg (Selmer 90). Most you to find it immediately, because first he wished to show times when Tolkien speaks of the pull of the Sea, it is not you the richness of His wonders in the deep." He says they so much the sea itself, but what lies over it, that is drawing must now return to Ireland and be laid to rest there. He one. In contrast, the Navigaticfs author seems to love the tells them that after many more years, the island will be sea and spends time describing the ocean voyages, on the revealed at a time when Christians are undergoing per "wonders of the deep" for their ow n sake. secution. The monks gather fruit and gems and set sail for Something of the mood of the Navigatio reminds m e of home. Brendan tells the story of his voyage to his com the unspecific, but pervasive, feel of religion in most of munity, puts his affairs in order, and dies soon after. Tolkien's works. The Navigatio is full of religion— after all, Tolkien's Imram was part of an unfinished work called it concerns monks — and it may be a description of the The Notion Club Papers, begun in 1945, in which he planned monastic life as it should be lived.7 But its main motives to portray the Inklings time-travelling. T. A. Shippey calls are not specifically religious at all. Brendan makes the it "an extremely private poem."5 Humphrey Carpenter journey simply because he has a great desire to see the says of it, "O n its own it is a little bare, a forlorn memorial place, and God lets him come there simply to show him to an unfinished and promising story."6 In Imram, Brendan "the richness of his wonders in the deep," and let him has returned to Ireland, and is replying to a brother monk's know that the island is there against future need.