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Cogley-MA-1942.Pdf (9.419Mb) ANGLO-SAXON AND CELTIC VIEWS AS MANIFESTED IN THE EPICS BEOWULF AND DEIRDRE i BY SISTER MARY CLOTILDIS COGLEY A THESIS Submitted to the Faculty of The Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in the Department of English / OMAHA, 1942 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................. i CHAPTER I THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND THE CELTS.............................1 CHAPTER II THE EPIC................................................... 5 CHAPTER III BEOSVULF................................................... 9 CHAPTER IV DEIRDRE..................................................26 » CHAPTER V CONCLUSION................................................41 BIBLIOGRAPHY 45 PREFACE The purpose of this thesis is, by a rather detailed study of the content of these two epics, Beowulf and Deirdre, to endeavor to point out the difference of view, the differ­ ence of outlook between the Anglo-Saxon and the Celt. The quotations from Beowulf are taken from the translation of James M. Garnett, fourth edition. Deirdre, or The Fate of The Sons of Usnach, is the seventh chapter of Lady Gregory’s beautiful translation of th? Cuchulain of Muirthemne. Con­ sequently, the quotations from Deirdre are taken from this book, and reference is made in the footnotes under this title. CHAPTER I THE ANGLO-SAXOHS AND THE CELTS The Anglo-Saxons are a Teutonic people who emigrated from the mainland of Europe to England during the fifth and sixth centuries. These bands of warriors came from Denmark, the northern coast of Germany, and the Fresian Islands, laying waste the settlements of the neighboring tribes. They fought with spears, swords, and clubs. For many years these roving sea-pirates worried the Roman officials by suddenly attacking Britain and by departing with booty wherever it could be had. When they returned from their voyages, they would entertain themselves in a great mead hall and tell stories of terrible monsters and boast of their own fierce deeds. These rough and hardy warriors thronged the .wooden benches, feasted, and listened to the professional story-teller who was called a scop. The scop played a harp or a flute and chanted a tale which held his audience spellbound. When these Anglo-Saxons came to Britain, they brought with them their old habits of life, their songs, their customs of spending the evening, listening to the scop who praised the hero's victory and kept alive the old spirit of adventure, to­ gether with the memory of the wild life of their ancestors. They came to Britain in small groups and found there a country 2 which the Celtic race had possessed as far back as history records. In the first oentury (A.D.) the Roman legions conquered the Celts and ruled Britain for almost four hundred years. But legion by legion was recalled to defend Rome itself from invasion; and when there were but few men left to defend the fortifications built by the Romans, the Anglo-Saxon invaders arrived and soon obtained a foothold. They were a hardy, half civilized people who came to make their home in this lend. Before long, as they spread and multiplied, Britain became their country, Anglo-Saxon land, Angle- land, England,* The Celts, the first inhabitants of Britain, were not adventurous seafarers like the Anglo-Saxons, but rather a dreamy fanciful folk, who pictured for themselves the forest filled with fairies and whose poets sang songs and made up stories about them. It is not known how long the Celts remained in possession of the country before they were conquered or driven away by the Romans. That portion of the Celtic race which was not absorbed by intermingling with the invaders was enslaved or driven toward 2 the west and north. The Celts were an agricultural and cattle­ raising people whose homes were generally fixed from one genera- 1. Albert C. Baugh, History of The English Language, 59. 2. Ibid., 58. 3 tion to another. Even in pagan times they were intensely religi­ ous feeding their souls on druidism and bardism. Their religion was connected with death. It is not difficult to recognize a superstitious but gener­ ous folk, who were as free with their gold as of the ir blood, who expressed themselves dramatically and hy- perbolically, who could be always stirred to indigna­ tion at any injustice done to a neighbor far or near.^ The Celts believed in fairies, holding the Tuatha-de-Dananns, when defeated, retired into the bosom of the mountains, where they held fairy revels. The banshee, a woman fairy, guarded the fortunes of the great families, and when some great misfortune was impending, the doomed family was warned at night by her mourn­ ful wail. The Celts were a myth-making people. They had a way of building up their stories and adding marvels to them, as they passed them on from generation to generation. They were learned and knew the secret of making enamels long before the Greeks dis­ covered it; they were able smiths, understood husbandry, the art of weaving and dyeing. They also understood the use of metals, both for weapons and ornaments. Many centuries before the birth of Christ, the Celtic tribes had learned to smelt copper and tin, / of which bronze is made, and to mold bronze swords and spears. These Celts, or as some authors call them, ’Iberians’, were for 3. Shane Leslie, The Celt and the World, 52 4 the most part dark haired people whose ancestors had been in the island long before the red Celts. The latter were tall men who came to Britain and Ireland only a few centuries before the Roman Conquest. The Celts were remarkable for their bravery, their strong family feeling, and their kindness to strangers. CHAPTER II THE EPIC Literature is superior even to history itself in inter­ preting the mind and soul of an early people or a race. Beowulf, the oldest of the Germanic epics, gives a picture of a life and world that once had real existence. Only a few material fragments remain of the vanished life of the Anglo-Saxons. These are silent witnesses of the past, but Beowulf is the living voice, expressing the best of national life and national character. The epic is a narrative poem written in a noble, dignified style, and telling of heroic exploits performed by great heroes. It deals with great national events and adventures of heroic or supernatural beings. It may be defined in general as a long narrative poem presenting characters of high posi­ tion in a series of adventures which form an organic whole through their relation to a central figure of heroic proportions and through their development of a nation or a race.1 The story and characters in the epic are broad and sweep­ ing in outline. Both the popular and the literary'epic treat of the past with reverent idealization; usually it is the heroic or nythical past which represents consciously or unconsciously, national or religious ideals. 1 1. William F. Thrall and Addison Hibbard, A Handbook to Literature, 155. 6 Epic literature implies, too, as Professor Ker tells us, »not merely favorite themes-- combats, battles, killing of monsters, escapes, or defenses— but a diffused sympathy for the heroic mood among the people for whom the epic is made........ The multitude in an heroic age interpreted life heroically; and it is this common vague sentiment of heroism, not any bare unaccom­ modated thing in itself, with which the epic poets made their beginning. Their real life is heroic, because it seems so, both to them and to their unpoetic fellows and hearers.»2 The literary epic was created by one author who was con­ scious of the epic tradition. The popular epic was handed down orally from bard to bard; it is the work of no one poet; and it represents a constant growth and alteration in form and subject- matter from age to age. It is the story of a great hero and is made up of many distinct episodes. After a large number of sagas or tales were recited orally or sung by minstrels, some poet re­ ceived the inspiration to retell and unite these stories to make one great epic of exceeding dignity and power. Between the fourth and eighth centuries, conditions were favorable to the composition of the popular epic. Since there were few records but those of memory, it is easy to understand why the scop used the metrical form of delivery. / The ideals expressed in the literature of the English are the ideals peculiar to both the Anglo-Saxons and Celtic tribes who first voiced them in the popular epic. During the age in 2. W. Macneille Dixon, English Epic and Heroic Poetry, 38. 7 which the popular epic developed, the Anglo-Saxon was above all things, tenacious of purpose, and of excellent moral stamina. He considered it his duty to face life fearlessly, expecting no help or compassion from the natural or the supernatural forces opposed to him. The emotional reactions of the Anglo-Saxon, unlike those of the Celt, rarely dimmed the clearness of his vision. He valued above all his sense of fact, which tempered the blindness of over confidence and pride. The Anglo-Saxon poetry stresses, too, a sense of family and of tribal solidarity, and loyalty to the tribal chieftain.^ The Celtic tribes had a happier and more radiant view of life. Though they were like the Anglo-Saxon in their awe of Fate, their looks and actions reflected the delight they felt for the beautiful in nature and in life. The Anglo-Saxon humor is grim, ironic, and mature, .while that of the Celt is charming in its appreciation of beautiful and amusing things of life.
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