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. In like manner, though the Celts share with the Anglo-Saxons a sense of the njystery of life, it does not fill them with forebod ing. They feel a tender melancholy and an ever present yearning / for beauty and happiness. The Celtic bards believed that this world was an imperfect place but that those who lived honorably here below would be rewarded with eternal joy in the world to 3
3. Robert Vi. Chambers, Beowulf An Introduction to the Study of the Poem, 128. 8
come. The chief distinguishing feature of popular Anglo-Saxon
and Celtic epic poetry is clearly objective. The poet relates not his own experiences or emotions, but each with his own
language and literature, reflects the tradition of his own people.
In the literature of the world there are only a few great epics. Each nation that possesses such a treasure, re gards it an priceless. The most important of these are The
Iliad and The Odyssey by Hamer; The Aeneid by Virgil; The
Ramayana, author unknown; The Shah Namah by Firdausi; Beowulf, author unknown; Nibelungenlied, author unknown; The Volsung
Saga, author unknown; The Song of Roland, attributed to Therouldr;
Tain Bo Cuailnge (i.e. The Cattle Raid of Cooley), author unknown;
The Cid, author unknown; The Divine Comedy by Dante; Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by Milton; Faerie Queene by Spencer; and two twentieth century epics, Drake by Alfred Noyes, and John Brown’s
Body by Stephen Vincent Benet.4
4. William F. Thrall and Addison Hibbard, op. cit., 156. CHAPTER III
BEOWULF
Of the long adventurous stories of very early times which
the Anglo-Saxon scops chanted to the accompaniment of a flute,
Beowulf is by far the most important. Hrothgar, King of the West-
Danes, has built a splendid hall which bears the name of Heorot.
Here he feasts with his warriors and dispenses gifts to them; here
heroes rejoice in the music of harp and song. Every night a
monster, Grendel, seizes and bears away from the hall, a number of
sleeping Thanes. When Beowulf hears that this richly decked hall
stands uninhabitable, he resolves to come to the assistance of
Hrothgar. With fourteen chosen warriors he sails to the land of
the Danes. After a cordial reception and an evening spent in
reveling, Beowulf and his Geats prepare to sleep in the hall. All
the Geats fall asleep save Beowulf. He watches for the demon.
Grendel, stalking in, beholds the slumbering warriors, and immedi
ately kills one of them, but upon seizing Beowulf finds himself in
the power of the hero's mighty grip. In desperate struggle,
Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his shoulder and the monster,
fatally wounded, flees to his ocean cave and dies. Heorot is now cleansed. The victory is celebrated by a great banquet. The hero
hangs Grendel’s arm and claw on the cross-beam above the King's seat under the great vaulted roof. 10
Grendel's mother, raging to revenge her son, resumes the
attack by carrying off the bravest of the King's companions.
Beowulf plunges into the black water to the enemy’s den. Then a
terrific combat follows. Finally Beowulf sees a mighty sword within reach; with it he cuts off the head of the water-hag;
then he does the same for Grendel, whose body lies nearby. Beowulf's
faithful followers wait for him, until he comes to the surface,
carrying with him Grendel's head and the golden hilt of the wonderous sword. They march with their trophies back to Heorot.
Proper feasting follows. In the morning friendly speeches are
exchanged, whereupon the Geats start on their homeward voyage.
Beowulf and his warriors in due time reach the land of
the Geats. Arrived at Hygelac’s court, Beowulf relates his ad ventures and shares the presents he has brought with King Hygelac and Queen Hyde. Later Hygelap falls in battle and Beowulf succeeds him as ruler of the Geats.
After Beowulf has served his people well for fifty years, a firedrake begins to lay waste the country. The aged ruler determines once more to free his land from such a dangerous foe.
He slays the dragon but receives a fatal wound. Beowulf orders a very high funeral mounds to be built to mark his grave, and, after bequeathing his battle-gear to his faithful kinsman, he passes away. The epic ends with Beowulf's followers praising him as a generous and gracious king. 11
Human Society
Every incident in Beowulf reveals the heroic past life
of the Anglo-Saxon people, their ideals of human society, and
their simple, homely code of ethics.
The Beowulfian society is noble, aristocratic and, con sidering the age it represents, pre-eminently remarkable for its refinement and court-demeanor...... To have preserved for us a faithful picture of many phases of the ancient Germanic life in its material as well as its moral aspect, is indeed one of the chief glories of Beowulf, and one which, unlike its literary merit, has never been called in question.1
The Anglo-Saxons recognized three great classes of societyt nobles, freemen, and slaves. The nobles were especially bound to serve the king in time of war. Some of the greatest nobles were known as earls; these had large estates which were cultivated for the benefit of landowners by freemen and slaves. The life of these last two classes was a»hard one. A freeman could choose the nobleman for whom he wished to work and could change masters if he so desired, but the slaves were bound to the services of the earl who owned them. By far the greater number of the Anglo-Saxons were slaves or bondsmen, "Thus inequality was as much the char-
1 acter of the Anglo-Saxon society as of our own superior civiliza tion."1 2
1. Frederick Klaeber, Beowulf And The Fight At Finnsgurg, lxii.
2. Sharon Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, III, 145. 12
The Anglo-Saxon kingship was originally a hereditary
office but subject to the will of the tribe who could substitute
another ruler if the Yiitan, a delegation of the influential earls
and elders, deemed it fitting. In time of war the king was the
accepted and revered leader of his warriors who owed him deep and
sacred loyalty; it was his duty to see his people were not op
pressed in time of peace. He was also the generous bestower of
gifts which consisted of weapons, horses, and costly jewelry
which were usually distributed in the great mead-hall after a
banquet. The kings in Beowulf are constantly spoken of as givers
of rings. Liberality was the most essential quality in the char
acter of a Teutonic ruler.
The Anglo-Saxon social system was very simple. Crimes
against one’s own kin were punishable by death. Since the in
dividual's immediate concern was the eking out of a livelihood while enduring the inclement weather and conquering hostile
enemies, it is obvious that his ideal of life was embodied in the
warrior and his caste. The tribe was delighted in the deeds of
arms and of great strength. Hrothgar in speaking of Beowulf says:
Then this was said by the sea-farers, ' Those who did tribute for the Geats carry Thither for favor, that he thirty men’s Great strength of might in his hand-grip, Brave in war, has.3 3
3. James M. Garnett, Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Poem, 377-381 13
Many times Beowulf himself speaks of his strength and his great deeds. Just before Beowulf takes over Heorot for the night he says: "I shall perforin deeds of valor."4 56 Beowulf, a thane of
Hygelao’s, came on a friendly errand to Hrothgar to battle with
Grendel. Beowulf's journey was a willing onej their fathers had been friends; and the Geats were in sympathy with the Danes.
Beowulf's act symbolized the Saxon characteristic of service to his country.
The blood-feuds were important both in Anglo-Saxon and
Celtic tradition. Domestic and tribal feuds broke out again and again. These may be traced to enmity between relatives or in trigues to become king. Often an Anglo-Saxon chieftain gave his daughter in marriage to the chieftain of another tribe with the 5 hope of putting an end to a feud. In Beowulf are many examples of the unfortunate outcome of such a marriage. Hrothgar
is willing to marry his daughter, Freavra.ru, to Ingeld, hoping thereby to escape Ingeld's vengeance and end a long feud. It is also clear from the tone of Beowulf and from later developments of the story, that this feud was felt to be an inter-family affair, involving the murder of kinsmen and liability to a Cain's doom.6
Beowulf comments on this to King Hygelac thus:
4. Ibid«» 363*
5. R. W. Chambers, Beowulf An Introduction, 282.
6. Arthur E. Du Bois, "The Unity of Beowulf", Publica- tions of the Modern Language Association of America, VoT.'"4r9^~381. 14
Ee (Hrothgar) counts that a gain, That ho with the woman a part of fierce feuds, Of quarrels appeased. ' Often the courtiers, After folk’s fall, in a little while The deadly spear takes, though good be the bride.7 8
Later events proved that at the wedding feast the feud
broke out again. Heathobard's warriors invaded Hrothgar's
dominions and burnt Heorot to the ground. It was the custom at
the culmination of a feud for the victorious tribe to burn com
pletely the enemy's tribal stockade or his great mead-hall.
There is an exceedingly interesting touch in one poem illustrative of the Teutonic institution of Weregyld, whereby each man’s life was valued in money.— Che“SF* Beowulf’s companions having been killed in Heorot, Hrothgar ’gave orders to pay the price in gold of that one man whom Grendel had wickedly slain.’8
Beowulf’s father brought upon himself the mightiest of feuds by the slaying of Heatholof. Hrothgar tells how Hygelac afterwards settled this feud for money.9 Of the many blood- » feuds related in Beowulf which broke out between the various tribes, the most important are those between the Finns and the
Danes, the Swedes and the Seats, and the Frankish tribes and the Geats.
Woman held a place of honor among the Anglo-Saxons. '
Klaeber and other authors emphasize the position of woman and
7. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 2027-2031
8. (IT. J. Courthrope, A. History of English Poetry, 94.
9. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 459. 15
show that she enjoyed the respect and esteem of society. The women in the epic Beowulf prove conclusively the importance and the influence of the noble women in those days.
The queens mentioned in Beowulf were dignified, refined, generous women. At the banquet given in honor of Beowulf by
Hrothgar, Queen Wealhtheow and her daughter Freawaru were present.
Queen Wealhtheow, who is a stately and gracious lady, remarkable for her tact and diplomacy, passes among the company as the honored mistress of the household greeting the young men and distributing gifts. Beowulf says of her:
Sometimes the great queen, Peace-bringer of nations, went through the hall, Urged the young sons: oft she a bracelet Gave to a warrior, 'ere she went to her seat."^
The gentle and lovable Hygd, the daughter of the king of the Geats, is another example of a courteous and noble woman. » "With mead-cups went Through the high hall the daughter of Haereth; The people she served, the ale-cups she bore To the men at hand."12
The Anglo-Saxon code of ethics was that of a warrior with a stern sense of justice, and of duty to be performed faithfully / at any cost. Chambers refers to their "an eye for an eye" 101112
10. Frederick Klaeber, op. cit., xxxi
11. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 2016-2019.
12. Ibid., 1980-1983. 16
vengeance, but emphasizes that "in the Heroic Age the motive did count for a very great deal."13 The fierce, courageous Anglo-
Saxon invaders were true to each other and were accustomed to follow their chiefs with great fidelity on marauding expeditions.
They pledged themselves neither to desert nor survive their king if he fell in battle. When Beowulf was fighting the dragon,
Wiglaf made a noteworthy statement about the bond of loyalty that joined the body of warriors to their chief.
"I remember that time when we received mead, When we did promise to our dear lord In the beer-hall, who gave us these rings, That we for the war-weeds him would repay, If to him such need ever should happen,
Now is the day come That our own chieftain has need of the strength Of warriors good; let us to him go. Help the war prince whilst there is heat, Fierce fiery terror.14
* Although they were pirates and plunderers, "they had a high sense of honor and much kindly good nature in dealings with their own folk at home" as the poem Beowulf testifies.^
With pride these warriors boasted both in regard to their past achievements and their future accomplishments. Beowulf 131415
13. R. W, Chambers, op. cit., 277.
14. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 2633-2650
15. George Macaulay Trevelyan, History of England, 30. 17 boasted before embarking upon each new adventure and of the "many deeds of glory” undertaken in his youth. He explains that his marvelous feat of swimming from southern Sweden to northern Norway was the achieving of a boast which he and Breca had made in common.
These boasting speeches or epic ”brags” of the warriors appear frequently in 3eowulf. They usually occurred at the banquet immed iately preceding some important undertaking and were used as means of self incitement to uphold the honor of their king by performing deeds of glory. Sometimes when drunk they would make wild boasts which their companions would hold them to when they became sober.
If a boast was not accomplished, the warrior was shamed; and death was preferable to a life of shame. It happened also that, in gambling, a player would stake his body as a wager, and if he lost would serve as the winner's slave. There was not only a stern fidelity of the clan to the patriarch but the leader also sacri ficed himself for his men.
The World of Nature
The Anglo-Saxon looked upon nature as "awful and remorse less”. To them it was a fierce enemy whose forces they must con stantly struggle against.
They had without doubt a fondness for the sea but at the same time they regarded it with a certain awe and fear. When on their piratical adventures they crossed the grey ice-bound waters 18
of the Northern Sea, they suffered numerous trials and disasters,
luany times it took a heroic struggle to overcome the mighty waves
and violent wind. With fear and trepidation they viewed the
stormy darkness of the ocean from which monsters, dragons, and
strange creatures, whose existence they imagined, came forth.
Hrothgar warned Beowulf that "mighty marsh-stalkers" roamed the
moors.
The entire action of Beowulf is laid on the European sea
coast. It is a story of the ocean life, the ocean mystery, the
battle with the ocean, and on the ocean. Although life upon the
ocean amidst fogs, storms, and ice, was full of hardships, like
all people "who live long beneath its influence" they felt that
irresistible "call of the deep".
The large part which the sea played in the life of the Beowulfian peoples, finds expression in an astonishing wealth of terms applied .to it and in numerous allusions to its dominating geographical importance.16
There are fifteen names of the sea in Beowulf; each describing
some thought concerning it or some one of its aspects. Mere is of frequent occurrence, and means the desert waste of water.
Another name is Brimsand. This was given to the rough sea fur iously tumbling into foam, either far out on the ocean or on the beach. Ifflylm is the tossing of the billows. Its most remarkable use in Beowulf is in conjunction with the ice to express the
16. Frederick Klaeber, op. cit., lix (introduction) 19
tumbling of broken ice and sea together in a broken welter.
Numerous poetical figures are also used to describe the ocean,
as the "swan-road”, the "seal-bath", the "whale-path”, and
the "sail-road". The ship, too, was given various names--
"names which speak their pride and their affection. It is
Aetheling's vessel, the Floater, the Wave-swimmer,---the Foam-
throated floater that flew like a bird."17 18
When Aeschere was found dead upon the sea-cliff, the
poet describes the horrid scene upon which the warriors gazed;
They saw then in the water many of worm-kind, Strange sea-dragons, seeking the sea, Such nickers lying out on the ness-slopes, As at mid-day often prepare A sorrowful voyage on the sail-road, Worms and wild beasts; rushed they away Fierce and angry; the noise they perceived The war-horn sound,13
The description of the abode of monsters is one of the earliest
pieces of descriptive "landscape" poetry in English literature.
It is a remarkable piece of painting, showing the terror with which these waste lands filled the imagination of the people.
It is, also, the longest and the truest-- most all the other
descriptions are short, except when they refer to the bleak / northern clime and the howling tempests. With complacency
17. Stopford A. Brooke, The History of Early English Literature, 168.
18. James M. Garnett, op, cit., 1425-1432. 20
Hrothgar dwells upon this supernatural and horrible view of nature:
They in a dark land, Cliffs of wolves, dwell, windy nesses, Dangerous marshes, where mountain-stream Under clouds of the nesses flows down below, Lake under the earth. It is not far hence In measure by miles that the mere stands, Over which hang the rustling groves, Wood firm in its roots; they cover the water There one every night a strange wonder may see, Fire on the flood; so wise a one lives not Of the children of men that knows its bottom: Although the heath-stepper pressed by the dogs, The stag, strong in horns, may seek the grove, Pursued from afar, his will he give, Hide there his head. That's no unhaunted place; Thence the boiling of waters rises up high Wan to the clouds, when the wind rouses The hateful storms, while dark grows the air, The heavens weep.1®
KLaeber's praise in regard to the above quoted passage is:
Strikingly picturesque and emotional in quality is the one elaborate landscape picture representing the Grendel lake (I357ff.), which conveys all the horror of the somber scenery and forcefully appeals to our imagination— a justly celebrated masterpiece of English nature poetry.20
It should be added that manifestly conceptions of the Christian hell have entered into the picture as drawn by the poet. The moors and wastes, mists and darkness, the cliffs, and bottomless deep, the loath some wyrmas (1430) can all be traced in early accounts of hell, including Ags. religious literature.* 2021
19. Ibid., 1357-1376.
20. Frederick Klaeber, op. cit., lx
21. Ibid., 183. 21
Although the Anglo-Saxons were more impressed by the
sterner aspects of nature, the scop describes in Beowulf the
coming of spring: "The winter was gone; Fair was the earth's
bosom."^2 xhe n0on-day sun is referred to as the World-candle;
and dawn is described in the unexpected tenus of "the joy of
heaven." The moorlands, where the wolf, the stag, and the wild
boar roam at will, were dangerous. The trees were called the
"joyless wood". Through the whole poem the waves of the sea
are heard constantly sounding through its verse, and its all- 23 prevailing presence is felt.
Life and Death
The Anglo-Saxons had a somber outlook on life and viewed
the transitory existence of this life on earth with sadness.
This fatalistic view of life is evident in the poem Beowulf.
Although Beowulf is victorious in each of his conflicts, life to him is sad and full of forebodings. Beowulf is considered by some authorities as essentially heathen. Chambers thinks that perhaps the Christian reflections were inserted by some monk.^
Old superstitions concerning dragons, monsters, and demons con- 222324
22. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 1136.
23. Stopford A. Brook, op. cit., 29.
24. R. W. Chambers, op. cit., 121. 22
trolled by the goddess Fate are numerous in this epic.
The Christian poet who revised the poem Beowulf was not able to rid himself of this philosophy (offatal ism) as well as he did of the mention of heathen gods.25 262728 29
It may be that the Anglo-Saxon had outgrown the crude mythology
of an earlier time. One of the counselors of the heathen king
of Northumbria compared man’s life to the flight of a sparrow
coming out of the wintry storm into a hall where men are feasting
and after a brief moment in crossing the hall, disappearing from
sight and returning to the cold again.2^
These people had struggled too long for existence, and
had pondered over the great questions about life and the mystery
of death, not to build for themselves a philosopl^y of fatalism.
Deeply implanted in the minds of these primitive people was the
idea that Weird influenced men by shaping their lives and decree-
ing their deaths. In Beowulf there appear many examples of this
Anglo-Saxon foreboding.28 The evil finger of Fate points at
Aeschere, counsellor and special friend of Hrothgar as he eager,
"yet doomed, lay down to his rest”.2^ These primitive people be-
25. P. J. Mullany, op. cit., 52.
26. Henry P. Pancoast, An Introduction to English Literature, 43.
27. J. J. Jusserand, A Literary History of the English People, Vol. I, 56.
28. Frederick KLaeber, op. cit., lix.
29. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 1240. 23
lieved that before a battle this genius of fate would come from
afar to sway the victory for those she favored and to bring death
on those whom she had foreordained to fall. Beowulf, about to
battle with Grendel, recollecting that the chances of battle may
be adverse, says to Hrothgar: "Fate always goes where it will".30
For them Fate controlled all; there was nothing to do but
accept its decrees. Just before Beowulf went forth to fight the
dragon, he assured his companions that he would not retreat from
the mountain-cave, but would battle at the cliff-wall as Fate, the
judge of men, should decree. In this last contest "Weird did not permit him to triumph in battle."31 3233 Seriously wounded in the
struggle, Beowulf was compelled to forsake the plain of life; and
"To take up his abode Elsewhere than here; so shall every man His fleeting life leave."32
While this sense of fixed fete made the Teutonic warrior resolute to put forth into battle all his strength, it also established in him that grave melancholy of life so characteristic of the Northman.
The quintessence of the Anglo-Saxon attitude towards life and death, as well as his code of honor is expressed by Beowulf to tj . i 33 f Hrothgar:
3°. Ibid., 455.
31. Ibid., 2575.
32. Ibid., 2589-2591.
33. Albert C. Baugh, History of the English Language, 81. 24
Sorrow not, wise man I It is better for each That his friend he avenge than that he mourn much Each of us shall the end await of worldly life: Let him who may gain Honor ere death. That is for a warrior, When he is dead, afterwards best.3^
Brook says that in Beowulf there is an absence of the spiritual and spiritualizing ideal. These early Teutonic pagans felt an overwhelming sense of the transitoriness of this life,
and a profound seriousness, an awe in the presence of the invisible and the unknown, but they had only a dim vision, if any at all, of the belief in immortality. nWeird was hard upon them, but her work 35 nourished a steady fortitude in which they found grim contentment.”
Blackburn indicated in his discussion the possibility of a verbal substitution of Christian for heathen terms, especially God
for tVyrd.3^ W, W. Laurence thinks that ’’Careful research has
shown that the Christian elements are in all probability not inter polated, but an integral part of the epic."^
C. C. Batchelor believes that the Beowulfian peoples felt no misgivings in regard to the future life; that the good men went
to Heaven; that the bad men went to Hell; and that the individuals34 353637
34. James M. Garnett, op. cit., 1384-1389.
35. Stopford A. Brook, op. cit., 71.
36. F. A. Blackburn, "The Christian Coloring in Beowulf”, Publications of The Modern Language Association of America, Vol. XII (1897) 205.
37. William W. Laurence, Beowulf and Epic Tradition, 258. 25
had no difficulty in distinguishing between the two classes as each man knew from his own actions whither he was bound.
Klaeber maintains that although heathen practices are mentioned in several places, such as the observing of omens
(204), the burning of the dead (3137 ff.), and though there are frequent allusions to the power of fate, the general tone of the poem and its ethical viewpoint is predominantly Christian, and that the main story is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of
Christianity. He concludes his lengthy discussion with
We might’ feel inclined to recognize features of the Christian Savior In the destroyer of the hellish fiends, the warrior brave and gentle, blameless in thought and deed, the king that dies for his people. Though deli cately kept in the background, such a Christian inter pretation of the main story on the part of the •Anglo- Saxon author could not but give added strength and tone to the entire poem. It helps to explain one of the great puzzles of our epic. It would indeed be hard to under stand why the poet contented himself with a plot of mere fabulous adventures so much inferior to the splendid heroic setting, unless the narrative derived a superior dignity from suggesting the most exalted hero-life known to Christians.38 39
38. C. C. Batchelor, "The Style of the Beowulf", Speculum, Vol. XII, (1937) 333.
39. Frederick Klaeber, op. oit., li CHAPTER IV
DEIRDRE
The Irish epic, Deirdre, is one of the keystone stories
of the Red Branch Cycle. It "is perhaps the finest, the most
pathetic and best conceived of any in the whole range of our
literature".1 This saga commences with the Druid Cathbad pro
phesying that the wife of the chief bard of Ulster would give
birth to a daughter and that on account of this child more
blood would be shed than ever was shed in Ireland "since time
and race began". Consequently, immediately after her birth,
Fedlimid, the father, gave Deirdre to Levarcham, a foster-mother,
who took her away, where no eye might see, and no ear hear of
her.
So Deirdre was shut.up in a lonely house with her tutor
and nurse without seeing any strange person for fourteen years.
But one dark night in winter a hunter who had lost his way and was perishing from cold and hunger asked to be admitted into
Deirdre's house. He told her of the three sons of Usnach;
Naoise, Ainnle, and Ardan. Levarcham ordered the hunter to leave and he went without delay to King Conchubar at Emain Macha and reported that he had seen "the greatest beauty that ever was
1. Douglas Hyde, A Literary History of Ireland, 302. 27 born in Ireland".
Deirdre became betrothed to Conchubar but asked for a delay of a year as she was young and had "no knowledge of the duties of a wife, or the ways of a king’s house". So the beau tiful maiden dwelt at Conchubar's court and "grew wise in the works of a young girl, and in the understanding of a woman".
On one occasion, however, she chanced to see Naoise with whom she instantly fell in love. Although Naoise's brothers warned him of the harm that would come of it, he eloped with Deirdre,
After shifting from one place to another in Ireland in order to avoid Conchubar's wrath, the three brothers and Deirdre took refuge in Scotland and "rose to great favor and power with the
King until he discovered the existence of the beautiful Deirdre, whom they had carefully concealed for they were afraid they might get their death on account of her, she being so beautiful".^
King Conchubar sent Fergus to them with a message of peace and a request to return to Ireland under Fergus’ protection.
They returned to Emain where treachery and death was prepared for them. The sons of Usnach fought so bravely that King Con- chubar, seeing that supernatural aid was necessary, induced
Cathbad, the Druid, to work an enchantment upon them to hinder them from escaping with Deirdre. Cathbad made the likeness of a
2. Lady Gregory, Cuchulain of Muirthemne, 114. 28
dark sea all about them, with mighty waves. Then the three sons of
Usnach were slain; Deirdre finally commits suicide.
Human Society
Deirdre, or The Fate of the Sons of Usnach, is not merely a pretty tale of the elopment of the most beautiful woman in
Ireland, but it is prized as one of the best heritages from the
Gael during the heroic age in Ireland. It reflects not only a picture of his life and social habits, but of his thoughts and ideals, his notion of right and wrong, his conception of chivalry, his dreams of perfection, and his pursuit of happiness. It shows the old Gael in his home, in his daily life, in his aspirations and the inner dwellings of the soul.
The Celts during the heroic age in Ireland which extended possibly from the third century B.C. to the fifth century A.D., » had tribal organizations similar to those of their Anglo-Saxon contemporaries. The Irish theory of land tenure was that the land belonged to the whole tribe, and was lent to those who held it.
Familiar is the saying that every Irishman is the descend- and of a king. The assertion is largely true, because the Celtic state was tribal, and the head of each tribe was aristocratic in its officers, but the aristocracy was elected by freemen with property, and the kingly office was not necessarily hereditary.'-
3. Norreys Jepson O’Conor, Changing Ireland, 5 29
During the first half of the heroic age, Ireland was
divided into approximately five kingdoms, of which Ulster in the
North was the most powerful. Tradition says that Conchubar, son
of Ness, ruled in Ulster, about the time of Christ, at the for
tress of Emain Macha. Of the mighty band of heroes whom he
gathered around him, Cuchulain was the chief. While next to him were Conall, Caernach, and Fergus. Their chief conflicts were
against the neighboring tribes for the prosaic purpose of steal
ing cattle, but the Irish bards in their epic sagas elevated these commonplace events to the realm of the heroic and sublime.
The world conceived of in Irish literature is far
removed from ordinary life, though it touches it at many points and throws over it a brilliant, fantastic glamour; it is to a large extent, a realm of the imagination, illumined by the fancies of a fairy-land and the traditions derived from the belief of their fore-fathers
The Celtic heroes, like the Anglo-Saxon heroes, had weapons with supernatural powers. Conchubar's shield, the Ochain, and his great sword, the Gorm Glas, (the Blue Green) had special qualities.
This shield Conchubar lent to Friacra when he attacked Fair-Haired
Iolian. The latter / put down Feacra, so that he made him lie under the shelter of his shield, till it roared for the greatness of the strait he was in; for it was the way with Ochain, tte person on whom it would be was in danger;. . . roared in answer to it.5 4*
4. Eleanor Hull, A Text Book of Irish Literature, ii.
5 . Lady Gregory, op. cit., 130. 30
Naoise also had a magic sword which was given to him
by the Manannan Mac Lir, the god of the sea. After an enchant
ment had been worked upon the sons of Usnach in order to capture
them, and a young man whose name was Maine, had agreed to kill
them, the question arose as to which should die first. Naoise
requested that his magic sword be used:
'I have a sword that Manannan, son of Lir, gave me, and the stroke of it leaves nothing after it, track nor trace; and strike the three of us together, and we will die at the same time.' .... Maine struck the three heads off them with one stroke; and the men of Ulster gave three loud sorrowful shouts, and cried aloud about them there.®
Much of the fighting is unearthly and magical compared with the fighting in Beowulf. When Conchubar's troops were attacking the House of the Red Branch, Rough-Red Buinne "went out and killed three-fifths of the fighting men outside." Con- » chubar, seeing such destruction, bribed him to desert the sons of Usnach and rewarded him with a gift of land. After that, his brother,
Fair-Haired Iollan went out, and made three courses around the house, and killed three-fifths of the heroes outside, came in again where Naoise was, and ' he playing chess, and Ainnle with him. So Iollan went out a second time, and made three courses a- round the fort, and he went destroying the hosts so that they dared not come to attack the house.7
6. Ibid., 133.
7. Lady Gregory, op. cit., 129 31
The contrast is between the more circumstantial Anglo-Saxon and
the more naive and imaginative Celt.
Blood-feuds, as previously stated, were important both
in Anglo-Saxon and Celtic tradition. In Beowulf a woman was
often bartered to settle a blood-feud; while in Deirdre, the
tragedy was caused by the struggle of an uncle and his nephews
for the possession of the most beautiful woman in Ireland. Con-
chubar gets foreigners to kill his nephews, the sons of Usnach,
in order to avoid the appearance of treachery and save, if possible,
the kingdom of Ulster from the ravages of another blood-feud.
Women were treated by the Celts with a peculiar delicacy
and tenderness. A woman was held in honor and given a place of
reverence worthy of the ideal of true womanhood. Mullany says
she had great affection for her husband; "She loved him, and
clung to him, and lived for.him; and he in return loved, respected,
Q and protected her.1,0 Consequently, stories about women play a large part in Celtic literature; their elopements, their marriages,
their griefs and tragedies form the subject of a large number of
tales.
1 The Irish women belong to an heroic type. They are often the counsellors of their husbands and the champions of their cause; occasionally as in Meace's case, their mas ters. They are frequently fierce and vindicative, but they are also strong, forceful, and intelligent. In
8. P. F. Mullany, Old English Thought, 73. 32
youth they possess often a charming gaiety; they are full of clever repartee and waywardness and have a delightful and careless self-confidence.®
Deirdre in youth was a child of great beauty and developed
into a high-souled, true, and passionate woman. She loved Ilaoise,
eloped with him, lived for him, and committed suicide after he was
slain. Lavarcam, Deirdre’s nurse, was Conchubar's conversation woman, satirist, and poetess. Such a position was unknown among
the Anglo-Saxons.
The Celts were brave, with an undisciplined impetuosity
that often brought them to grief. They remained tribesmen or
clansmen bound together,
by legal and sentimental ties of kinship as the moral basis of society. Unlike the Saxons after them, they developed no strictly territorial, still less any feudal organization. .... Justice was the justice of the clan, which punished and protected its members, exacting on their behalf from other clans either vengeance, or else payment in reparation for injuries done.10
The salient characteristics of Gaelic poetry were defined by Matthew Arnold as "a turn for style, Titanic melancholy, and natural magic". In Deirdre is reflected the sentimental tempera ment of the Celts. The style of this epic is diffuse, emotional, and sensitive, while that of Beowulf is terse, rugged, and vig-
9. Eleanor Hull, op. cit., I, 78.
10. G. M. Trevelyan, History of England, 11. 33
orous. The Celts have something which the Teutons have not.
This something is style, and the Celts certainly have it in a wonderful measure. Style is the most striking quality of their poetry. Celtic poetry seems to make up to it3elf for oeing unaole to master the world and give an adequate interpretation of it, by throwing all its force into style, by bending language at any rate to its will, and expressing the ideas it has with unsurpass able intensity, elevation, and effect. It has all through it a sort of intoxication of style.
Titanic melancholy is the term which Arnold gave to the
strain of pathos which is constantly sounded in Gaelic literature.
It may be seen in wistful regret, it may be seen in passionate, penetrating melancholy; but its essence is to aspire ardently after life, light, and emotion, to be expansive, adventurous, and gay.^
ihis strain of sadness with a strong tinge of fatalism pervades
* when the sons of Usnach were departing from Alban,
Deirdre, looking back, expressed regret and wistfulness.
The most note-worthy feature of Celtic writing, Arnold » says, is natural magic.
Magic is the word for it,— the magic of nature; not merely the beauty of nature that the Greeks and Latins had; not merely an honest smack of the soil, a faith ful realism,-- that the Germans had;. . . but the in timate life of Nature, her weird power and her fairy charm.I^11 12
11. Matthew Arnold, Cto the Study of Celtic Literature,
12. Ibid., 76.
13. Ibid., 120. 34
This quality is evident in Deirdre. The charm of nature is in
expressions like "beautiful were the woods on our rising," "her color came and went as the aspen by the stream," she "grew straight and clean like a rush on the bog," "her movements were like the swan on the wave, or the deer on the hill."
The World of Nature
The Celt looked upon nature as beautiful and friendly.
The Irish love of nature, the Celtic sense of color, form, sound, and movement are found in Deirdre. Deirdre a vivid appreciation of nature. She addressed the wilds of Scotland? the fort, the thicket, the rocky headland, the river, and the woody valleys as if they heard and understood. Her complaint begins thus:
Ifiy love to you, 0 land of the east, and it goes ill with me to leave you? for it is pleasant are your bays and your harbors and your wide flowery plains and your green sided hills? and little need was there for us to leave you.^
All the beauties of nature were lovingly enshrined in her memory. Towards the close of her first lamentation when she ad- dressed the woody valley, the Irish sense of intimacy with nature is clearly revealed. 14
14. Lady Gregory, op. cit., 120. 35
Glen-da-Rau, my grief* Glen-da-Rau, my love to every man that belongs to it; sweet is tne voice of the cuckoo on the bending branch on the hill above Glen-da-Rau.-®
In the descriptions in Deirdre. color, form and signifi
cant details were given. When Naoisse went to the court of the
King of Scotland, he is described as wearing a cloak of "bright
purple, rightly shaped", which was trimmed with gold fringe. His
coat was of "satin with fifty hooks of silver"; he had "gold-
hilted sword and two blue-green spears of bright points". "With
tne Gelt color is a passion; the Teuton has but the mere dawnings
of susceptibility to color."15 16 In Beowulf
We iearn nothing of the shape, or the size, or the TheUm! ° V hlS n'ir®terious being. (Grendel). . . . he man, tne monster, the deed performed are all be- the distmct coloring, the picturesque T o l t M ^ n ° ®xistence> even in the mind of the
There is a fairy-like loveliness in Celtic nature. No where is this more beautifully exemplified than in the laments of
Deirdre over the death of the three sons of Usnach. Striking word pictures drawn from the simplest natural phenomena reveal this magical charm and delicate beauty. Arnold says:
15* Ibid «* 121.
16. P. F. Mullany, op. cit., 69.
17. Ibid., 42. -
36
Magic is the word to insist upon,-- a magically vivid and near interpretation of nature; since it is this which constitutes the special charm and power of the effect I am calling attention to, and it is for this that the Celt’s sensibil ity gives him a peculiar aptitude. ®
Life and Death
The Anglo-Saxon view toward the whole question of life
and death, of man’s place here, and his destiny hereafter, was
decidedly pessimistic, while that of the Celt was happy and
radiant. This optimistic view of life is manifested in Deirdre.
The hunter had happy dreams of fairies and while lying "on the
side of the green hillock by Deirdre’s house" thought he heard
the fairy inside the mound making music. Although Deirdre and
the sons of Usnach had to leave their own country, their life in
Scotland was pleasant and joyful. Do music was sweeter nor sing
ing more delightful to Deirdre than that of the sons of Usnach.
The superstitious beliefs of the Celts; dreams, visions,
geasas, spell^ and enchantments, are found in abundance in
Deirdre. In the beginning of the epic the hunter has three dreams which enables him to find the home where dwelt "the great est beauty that was ever born in Ireland". Deirdre saw Naoise,
Ainnle, and Ardan in a dream the night before the arrival of the
18. Matthew Arnold, op. oit., 122. 37
hunter. Deirdre also was warned in a dream not to leave Scotland
because Fergus would not prove faithful and Conchubar was asking
for blood.
After Fergus had deserted them, Deirdre had a vision which
foretold of the misfortune which was about to befall them. And
she complained thus:
It is a sad vision has been shown to me, of my four tall, fair, bright companions; the head of each has been taken from him, and no help to be had one from the other.
After they came forward to the high willows, Deirdre had another vision. She saw a cloud "over green Macha, cold and deep red like blood" and she pleaded with Naoise thus:
I am startled by the cloud that I see in the air; a thin dreadful cloud that is like a clot of blood. I give right advice to the beautiful sons of Usnach not to go to Emaip tonight, because of the danger that is over them.2^
The Irish also believed in geasa, a superstition that under certain conditions a man must do certain things. Each man had dif ferent and peculiar geasa. There was geasa, or bonds on Naoise
"not to come back (to Ireland) with any man only one of ths three,
Cornall Gearnach, or Fergus, or Cuchulain",19 2021 When Fergus returned
19. Lady Gregory, o£. cit., 123.
20. Ibid.,124.
21 Ibid.,116 with the sons of Usnach, Borach had a feast prepared for the
former. Then Fergus ’’reddened with anger from head to foot”
forsook the sons of Usnach, and remained for the feast because
there was geasa on him not to refuse the feast.
Enchantments, spells, magic showers, and fires appear to
be connected with Druids. As far as can be ascertained there
were always Druids in Ireland and they were personages of great
authority in peace and in war. They "do not seem to have been
connected with any positive rites of worship; still less do they
appear to have been a regular priesthood. . . . In the oldest
saga-cycle the Druid appears as a man of the highest rank and
related to kings."22
In the Irish epics of the heroic age the Druids possessed
supernatural powers, and were seers, prophets, and magicians. In
the story of Deirdre, the Druid Cathbad prophesied the birth of
Deirdre and the bloodshed she would cause in Ireland. When the
sons of Usnach and Deirdre were moving from one place to another to avoid Conchubar's devices "the Druids raised a wood before them, and Naoise and his brothers cut their way through it".23
Conchubar asked his Druid to work a spell on the fugi tives. Cathbad "went to the ends of his arts and his knowledge
22. Douglas Hyde, op. cit., 83. 23. Lady Gregory, op. cit., 113. 39
■fco hinder the sons of Usnach, and he worked an enchantment on
them, so that he put the likeness of a dark sea about them, with
hindering waves.Because of the treachery that was done by
Conchubar, Cathbad "laid a curse on Emain Macha. . . . that none
of the race of Conchubar should have the kingdom, to the end of
life and time"
The Celts, who had a far brighter outlook on life than
that of the Anglo-Saxons, also viewed the life to come in joyful
expectation. Even before they were converted to Christianity,
they believed in the immortality of the soul. Their Elysium
resembled the paradise of various pagan peoples. It was a beau
tiful country where happy souls dwelt free from care, sickness,
and death.
They certainly believed in a happy Other-World, peopled by a happy race, whither people were sometimes carried whilst still alive, and, to gain which they either traversed the sea to the northwest or else entered one of the Sidh (Shee) mounds, or else again dived beneath the waters,''0
The Gaelic names for the Other-World indicate its distinctive
beauties as the imaginative Irish pictured it: Plain of Happiness
Land of Youth, Land of Promise, Lande of Ever-Living ’Women.24 252627
24. Ibid., 133.
25. Ibid., 141.
26. Douglas Hyde, op. cit., 96.
27. Horreys Jepson O'Conor, op. cit., 58. The Celts, unlike the Anglo-Saxons, viewed death without
terrors. They had ever been conscious of the laws of nature
which they could not control.
Their faith in the immortality of the soul was absolute; death for them was not the goal, but the link between two existences; the new life was as complete and as de sirable as the old, and bore no likenBss to that sub terranean existence, believed in by the ancients, partly localized in the sepulchre, with nothing sweeter in it than those sad things, rest and oblivion. According to the Celtic belief, the dead lived again under the light of heaven; they did not descend, as they did with the Latins, to the land of shades* . . . The race was an op timistic one. It made the best of life and even of death.28
Without murmur, regret or terror, Deirdre, Naoise, Ainnle, Ardan,
and the Fair-Haired Iollan faced death. This can be most likely
explained by the fact that they firmly believed in the immortal
ity of the soul and that the life which they would possess in
the next world would be one of peace, joy, and endless happiness.
28, J. J. Jusserand, A Literary History of the English People, 7. ------CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
The study of Beowulf has shown the martial spirit of the
Anglo-Saxons and their fondness for the sea. The chief qualities
expressed in this poem are earnestness, somberness, and strength.
The delight in battle might naturally be expected in the poems of
a tribal race who were "aflame with the spirit of war", but it is
almost as marked in Christian poetry. The Anglo-Saxon love of
the sea has been transmitted down through the ages and exists in
English literature today. The idea that "Fate controls; therefore
carry on", which echoes and re-echoes throughout Beowulf is found
in many English poems from the time of Beowulf to the present day.
Thomas Gray dwells on another variation of the theme of Fate in
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e ’er gave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
The brevity of life, and the anxiety about the future life which
are notable in Beowulf, have been favorite subjects with Milton,
Bunyan, Dr. Jonnson, and Cowper. Shakespeare sings:
"We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded off with a sleep."1
1. Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1. 42
The Anglo-Saxon love of nature as expressed in Beowulf continues throughout English and American literature, as in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Coleridge’s The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner, and Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey.
The Christian thoughtfulness of the life-review expressed in the closing lines of Beowulf are comparable with that remark able life-review in Tennyson’s Northern Farmer: Old Style.2
Burial ceremonies also figure prominently in English and American poetry and prose. Excellent examples in poetry are Charles
Wolfe’s The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna, and Tennyson's
Ode on the Death of the Luke of Wellington; while Trelawny's
Recollections of the Last Days of Shelly and Byron which describes the cremation and burial of Shelly is equally significant in prose.
The essentially religious spirit of the Celts gave them their optimistic view of the life, here and hereafter. Deirdre exemplifies the pervading characteristics of Irish literature; pathos, deep and true, the love of the beautiful, charm and spirit uality.
Arnold says if he were asked where English poetry got its turn for style, its turn for melancholy, and its turn for natural magic, he would answer:
2. C. C. Batchelor, "The Style of Beowulf", Speculum, Vol. XII, (1937), 340. ------43
with some doubt, that it got much of its turn for style from the Celtic source; with less doubt, that it got much of its melancholy from a Celtic source; and with no doubt at all, that from a Celtic source it got nearly all its natural magic.'5
These three Celtic elements are eminently exhibited in English lit erature: Celtic power of style in the poetry of Campbell «rid
Milton; Celtic Titanism or the power of rebellious passion in the poetry of Byron; and natural magic in the poetry of Keats, Words worth, and Shakespeare.
We note the contrast in style between the Anglo-Saxon fiery, combat spirit and the Celtic passion; between the steady going Saxon temperament and the mercurial Celtic temperament; and between the Anglo-Saxon faithfulness to nature and the natural magic of the Celt.
Rhyme,— -the most striking characteristic of our modern poetry as distinguished from that of the ancients, and a main source, to our poetry, of its magic and charm, of what we call its romantic element— rhyme itself, all the weight of evidence tends to show, comes into our poetry from the Celts.3 4
These two stains with their contrasting characteristics have gone into the making of the great stream of English literature.
Instead of clashing one with the other, they have blended tpgether, each supplementing the poetical drawbacks of the other; the limita-
3. Matthew Arnold, On the Study of Celtic Literature, 103.
4. Ibid., 120. ...
44
tions of one acting as safeguards and helps of the other. The
sPirit oi Beowulf and the rough strength, directness, and sincerity of the Anglo-Saxons have persisted as the backbone of English literature, but they have been perfected and enriched by the quick wittedness and spirituality of the Celts.
46
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