General Notes
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Appendix I GENERAL NOTES The Pronunciation of the Irish Words. 6, 7, 18, 31, 49, 51, 52,61, 62,66, 67, 72, 74, 78, 80. When I wrote the greater number of these poems I had hardly considered the question seriously. I copied at times somebody's perhaps fanciful phonetic spelling, and at times the ancient spelling as I found it in some literal translation, pronouncing the words always as they were spelt. I do not suppose I would have defended this system at any time, but I do not yet know what system to adopt. The modern pronounciation, which is usually followed by those who spell the words phonetically, is certainly unlike the pronunciation of the time when classical Irish literature was written, and, so far as I know, no Irish scholar who writes in English or French has made that minute examination of the way the names come into the rhythms and measures of the old poems which can alone discover the old pronunciation. A French Celtic scholar gave me the pronunciation of a few names, and told me that Mr. Whitley Stokes had written something about the subject in German, but I am ignorant of German. If I ever learn the old pro nunciation, I will revise all these poems, but at present I can only affirm that I have not treated my Irish names as badly as the mediaeval writers of the stories of King Arthur treated their Welsh names. In the following glossary [see pp. 1284-7] I give the old spelling in parentheses wherever I have adopted somebody's phonetic spelling in the poems. The glossary is very inadequate, but I have written of many of the things it speaks of at some length in the notes to The Wind Among the Reeds. 6, 7. The . .. Words. When ... treated their Welsh names. 18-51, 61-74. The ... Words. When ... pronunciation of a few names, and I understand that Mr. Whitley Stokes ... subject in German. If I ever learn the old pronunciation, I may revise these poems, ... \Velsh names. 52. The ... Words. When ... always as they were spelt. I can only affirm that I did not even in my youth treat Irish names as badly as the mediaeval writers ... Welsh names. 78, 80. * * * The Legendary and Mythological Foundation of the Plays and Poems Almost every story I have used or person I have spoken of is in one or other of Lady Gregory's 'Gods and Fighting Men' and 'Cuchulain of Muirthemne.' If my present small Dublin audience for poetical drama grows and spreads beyond Dublin, I shall owe it to these two books, master pieces of prose, which can but make the old stories as familiar to Irishmen 1282 APPENDIX I everywhere as are the ~tories of Arthur and his knights to all readers of books. I cannot believe that it is from friendship that I weigh these books with Mallory and feel no discontent at the tally, or that it is the wish to make the circumstantial origin of my own art familiar, that would make me give them before all other books to Irish boys and girls. I wrote for the most part before they were written, but all or all but all is there, Oisin wandering, Cuchulain killing his son and fighting the sea, Maeve and her children, Baile and Aillin, Angus and his fellow-immortals, all literally translated, though with much condensation and selection, from the old writings. A few of my stories are not hers also. I took the story of 'The Ballad of the Old Fox Hunter' from 'Knocknagow,' and the story of 'The Ballad of Father Hart' from a Sligo county history; that of 'The Ballad of Moll Magee' from a sermon preached in the chapel at Howth if I remember rightly, that of 'The Countess Cathleen' from a story told as Irish by Leo Lespes in 'Les Matinees de Timothe Trimm,'-there is a Donegal story resembling it in its principal incident in Larmonie's 'West Irish Folk Tales,'-and the story of the 'King's Threshold' from a middle Irish account of the fantastic demands of the poet at the court of King Guaire; but I have revised the moral of this last story to let the poet have the best of it. One of my fellow playwrights is going, I have good hope, to take the other side and make a play that can be played after it, as in Greece the farce followed the tragedy. 'The Shadowy \'Vaters' and 'The Land of Heart's Desire' have a good deal of incidental Irish folklore and mythology but are not founded on any particular story. Here and there, specially in 'The Wind among the Reeds,' I have used fragments of ancient mythology common to all lands. 'The Deer with no Horns' and the 'Flying Fawn' are certainly Irish symbols of the desire of the man which is for the woman, and the desire of the woman which is for the desire of the man, as Coleridge said; but it is only the speculation of Celtic scholars that makes the 'Death-pale Deer' and 'The Boar without Bristles' not mere creatures of romance, but symbols of the end of all things. For a long time symbols of this kind had for me a very intense, a very personal impoctance, and they are too much woven into the fabric of my work for me to give a detailed account of them one by one. Appendix I, 28, 48. * * * The Legendary and Mythological Foundation of the Plays 'rile greater number of the stories I have used, and persons I have spoken of, are in Lady Gregory's Gods and Fighting Men and Cuchulain of Muirthemne. If my small Dublin audience for poetical drama grows to any size, whether now or at some future time, I shall owe it to these two books, masterpieces of prose, which can but make the old stories as familiar to Irishmen at anyrate APPENDIX I as are the stories of Arthur and his Knights to all readers of books. I cannot believe that it is from friendship that I weigh these books with MaIoI)', and feel no discontent at the tally, or that it is the wish to make the substantial origin of my own art familiar, that would make me give them before all other books to young men and girls in Ireland. I wrote for the most part before they were written, but all, or all but all, is there. I took the Aengus and Edain of The Shadowy Waters from poor translations of the various Aengus stories, which, new translated by Lady Gregory, make up so much of what is most beautiful in both her books. They had, however, so completely become a part of my own thought that in 1897, when I was still working on an early version of The Shadowy Waters, I saw one nigit with my bodily eyes, as it seemed, two beautiful persons, who would, I believe, have answered to their names. The plot of the play itself h~s, how ever, no definite old story for its foundation, but was woven to a very great extent out of certain visionary experiences. The foundations of Deirdre and of On Baile's Strand are stories called respectively the 'Fate of the Sons of Usnach' and 'The Son of Aoife' in Cuchulain of Muirthemne. The King's Threshold is, however, founded upon a middle-Irish story of the demands of the poets at the Court of King Guaire of Gort, but I have twisted it about and revised its moral that the poet might have the best of it . It owes something to a play on the same subject by myoid friend Edwin Ellis, who heard the story from me and wrote of it long ago. Appendix 111,32. The greater ... all, is there. The foundations of Deirdre . .. Muirthemne. The Green Helmet is founded upon an old Irish story, The Feast of Bricriu, given in that work also, and is meant as an introduction to On Baile's Strand. The King's Threshold is founded ... friend Mr. Edwin ... ago. I took the Aengus·... answered to those names. The plot ... experiences. The Hour-Glass is founded upon a story-The Priest's Soul-recorded by Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland, 1887, vol. i, pp. 60-67. Notes, 45. The greater ... any rate ... make the circumsubstantial origins [follows the version in 45 with the following, exceptions:] ... saw one night standing at my bedside, as it seemed, two. believed, have answered ... certain dream experiences. • The foundations ..., pp. 60-67. Notes, 69. Glossary Adene. Adene was a famous legendary queen who went away from the world and dwelt among the 'shee,' as the fairies are called in the old poems and in contemporary folk lore. 3; Adene.-Adene was a famous legendary I This passage about 'The Shadowy Waters' follows 'The greater .. , all, is there.' in 31t. APPENDIX I 1285 queen who went away and lived among the Shee. 5; Adene (Etainr.--A famous legendary queen who was lured away by Meder, (Mider ,) King of the Shee. 6, ,. Angus.-The god of youth, beauty, and poetry. He reigned in Timan Oge, the country of the young. 5; Angus (Aengus).-The .... 6". Ardroe.-A Ballyshannon faery ruler. 5; Ardroe (Aedh Ruadh).-A .... 6. Balor.-The Irish Chimaera, th.e leader of the hosts of darkness at the great battle of good and evil, life and death, light and darkness, which was fought out on the strands of Moytura, near Sligo.