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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The Irish, it has often been stated, displayed an interest in Nature which in the Dark or Middle Ages was exceptional. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the references to outdoor nature in Older Irish literature with a view to determining their extent and their special characteristics.
Note 1 in page 92 Cf. the brief remarks of Kuno Meyer, Ancient Irish Poetry (New York, 1915) pp. xii-xiii; Julius Pokorny, Die ältesten Lyrik der Grünen Insel (Halle, 1923), p. 9; Wilhelm Ganzenmüller, Das Naturgefühl im Mittelalter (Leipzig and Berlin, 1914), pp. 53-62; John MacNeill, “Some Notes of Our National Literature,” New Ireland Review, I (1894), 142-3, 145; Georges Dottin, Les Littératures Celtiques (Paris, 1924), pp. 156-162. Whitley Stokes, The Tripartite Life of Patrick (London, 1887), Introd., pp. cxliv ff.
Note 2 in page 92 Cf. “as numerous as hail-stones, grass on green, and stars of heaven,” The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel (Togail Bruidne Da Derga), ed. Stokes, Revue Celtique, XXI-XXII (1900-01); “like rays of the sun; white as snow, as the swan's raiment,” Cattle Raid of Fraech (Táin Bó Fráich), ed. A. O. Anderson, Rev. Celt., XXIV (1903), 131, 145; The Battle of Magh Leana (Cath Mhuinghe Léana), ed. E. Curry (Dublin, 1855), pp. 4-5, 30-31; E. O'Curry, Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History (Dublin, 1861), p. 481; “The Battle of Ventry” (Cath-Finntrága), ed. Meyer, Anecdota Oxoniensia, IV (1885), pp. xix, 37, 42, 44, 45, 48, 51. The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge), ed. J. Dunn, Jr. (London, 1914) or ed. Ernst Windisch, Irische Texte (Leipzig, 1905) or trans. L. W. Faraday (London, 1904), has many such phrases.
Note 3 in page 92 Cf. the use of the cranberry flower and fruit, “kalina,” by the Ukrainians, Songs of Ukraina, F. M. Livesay (London, 1916); the use of the birch in the Welsh poems of Dafydd ab Gwilym (fourteenth century).
Note 4 in page 92 The Cattle Raid of Fraech (Táin Bó Fráich), Zeits. f. Celt. Phil., IV (1902), 32, ed. Meyer from Egerton MS. 1782; also ed. Anderson, op. cit., pp. 128, 143 (from Advocates Library MS.); according to him, the same from Book of Leinster, Proceedings R. Irish Acad. (1870), O'Beirne Crowe; the same in Heroic Romances of Ireland, A. H. Leahy (London, 1905-1906), II, p. 8. Cf. version, ed. Anderson, p. 351. Cf. the French use of “hanneton” and the German use of “Mücke.”
Note 5 in page 93 The Cattle Raid of Fraech, Leahy, op. cit., II, 36-9, and Anderson, op. cit., pp. 135, 148, for beauty of picture, but not for the comparison. Cf. English and Scottish ballads as well as Scott's poetry.
Note 6 in page 93 “Death of Niall of the Nine Hostages,” MS. Rawlinson B 502, Otia Merseiana, II, 84 ff.; “A Dirge for NiaU Noigiallach,” ed. Meyer, Gael. Jour., X (1899-1900), 578 ff., An. Jr. Poet., pp. 69-71, written late in the eighth or early in the ninth century.
Note 7 in page 93 Da Derga, pp. 285-6.
Note 8 in page 93 “Death of Niall of the Nine Hostages,” Otia Mers., II, 84 ff.; The Wooing of Étain (Leabhar na H-Uidre version), Leahy, I, 26.
Note 9 in page 93 “A Dirge for Niall Noigiallach,” ed. Meyer. Cf. Da Derga, pp. 14-16.
Note 10 in page 93 Intoxication of the Ultonians (Mesca Ulad), ed. W. M. Hennessey, Todd Lecture Series (Royal Irish Academy), I, i, pp. 28-9.
Note 11 in page 93 Ibid., pp. 30-1.
Note 12 in page 93 O'Curry, MS. Materials, Appendix, xxvi.
Note 13 in page 94 Da Derga, pp. 198-9.
Note 14 in page 94 Ibid., pp. 46-7.
Note 15 in page 94 Startes of Ailill and Étain (Scéla Ailill 7 Étaine), version in Egerton MS. 1782, ed. E. Müller, Rev. Celt., III (1876-78), 351, 356; cf. Leahy, I, 12-13.
Note 18 in page 94 Da Derga, pp. 14-16, 198-9. Colloquy of the Ancients (Acallamh na Senórach), ed. W. Stokes, ‘Tale of Rodub and Aifi the Red,‘ Ir. Tex., IV, i, p. 249; Silva Gadelica, ed. S. H. O'Grady (London, 1902). Wooing of Étain, Ir. Tex., I, 119-120, §4.
Note 17 in page 94 “Dirge for Niall,” Gael. Jour., X.
Note 18 in page 94 Irish Ordeals, Cormac's Adventures in the Land of Promise (Scél na Fír Flatha, Echtra Cormaic Tir Tairngiri), ed. Stokes, Ir. Tex., III (1890), 204.
Note 19 in page 94 Article on pull, “Cormac's Glossary” (Sanas Cormaic) ed. Meyer, Anecdota from Irish MSS., IV (Halle and Dublin, 1912), viii ff., 90 ff.; also Sanas Chormaic, ed. J. O'Donovan and W. Stokes (Calcutta, 1868), pp. 135 ff. Cormac died in 908.—Cf. the Prose Edda.
Note 20 in page 94 Deirdre's lament, The Exile of the Sons of Usnech (Longes mac n-Usnig), Ir. Tex., I, p. 80, §18; cf. O'Curry, Atlantis, III (1862), 414-415, and his note on the beetle.
Note 21 in page 94 Wooing of Étain, Ir. Tex., I, 119-120.
Note 22 in page 94 Da Derga, pp. 14-16.
Note 23 in page 94 Cormac's Adventures, p. 204. Exile of the Sons of Usnech, Ir. Tex. I, p. 69, §4. “Death of Niall,” Ot. Mers. II, 84 ff. Wooing of Étain, Leahy, I, 26. Wooing of Ferbe (Tochmarc Ferbe), ed. Windisch, Ir. Tex., III, 464-7.
Note 24 in page 94 “Dirge for Niall,” Gael. Jour., X (1899-1900), 578 ff. Wooing of Ferbe, Ir. Tex., III, 464-7. Cormac's Adventures, p. 204.
Note 15 in page 94 O'Curry, MS. Materials, Appendix, xxvi.
Note 26 in page 95 Colloquy of the Ancients, ‘Tale of Rodub and Aifi the Red,‘ p. 249.
Note 27 in page 95 Da Derga, pp. 198-9.
Note 28 in page 95 Ibid., pp. 14-16. Adventures of Eochaid's Sons, Silva Gadelica, I, 329.
Note 29 in page 95 The Exile of the Sons of Usnech, Ir. Tex., I, p. 69, §4; p. 80, §18.
Note 30 in page 95 Prull, “Cormac's Glossary.”
Note 31 in page 95 Wooing of Étain, Leahy, I, 26.
Note 32 in page 95 Prull, “Cormac's Glossary.”
Note 33 in page 95 Wooing of Étain, Ir. Tex., I, 119-120, §4. Stories of Ailill and Étain, Rev. Celt., III, 351, 356. Da Derga, pp. 14-16. Cf. stanza 28 of the Rigsthula, a song in the Poetic Edda suspected of having Irish influence.
Note 34 in page 95 Wooing of Étain, Leahy, I, 26. Da Derga, pp. 201-2. Cormac's Adventures, p. 204. Cattle-raid of Cooley, ed. Dunn, p. 14; ed. Windisch, 28-9. Adventures of Eochaid's Sons (Echtra mhac n Echach), Silva Gadelica, I, 239; II, 371. O'Curry, MS. Materials, Appendix, xxvi.
Note 35 in page 95 Wooing of Étain, Ir. Tex., I, 119-120. Da Derga, pp. 14-16.
Note 36 in page 95 Wooing of Étain, Ir. Tex., I, 119-120; Stories of Ailill and Étain, Rev. Celt., III, 351, 356.
Note 37 in page 95 The Urisk of the Corrie of the Howlings (Uruisg choire-nan-nuallan), ed. J. MacDougall, Zeit. f. c. P., I (1897), pp. 330-1, 338-9.
Note 38 in page 95 Da Derga, p. 57.
Note 39 in page 95 Wooing of Étain, Ir. Tex., I, 119-120.
Note 40 in page 96 Da Derga, pp. 201-2.
Note 41 in page 96 Prull, “Cormac's Glossary.”
Note 42 in page 96 Tale of MacDatho's Pig (Scél mucci mic Datho), Ir. Tex., I, 103-4, §15.
Note 43 in page 96 Ibid., §15. Bricriu's Feast (Fled Bricrend), ed. S. Henderson, Ir. Text Society (London, 1889), §52; Ir. Tex., I (1880). Present form about 850.
Note 44 in page 96 Bricriu's Feast, § §46, 48, 52.
Note 45 in page 96 Bricriu's Feast, § §8-9.
Note 46 in page 96 Mac Datho's Pig, §15.
Note 47 in page 96 Bricriu's Feast, §48.
Note 48 in page 96 Bricriu's Feast, §68.
Note 49 in page 96 Bricriu's Feast, §52.
Note 50 in page 96 Goidelica, ed. Stokes (London, 1872), pp. 178-9; Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus, ed. W. Stokes and J. Strachan (Cambridge, 1901-03), II, 295.
Note 51 in page 97 Goidelica, pp. 179-81; Thes. Pal. II, 294. There are many instances in the Devil's Praise of Moiling, The Cattle-raid of Cooley, and in the panegyrics assembled by Meyer, Abhandlangen d. könig. pr. Akad. d. Wissen. (phil.-hist. Kl., 1913). Annals of the Four Masters, ed. John O'Donovan, 7 vols. (Dublin, 1856). The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, ed. J. H. Todd, Rolls Series (London, 1867). A complete list of references would be tedious here.
Note 52 in page 97 “A Prayer to the Virgin,” An. Ir. Poet., p. 32.
Note 53 in page 97 Ed. W. H. Hennessey, Rolls Series (London, 1866).
Note 54 in page 98 Chronicum Scotorum, pp. 78-79. In the Four Masters, I, 195, Colum Cille addresses to God a poetic prayer, in which, in the name of his “Druid,” the Son of God, he calls the hostile host an enveloping fog.
Note 55 in page 98 Chron. Scot., pp. 76-77.
Note 56 in page 99 Cf. Todd Lect. Ser., IV, ed. E. Hogan, “Battle of Ross na Rig,” 10-11; “Battle of Rosnaree,” 62-63; “Irish Ordeals,” ed. Stokes, Ir. Tex., III, p. 211; (music of stream) Anec. Oxon., IV, 8 (Oxford, 1894), ed. K. Meyer, 49.
Note 57 in page 99 Cf. Ganzenmüller, op. cit., pp. 175 ff.; Hilarin Felder, The Ideals of St. Francis of Assist, tr. Berchmans Bittle (New York, 1925), ch. XIX, pp. 413-429.
Note 58 in page 99 Todd. Lect. Ser., III, 130-1, (136-7). In Gelages' lament, “The Battle of Ventry,” op. cit., the blackbird is among the bird-mourners of the tragedy by the sea. Cf. Grace H. Macurdy, “The Blackbird in Early Literature,” Nation (New York), CVIII (1927), 129-32.
Note 59 in page 99 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 100; Eleanor Hull, The Poem Book of the Gael (London, 1913), p. 138; Meyer, Gael. Jour., IV (1889-94), 115. On the same page (115), Meyer gives another quatrain:
A fool is each man on earth
Who ceases from praising Him,
And ceases not the bird
And it without soul. . . .
Another quatrain from Meyer, “Bruchstücke der älteren Lyrik Irlands,” Abhandlungen d. preuss. Akad. d. Wissen. (phil.-hist. Kl., 1919), Nr. 150, emphasizes the yellow bill of a blackbird as it sings in a yellow-bush tree (willow catkins in bloom?). Meyer dates the Bruchstücke from the beginning of the eighth to the eleventh century.
Note 60 in page 100 Meyer, Gael. Jour., IV (1889-1894), 42; An. Ir. Poet., pp. 94 f. Eleventh century?
Note 61 in page 101 Meyer, Bruchstücke, Nr. 148; cf. 157, 158, and other poems below. In many examples important details are italicised.
Note 62 in page 101 Cf. Ernst Sieper, Die altenglische Elegie (Strassburg, 1915), pp. 70 ff.
Note 63 in page 101 Meyer, Gael. Jour., V (1895), 40-41.
Note 64 in page 101 The Adventure of St. Columba's Clerics, ed. Stokes, Rev. Celt., XXVI (1905), (130 ff.), 138 ff.; Vision of Merlino, ed. R. A. Stewart Macalister, Zeit.f. c. Phil., IV (1902), 442 ff. (paradisiacal); “Find-loch Cera,” Todd Lect. Ser., X, 378 ff.; Tripartite Life of Patrick, ed. Stokes, I (1894-95), 115; Gael. Jour., V (1895), Anec. XII, Meyer, p. 94—a sea-scene with seals, a bird with a yellow beak; Urisk of the Corrie of the Howlings, 335:
When the yellow-crested birds sang
Their sweet pipe-music.
Note 65 in page 101 Meyer, Gael. Jour., IV (1894), §115. See footnote 61. Cf. Alcuin's poem on a nightingale.
Note 66 in page 101 Cf. Meyer, Bruchstücke, Nr. 159, a poem on the bee; Nr. 152, beavers in cold water; Nr. 161, blackberries and strawberries given by a maiden to a king's son who had found her in a greenwood.
Note 67 in page 102 Meyer, Todd Lect. Ser., XV (April, 1909), 50-51. For glimpses of landscape as a snowy one: “Mesca Ulad,” op. cit., pp. 16 ff.; Cattle Raid of Cooley, Dunn, p. 34 (Windisch, pp. 216-17); Anec. Oxon., Meyer, IV, 8 (Oxford, 1894), 65, 67, 108. The references to dawn, sunrise, sunset, beauties of night, and times of day are usually brief in Older Irish.
Note 68 in page 102 Meyer, Rev. Celt., XIII (1892), 388-9.
Note 69 in page 102 Probably of the tenth century; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 63, and Eriu, II, pp. 15 ff. For less important references, see Todd Led. Ser., III, 120-1 (rain and wind; cf. Greek epigrams); 134-5 (wind; see also footnote for figures of wind, as from the sea or a cold mountain); IV, 92.
Note 70 in page 102 “The Bodleian Amra Choluimb Chille,” ed. W. Stokes, Rev. Celt., XX (1899), 256-7; early ninth century, Rev. Celt., XVII (1896), 41 ff.
Note 71 in page 102 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 53; Meyer, Four Songs of Summer and Winter (London, 1903), pp. 20 ff.; probably of the tenth century. See footnote 78.
Note 72 in page 102 A kenning like the Anglo-Saxon hronrad; cf. in the same poem “hornless herd” for horses. Kennings are not common in this sort of Irish verse.
Note 73 in page 102 Exigencies of the complex Irish meter influenced somewhat the order of details; but the effect is rarely bad. Cf. the similar difficulties which Dafydd ab Gwilym, the Welsh poet of the fourteenth century, confronted successfully. In the Irish quatrains there is some attempt to secure unity by details of sound or motion.
Note 74 in page 104 Meyer, Rev. Celt., V (1881-83), 197 ff.; An. Ir. Poet., pp. 54-5; F. S. S. W., pp. 8 ff.; Eriu, I (1907), 186; Hull, op. cit. (T. W. Rolleston), p. 83.
Note 75 in page 104 Dafydd employs a larger number of grotesque details; cf. translations in Poet Lore, XXXVI (1925), 415-433.
Note 76 in page 104 I regularly omit such phenomena as uncanny or Druidic mists, incantations, or like ambiguous material; samples may be found in Bricriu's Feast, op. cit., §§36, 39, 40; Thes. Pal., II, 293; the three obscure Ossianic poems, Ir. Tex., I, 158 ff.
Note 77 in page 105 Ascribed to Finn in commentary on Amra Choluimb Chille; op. cit., p. 258; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 56; F. S. S. W., p. 14; Hull, op. cit. (A. P. Graves), p. 81; of the ninth century. Cf. Nutt, Ossian, pp. 13-14, 27. Cf. also the “Moral Verses,” set in more or less harmonious relation with verses on All Saints' Day, An Introduction to Early Welsh, John Strachan (Manchester, 1909), pp. 225-6, especially for images of the season.
Note 78 in page 106 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., pp. 57-8; from The Hiding of the Hill of Howth (Uath Beinne Etair), ed. Meyer, Rev. Celt., XI (1890), 125 ff. Probably of the tenth century. A quatrain of this poem is given with other quatrains in MS. Rawlinson B 502 fo 59. b, together with the reply on summer, Heinrich Zimmer, Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen (1887, Nr. 5), pp. 184 ff.; without reply it is also in the Book of Leinster, 208a. The song of winter is sung by Mac Lesc (Lazy Boy) as an excuse against going out to get water; Finn replies and punishes him. A second version of “The Hiding” Meyer found in MS. Betham 145, p. 13, and therefore corrected for F. S. S. W.; the first version is from MS. Harleian 5280. Parts of poems shifted settings or were “plagiarized.”—Cf. Hull, p. 82. Cf. also the Welsh “Winter,” Strachan, Intr. E. Welsh, pp. 241-2.
Note 79 in page 106 Delight in mountain-heights is indicated in a passage in the Irish version of Lucan's Pharsalia, “In Cath Catharda,” ed. Stokes, Ir. Tex., IV, 2 (Leipzig, 1909), 220, where the Latin has no such expression.
Note 80 in page 106 Meyer, Bruchstücke, Nr. 153; cf. 156, 154, 155.
Note 81 in page 107 Eriu, III (1907), p. 148; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 34; probably the late tenth or early eleventh century.
Note 82 in page 107 Rural touches of life occur in the “Lives of the Saints,” ed. Stokes (Anec. Oxon., Oxford, 1890): Senan, 11. 2150 ff.; C. Cille, 976; Brighit, 1759, 4136, 4351, 4356.
Note 83 in page 107 Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, ed. Reeve, p. 285; probably of the twelfth century; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., pp. 85-87.
Note 84 in page 107 Lay of Caeilte from the thirteenth-century prose tale, Colloquy of the Ancients, Sil. Gaed., I, p. 102; II, p. 109; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 59; Hull, p. 85; cf. Nutt, Ossian, pp. 50-51; 27.
Note 85 in page 108 Thes. Pal., II, 294. It has been suggested—not quite convincingly—that the “oratory” is his grave.
Note 86 in page 108 Thes. Pal., II, 290; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 99.
Note 87 in page 108 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., pp. 30-31; Eriu, I (1904), 39; of the ninth century. The hermit or founder of a monastery, Manchin Lēith, lived in the seventh century.
Note 88 in page 110 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., pp. 47 ff.; King and Hermit (London, 1901); “language of the tenth century.” Something of this wealth of promise is offered by Finn in Wooing of Ailbe (Tochmarc Ailbe), ed. Rudolf Thurneysen, Zeit.f. c. Phil., XIII (1921), 251 ff.
Note 89 in page 111 Material for comparison with Gallician-Portuguese poetry from the thirteenth century on is offered by A. F. G. Bell, “The Seven Songs of Martin Codax,” Mod. Lang. Rev., XVIII (1923), 162-167.
Note 90 in page 111 Thes. Pal., II, p. 290; Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 101; cf. Bruchstücke, Nr. 149.
Note 91 in page 112 For later Gaelic sea-poetry, examine Kenneth Macleod, “The Celt and the Sea,” Celt. Rev., III (1906-07), 242 ff., “Sea Poems,” ibid., III, 333 f., IV (1907-08), 28, 166 f., 246 f., 348 f., V (1908-09), 146 f.
Note 92 in page 112 Liadin and Curither, ed. Meyer (London, 1912); Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 65; of the ninth century.
Note 93 in page 112 For atmosphere in wood-wanderings, cf. The Pursuit of Diarmid and Grainne, William of Palerne, Libeaus Desconus (the two latter, French and English romances); cf. Nutt, Ossian, p. 72.
Note 94 in page 112 Ed. Stokes, Rev. Celt., XXIX (1908), 110-147. The latter part of Stair Nuadat Find Femin, ed. Käte Müller-Lisowski, Zeit. f. c. Phil., XIII (1921), 195 ff., deals with life by the sea.
Note 95 in page 112 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., pp. 90-93; Otia Merseiana, I, 119 ff.; of the late tenth century.
Note 96 in page 113 Op. cit.
Note 97 in page 113 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 44.
Note 98 in page 113 Thes. Pal., II, 352.
Note 99 in page 114 Meyer, An. Ir. Poet., p. 51; Otia Mers., II, 76 ff.; of the eleventh century. Other references to the sea may be found in Meyer, Abhandlungen (1913), I, i (eleventh century), a stanza on the quiet, another on the stormy sea. Todd Lect. Ser., IX, “The Metrical Dinshenchas,” E. Gwynn, pp. 26 ff.: (‘Inber n'Ailbine’); ‘Ochan,’ 36 ff., X, ‘Bend Etair,’ I, 104 ff.; ‘Loch Garman,’ esp. 174 ff.; ‘Srub Brain,’ 256 ff. Cf. the use of figures referring to the sea: Lect. MS. Mater. Anc. Ir. Hist., p. 474; “Battle of Magh Leana,” pp. 80-83 (ship at sea), 94-95. Little significant material about the sea in Merugad Uilix Maicc Leirtis (version of the Odyssey), ed. Meyer (London, 1886); a voyage in Tochmarc Monéra, ed. E. Curry (Dublin, 1855), pp. 158-9. A seashore atmosphere in The Battle of Ventry; see pp. 16, 19-21, 42, 51, 54-6 (elegiac song of Gelges, in which even the birds lament). In Lives of the Saints, Stokes, Brenan's voyages are described, 3554 ff., with mostly ideal or wondrous scenery and creatures.
Note 100 in page 115 Pp. 44-49.
Note 101 in page 115 D. Hyde, A Literary History of Ireland (London, 1899), pp. 369-370. Dr. Hyde has taken the work in the present state to be post-Norman. The copious use of adjectives occurs in some passages of the Irish chronicles and oddly enough in the description of Cuchullin's horses in Macpherson's Ossian.
Note 102 in page 116 MS. of fifteenth century; the origin of the story not much older.
Note 103 in page 118 Events of the seventh century, but the account much later.
Note 104 in page 118 Hua Corra, pp. 45, 51.
Note 105 in page 118 Ibid., p. 43.
Note 106 in page 118 Ibid., p. 43.
Note 107 in page 118 Ibid., pp. 51, 59.
Note 108 in page 118 Ibid., pp. 51, 59 (birds are souls, p. 45); Mael Duin, p. 495.
Note 109 in page 118 Snedgus, p. 21.
Note 110 in page 119 For birds singing and the like, cf. E. Kölbing, “Christian von Troyes Yvain und die Brandanuslegende,” Zeit. f. verg. Litteraturgesch., N. F., XI (1897), 442-448; A. C. L. Brown, Twain: Study in the Origin of Arthurian Romance, [Harvard] Studies and Notes in Philol., VIII, 68, 83 ff.
Note 111 in page 121 One may go further and extend the view to the early Celts, for a survey of the poetry of Dafydd ab Gwilym would find no dominant melancholy, though it would prove him quite the Welshman and the Celt. The theory of an early and persistent melancholy of the Celtic peoples, though it was developed by Renan and Matthew Arnold and still lingers in handbooks and popular criticism, has been exploded and is accepted by no Celticist.
Note 112 in page 122 Cf. P. S. Allen, The Romanesque Lyric, Chapel Hill, 1928.