The Influence of Celtic Myth on Western Literary Works

1、凱爾特神話對西方文學作品的影響the influence of celtic myth on western literary worksabstract: celtic myth was the important part of the european mythology. all european celtic tribes shared certain cultural characteristics, though some have survived better over time. there are vast and ancient stories in their cel

2、tic myth. a number of these elements are present in the literary works. it includes the ulster cycle、dream of macscen、sir gawain and the green knight and so on .there are vast and ancient collection of stories amassed by the celtic peoples though out century of oral history. these stories continue t

3、o affect western culture to this day ,creeping into common imagery in many ways .one of the greatest myths of medieval literature certainly is the epic tale of king arthurs knights of the round table and their quest for the holy grail, which becomes a symbol for the medieval ideals of knighthood, ga

4、llantry ,and chivalry. key words: celtic myth；the western literary works；arthur ; western culture摘要：凱爾特神話是歐洲神話的重要組成部分。歐洲凱爾特各部落文明雖然發(fā)展不一，但還是有某些共同的文化特征。凱爾特神話氣勢恢弘，內(nèi)容豐富，很多西方文學作品就融入了其中的許多神話傳說。它包括阿爾斯特故事、麥克森的夢、高文和綠衣騎士等等。凱爾特人經(jīng)過幾個世紀口述下許多古代故事，這些故事至今仍影響著西方文化，并且通過多種方式演化成今天的人物形象。中世紀文學最偉大的神話傳說之一就是亞瑟王的圓桌騎士以及他們追尋圣杯的

5、下落的史詩故事，這在后來成為所有中世紀騎士精神的典范。關鍵詞：凱爾特神話；西方文學作品；亞瑟王；西方文化 contentsi. introduction.1ii. the world of the celtic. 1 a. the background of the celtic myth.1 b. the main content of the celtic myth.1iii.the famous western literary works about celtic myth.2 a. the western literary works about irish myth21. book

6、 of invasions.22. the ulster cycle.33. fenian cycle.3 4.voyage of st brendan4b. the western literary works about welsh myth .41. mabinogion.52. dreams of macscen.5c. legends of king arthur.6 1. story of brutus.62. sir gawain and the green knight .8iv.conclusion9works cited.11 . introduction every co

7、untry or nation has their own mythology including love, heroes, all kinds of gods, and some magical stories, etc. for the celtics, there are vast and ancient stories in their celtic myth .these stories continue to affect western culture to this day, creeping into common imagery in many ways especial

8、ly in western works .perhaps the best known character in celtic mythology is king arthur of camelot. there is a fact that the whole set of arthur comes from the celtic myth and the images exists before the age of chivalry .celtic myth extends much further than arthur ,the celtic ancestors were well-

9、acquainted with these figures and their tales .every bard knew the epics of celtic gods and heroes by heart and the stories were told and retold .many writers studied it and used the important things which included the modes of thinking, moral rules ,customs, life style ,values and famous character

10、to make up the new works .learning the celtic myth is important for us to understand the meaning of some the western works . the world of the celtic a. the background of the celtic mythceltic myth is a realm of enchantment .it recounted heroic stories of ancestral peoples of some 2500 years ago. the

11、re were vast and ancient collections of stories amassed by the celtic peoples throughout centuries of oral history. the celts were a related group of peoples, whose earliest forebears are believed to have originated in central asia or northwest india sometime between 2000 and 1000 clatter emigrating

12、 westward. most of the celts lived in the central european sometime after 1000 bc. eventually, by around 500 bc, they had made their way across the entire eventually, by around 500 bc, they had made their way across the entire breadth of the continent to its farthest corner, ireland. all european ce

13、ltic tribes shared certain cultural characteristics, though some have survived better over time. there are the traditions and myths of the “insular” celts among them, i.e. the celts of the british isles. b. the main contents of the celtic myth in the book celtic myth in chinese celtic mythology is v

14、ery colorful .there is a glass castle, a stone of destiny, magic swords ,charmed spears and javelins, giants and dragons ,figures who can change their appearance, a mantle of invisibility ,horses like the gray of battle , “hero light ”halos and fearsome battle furies, a land of promise, a plain of d

15、elights ,an island of women, fairy mounds ,ale of immortality and bejeweled drinking horns, an afterlife of perpetual feasting, and all manner of phenomena expressed best in myth.(tan 567) .the famous western literary works about celtic mythceltic myth influence many western literary works especiall

16、y in irish and welsh. in irish, celtic culture is very flouring before the englishman invaded in the middle century. in welsh, celtic culture survived in exotic aggression. when the private of welsh independent rights is threatened, the gleeman in welsh reappeared the brilliant time. their materials

17、 mainly come from ireland, but most of them come from england. a. the western literary works about irish myththe bard in irish wrote history which about their history .in twelfth century, they have finished lots of literary works .for convenient, these literary works were divided into four groups my

18、thology 、the ulster cycle、fenian cycle、various biographies about king .in these literary works ,history is mixture of oral mythology legend about god、heroes 、lover、the magical animals、and rumor. the ulster cycle is considered as the window of the iron age. (veronica 678)1. book of invasionsbook of i

19、nvasions described the establishment of ireland and colony life in early days. it relates the origins story which is so difficult that can not make the people to understand. the gael seems to pay no attention to the origins of cosmos. their rumor didnt describe world or mankind how to be created. ma

20、ybe these druids control the answer of these problems. book of invasions were compiled by the monks in 12th century. he jotted down the race which invaded and colonized to ireland in the form of chronological style with the coda of milesians invasions. milesian is the ancestry of gael, they always e

21、nounce that they are the host of this land. this book introduced each achievement which the race obtained in detail: such as agriculture or wine craft, music or metalwork. it not only described in ireland the formation of the population and the creation of the civilization at the earliest stage, but

22、 also described the created process of natural world in ireland. ireland gradually presented one nation owned numerous rivers, lake, mountains, group of islands and plains from almost the milli- featureless big slice of land, all of these are given a myth color.2. the ulster cyclein the book the uls

23、ter cycle, ireland myth mixed with the heroes among common people. the theme is the confliction between the ulster and the connacht. it presented an absorbed picture of the ancient celtic society. the persons in the story were all nominally christians but their behavior methods wont be influenced by

24、 foreign culture here were all the depictions about the barbarian in rome person eyes, concerning brilliancy, war, drinking wine to excess, overflow sexual intercourse with woman. these stories expose the fact that the celtic belongs the maternal society .the women owned the equaled right with the m

25、an, for the medb, even exceeded a man. these legends still displayed personality of celtic which is open and reckless. in these stories, sex, die or injure and even a bowel movement had taken into of fascinate depiction. in ulster cycle, it constituted of a series of literature work. tain bo cuailgn

26、e is the marrow of the ulster cycle .it was said tain bo cuailgne was written by fergus mas roich. fergus is the king of ulster. medb wanted to rob the ox in the ulster which is famous in the world, but the cuchulainn recognized it and defeated them by himself .unluckily, his back was hurt by sword,

27、 dead. these persons in the history existing whether or not still caused suspicion. however geography is factual, we can carry out the whole development process of stories in tain bo cuailgne on the map of ireland. place spirit is very important for celtic. dennsbenchas in 12th century collected a l

28、ot of irish folk tales about this topic. there are lots of legends concerning background of place name in tain bo cuailgne, too.3. fenian cyclein the myth of ireland, finn mac cumhaill is one of the most famous heroes. fenian cycle is considered as the center of fenian and the exploration experience

29、s he lead of warrior regiment, it has large influence in ireland and other places. the legend story of warrior regiment spreads to isle of man and scotland. he was considered as fingal there. he was considered as the source of legend of king arthur, for example, diarmaid andgrainne could be the orig

30、in of tristan and isolde. in the literature of ireland, he was described into a history person, it was said that he lived in third century. however, his oral legendary possibility has already existed quite a few for century, the origins can trace back to ancient celtic myth. his father was the leade

31、r of warrior regiment which was a troop that protected the king of the ireland. in fenian cycle, the boars have an important positions, they often mutually contact with supernaturalism: the most famous is the boar which killed diarmaid .in earlier period, the celtic people has already given these th

32、e fierce animal important symbolic significance. there are some evidences shows that the boar can be used for a fiesta gift. many myths all mentioned brutish boar such as twrch trwyth in culhwch and olwen in welsh. 4. the voyage of st brendanlots of celtic myth describe the travel of another world .

33、the main actor is the common people and not supernatural of beings or great heroes. the rumor of mael duin is the earliest celtic myth on voyage .it established foundations for the same type stories. for example, the voyage of st brendan, it is the one of famous stories in the european. mael duin is

34、 the sun of a nun and allill edge-of-battle. when the mael duin borned, ilill was dead in the battlefield .mael sweared he must revenge for his father. one day, the druid tell him ,his enemy lived in the place which just get there by sea and only take with nineteen people .so the mael started his vo

35、yage .they overcome all kinds of difficulties. finally, they get the island. when the people who killed the maels father welcomed them, mael forgive them and told them the travel of exploration. this story is the very popular in middle century.b. the western literary works about welsh myth the oldes

36、t works in welsh is gododdin. it got material with the legend in sixth century a.d. it happened in gododdin. at that time, there were some important stories. it concluded white book of rhydderch, the red book of hergest. except them,there are eleven famous myth from nineteen century ,mabinogion、culh

37、wch and olwen、the dream of rhonabwy and three novel in austria the lady of fountain、predur、geraint and enid. some stories are registered in the historical data in earlier period. for example, mabinogion came from historical data in eleventh century. the stories in mabinogion are compiled by themselv

38、es. taliesin is the greatest gleeman of welsh. the people called him taliesin ben beird. his representative is spoils of annwn. he worked for the king urien of rheged. his twelve poems had reserved. book of taliesin which was published in thirteenth century registered his earliest literary works. (f

39、ee and zhang 204)1. mabinogionmabinogion got away from the coupling of ireland story, and absorbed the style of middle ages literature. its center part is four fastens. they involved welsh and its periphery nation. the first fasten and the third fasten are the main of myth about dyfed. the second fa

40、sten and the fourth fasten involve with holy land and stories of ireland and england. myth of welsh contains three main source heads. one is created by historian who is from latin such as nennius and monmouths work as a representative. the other is the legend and myths of welsh and gleeman in briton

41、, especially the literary works of the marie de france. the most famous literature work in welsh is that mabinogion. though mabinogion is important literary works in welsh myth, little people know it. it was returned to one of four greatest branches in welsh until guest translated it into english an

42、d named mabinogion in 19th century. this translates originally is prepared for the children, however,it was popular among the wide readership and it was considered as the traditional myth stories in public.although mabinogion evaded the questions to location and background of stories, it didnt lack

43、of legend stories which have related with true history person and their dying and resurrection. at present, people saw mabinogion which showed thought and style in middle century,however,these stories also included the domestic thought of ancient celtic. mabinogion mentioned adoration of spirits for

44、 celtic people. 2. dreams of macscenexcept fours fasten and the legend of culhwch and olwen, mabinogion concluded three short legends which showed the characters of ancient legend. these three stories can be treated as remitting point of the celtic myth and the middle ages arthurs story. they are dr

45、eams of macscen、dream of rhonabwy and llwyd and llefelys . dreams of macscen registers in mabinogion. the destiny of macscen is different with historical magnus. in the story, he described as the king of rome. under the help of britain warriors, he became the great accomplishments for restoring mona

46、rchy after being usurped throne. dreams of macscen based on record of events about magnus. he is general in rome, he once attempted to rebel the scepter in rome, but finally didnt succeed. he was very famous who was born in spain because of successfully resisted pict invasion and protected of scotch

47、.c. legends of king arthurarthur isnt only a character in celtic myth but also an internationalization person. king arthur is the legendary king of the britons in ancient times ,and the major figure in arthurian legend .arthur expelled foreigners from britain ,brought peace to the country ,and estab

48、lished a kingdom based on justice ,law ,and morality .he held court at his castle at camelot and instituted an order known as the knights of the round table .eventually his country crumble ,and his illegitimate son mordred grievously wounded him in battle . 1. story of brutusin wace story of brutus

49、, it conclude the whole contents of the legends of arthur. although there are innumerable variations of the arthurian legend, the basic story has remained the same.arthur is the son of king uther pendragon .after he is born ,the magician merlin gives him to a man named hector to be raised with hecto

50、rs son ,kay .arthur grows up as a commoner, but then he alone succeeds at a test devised to choose uther s successor: arthur draws a sword from a stone .because of his humble origins, arthur must overcome strong opposition from the british noble,but eventually he is crowned. to help him in his task

51、of leading britain ,he receives a great sword, excalibur ,offered by a hand that rises mysteriously from a lake .to help him in his task of leading britain ,he receives a great sword ,excalibur ,offered by a hand that rises mysteriously from a lake. to defeat britains enemies, arthur undertakes a se

52、ries of wars, conquests, and invasions. after arthur completes these, britain has a long period of peace and security .arthur sets up the round table as a meeting place for his knights.arthur meets and marries the lady guinevere, but she fall in love with lancelot, one of arthurs favored knights, an

53、d their relationship divides camelot .the ruin of the kingdom is hastened by the quest for the holy grail. once arthur discovers lancelot and guineveres love affair, his own system of justice requires that he condemn his wife to death .lancelot rescues her, however, initiating a war between his forc

54、es and those of arthur and the knight gawain. during the conflict with lancelot, arthur learns that the romans plan to attack him. he fights and defeats them, but at the same time his illegitimate son, mordred, tried to usurp the throne. arthur then battles mordred in terrible conflict on salisbury

55、plain that leaves many knights dead. arthur kills mordred, but before dying, the young man gravely wounds the king. facing death, arthur orders one of his knights to throw excalibur into a lake, so that the sword cannot fall into the wrong hands .versions of the legend differ about arthurs fate ther

56、eafter. some say that he dies and is buried, others tell that a boat takes him away to the island of avalon. many works promise that arthur will return when britain needs him to attack the nations enemies and to bring peace and security to the land.（tan 64）in story of brutus, merlin is one of the mo

57、st fascinating figures in arthurian legend .he is a magician who protects counsels the young king arthur. merlin wore many hats: he was a wizard or sorcerer, a prophet, a bard, an adviser and a tutor. his predictions always came true .he is arthurs principal advisor, sorcerer, court wizard, and prophet. one of his many magical skills was the ability to change shape. he appeared as a young boy with no father. he appeared as an old, wise man, freely giving his wisdom to four successive british kings. he was dotting old fool, who couldnt control his lust over beautiful women, wh