Tales of the Celtic Bards

As my review copy was a pdf file, I’ve not been able to listen to the CD that normally accompanies this paperback book. Yet.

Hamilton first offers brief and informative view of who the Celtic peoples were, what they believed – with the best explanation of their being like the Pythagorians I have thus far encountered. She then goes on to recount some of the key stories from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany. The tales are framed – offered to us as though they are being told by a bard, with little asides and descriptions. Normally I dislike such frames, but Hamilton uses them to flag up symbols and meanings that might otherwise go unnoticed, and so opens the tales up to her readers.

The tales themselves are nicely retold, and very accessible. They suffer a bit from being fragments of larger stories – some, but not all of The Tain. Pwyll in Annwn, but not Pwyll and Rhiannon. Gwydion and Llew Llaw Gyfess, but no Bran or Branwen, and only one story from Brittany.

While many of the stories expressed here were first recoded by Christians, Hamilton makes an interesting attempt to remove those elements, where possible, such that Gronwy makes his spear on holy days, not Sundays for example. Some of her interpretations were entirely new to me, and have given me a great deal to think about.

If you already know your way round these stories, then this isn’t the book for you, I suspect – lovely though it is. However, for someone setting out to explore the riches of the myths ascribed to the Celts, this book would make a fine place to start. It would certainly be suitable for younger readers. I was so taken with it that I have ordered a copy for my son.