Lesson Nineteen ~ Poetry and Storytelling
Celtic culture, like many old tribal cultures, was and remains alive with a wealth of stories, legends, anecdotes and tales. That each new generation should have learnt the tales was vitally important, as the stories contained their very sense of identity. A people without stories is a people without a history, without a sense of who they are or where they are going. The possession of eloquence was seen as a gift as important to a warrior (let alone a druid) as swordsmanship or archery. The Fenechus tells us:
“Speech is given to three: to the historian-poet for the narration and relating of tales, to the poet-seer for praise and satire, and to the Brehon for giving judgement.”
One of the drawbacks we face as modern Druids is that the recordings of our myths did not take place until quite late, and then was done by members of a hostile religion. The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians were lucky enough to be have most of their myths recorded by people who actually believed in them, before monotheists put the boot in.
That the monks recorded the Celtic myths at all is something of a miracle, and testifies to the importance than even Christian-converts continued to place upon the culture of their Pagan ancestors. However, this does not mean that they recorded those myths completely accurately. We know that many stories try to squeeze in Jesus and other biblical figures. As well as adding bits of their own, they may well have dropped stories (or bits of stories) they felt were too unacceptable. So the tales we now have of Ind Dagda, Morrighan, Bran and Olwen are not likely to be the exact same stories that would have been told of the Old Gods by Iron Age tribes ~ they are Christian-approved versions of those stories. In the case of the Welsh tales, they were written down a long time after the conversion, when memories were that much dimmer than those that recorded the Irish tales.
Does this make the surviving Celtic legends worthless? The answer must be no, because ~ watered down and edited though they may be ~ they still contain clues to how the gods were seen in purely polytheist times. There is also nothing stopping someone in the 21st century communing with their gods to find out the kind of stories they want told about them. There are far more gods named in the ancient world than are mentioned in the myths of the Dark Ages and Medieval period. So clearly many myths have been completely lost. These Medieval myths tend to portray the gods in a very human manner, no doubt influenced by a similar approach amongst the Greeks and Romans. Often the characters we now assume to be gods are not presented as divine at all, but as royalty or wizards and witches. The original tales probably did not see them as quite so human, but might have thought of them in plant or animal guise (the way some American Indian stories do), or as bodiless spirits and powers.
At this point it might be worth stopping to think what myths are. For some, they are just quaint stories to pass the time with. For early people they were ways of conveying messages about tribal identity and history, ethical ways to live, why the world is the way it is, what the gods and spirits are like etc. Without any stories at all, it is difficult to convey these complex ideas. Modern Britain is a garbled mix of many cultures and factions, such that we have few stories to bind us all together and give us a sense of who we are as a society. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why so many people feel disaffected, confused and alienated. These days we tend to think of stories as silly fantasies, or even as outright lies. Yet one persons “silly story” is someone else’s truth ~ the record of who they are, what’s happened to them, where they are going in the future etc.
Myths often formed centrepieces to the rituals of ancient Mediterranean Pagan cultures, acted out by priests at festivals playing the roles of gods, monsters and ancestors, and there is no reason to suppose that the Celtic tribes did not do something similar to bring their myths to life. The Welsh had the cyfarwyddion, professional storytellers who travelled around acting as both entertainment and also repositories of lore. The rural Scots and Irish still have the seanchus (though very few of them, these days), who remembers the old tales and keeps them alive for the next generation.
As well as stories, poetry was a major feature of life in ancient Britain and Ireland. There are seven grades of filidh (Irish poet-seers) recorded in the “Sequel to the Crith Gabhlach”, a book of the Brehon law system. Research gives the possible meanings of these titles, though some words no longer exist in modern Irish and the interpretation is a bit speculative. Each rank has a whole list of things that must be learnt in order to qualify for the next grade, showing that qualification for the next level was a matter of knowledge and skill, not some nebulous idea of mystical power. The seven grades and accompanying learning are listed towards the end of this lesson. The highest rank of ollamh was said to have carried a golden apple branch, the anruth a silver one and all the lower ranks carried bronze branches. There were a huge number of poems and stories to be learned by the highest grade, not to mention an understanding of magic and the law.
One of the lowest classes of poet was the professional satirist, someone who made a living by cursing people’s enemies by making up rude poems about them. Such people were not outside the law, and could not satirise just anybody ~ the potential to use them out of spite, or as a form of blackmail, was quite high. As the law tells us:
“The satirist who satirises a guiltless person will grow blisters on his own face. And then he will die.”
Satire was considered a very dangerous tool in the wrong hands, and will be explored in more depth in the future. As well as ridiculing the corrupt, poetry was used to praise the noble, sing eulogies at funerals, record some myths, call upon gods at ritual, record historical events, and to provide general entertainment. Poetry was also used as a form of magic, requiring a great deal of mental focus and emotional force. For the Celts, words were very powerful things.
Poetry itself was a highly evolved art form. By the medieval period the Welsh bards were required to know 24 different types of metre, and be able to compose in them on request. Some of these forms can be used easily, even when writing in English, whilst others do not adapt very well to the modern English language. The Irish poets had fewer metres, though they were no less interesting.
The Welsh forms were recorded by attendants at Eisteddfods in the 15th century, who derived their sources from much older poetic styles. The original date of some of these forms remains a mystery. The main 24 categories (and some of the subsidiary ones as well) are listed below ~
| Welsh Terms ENGLYNS Unodl union Unodl gyrch Unodl grwch Prost cyfarwidiog Prost caderynodlCYWYDDDeuair birion Deuair fyrion Llosgyrnog Awdl gywyddAWDLToddaid Hir a thoddaid Byr a thoddaid Cybydedd fer Cybydedd hir Cybydedd nawban Huppynt hir Huppynt byr Gawadodyn hir Gwawdodyn byr Cadwyn fyr Tawddgyrch cadwynog Cyrch a chwtta Clogyrnach Gorcheft y Beirdd | English Translations CLOSE METRE Unirythm direct Unirythm incursive Unirhythm inverted Prosaic interchanged Prosaic concatenatedPARALLEL METRELong double distich Short double distich Tailed MultirhythmPINDARIC METREMelting Long and melting Short and melting Short and of equal extent Long and of equal extent 9 syllabled and of equal extent Long brunt Short brunt Long paranetic Short paranetic Short chair Soft concatenated incursive Incursive with a little tail Rugged Masterpiece of the Bards |
Additional metres, which had fallen out of favour by the 15th century, included:
Englyn Milwr (or Triban) ~ the Warrior’s Song
Englyn o’r hen ganiad ~ the Song of the Ancient Strain
Englyn Garrhir ~ the Song of the Long Thigh
Englyn Cildwrn ~ the Song of the Clenched Fist
The pencerdd, or Chief Bard (equivalent to the Irish ollamh), was expected to know all these metres by heart. A few of the metrical forms are explained below so you can begin to get some idea of what is involved. You might even want to have a go at practising some of the simpler ones. The Engyln Milwr is the most basic ~
The Englyn Milwr… A moral poem which consists of three rhyming lines, each of 7 syllables. The 1st and 2nd lines describe the topic, and the 3rd line gives the moral or spiritual message. Before aiming for the division of meaning, just try writing three line verses with 7 syllables in each line (each syllable is represented by the symbol #.)
# # # # # # A
# # # # # # A
# # # # # # A
An example of this (rhyming syllables in bold print) is:
Forgotten lies the old god,
Deep beneath the useless sod,
No grave this, but sleeping pod.
The Englyn Penfyr involves 3 lines. The first line has 10 syllables, the next two lines have 7 syllables each with a rhyming pattern as follows:
# # # # # # A # # B
# # # B # # A
# # # # # # A
An example of this is:
The old hunter sought the beast in the night,
Though without might, hope near ceased,
Yet frail, his skill found the feast.
The Englyn Unodl Union involves four lines. The first line has 10 syllables, the next 6 and the last two have 7 each, with a rhyming pattern as follows:
# # # # # # A # # #
# # # # # A
# # # # # # A
# # # # # # A
An example would go:
Lleu the maiden’s call does heed, in summer
Indolent days oft lead
To sultry nights and honey mead,
Sun’s gift Man’s deep thirst does feed.
If we take a brief look at an example of Irish poetry, we will see that it is cyclical. The last word (or line) of the whole poem repeats the very first word (or line) of the whole poem, giving a sense of coming full circle. In some forms (such as the one below) the very last word is not repeated, but must rhyme with the very first word. The Ae Freisilighe is an Irish metre that became popular in the Dark Ages. Like most Irish poetry each verse has four lines. There do not seem to be any guidelines as to the subject matter for an Ae Freisilighe, so presumably you could write one about anything. The rules for structure are:
1. The 1st and 3rd lines must end on a 3-syllable word.
2. The 2nd and 4th lines must end on a 2-syllable word.
3. However, it is only the final syllable of each line that need rhyme, not the whole word.
# # # # (# # A)
# # # # # (# B)
# # # # (# # A)
# # # # # (# B)
A not very good example of this is ~
Cuchulainn at the Ford
On Scathach’s isle befriended,
Our sky bright then, no stormcloud,
With Ferdiad, beloved,
Under blanket, not deathshroud.
Quickly you flew resentful.
Did you think me so shallow?
Were Medb’s wiles so successful?
Friendship left too long fallow.
The Ford, bitter memory,
Where love and hate so muddied.
Lots cast, we faced warily,
Truth lost, broken and bloodied.
Red stream and red victory,
Friendship for honour traded,
A boast made so hollowly,
Over times past we waded.
Now only spear penetrates,
Sunders both hearts, left lifeless,
My name this deed denigrates
Laeg’s praise falls on me, worthless.
You blushed once, so wonderful,
Now blanched, bereft of passion.
Forgive your Hound, remorseful,
Think well of me in Tech Duinn.
The notorious Welsh mystic Iolo Morgannwg popularised the term Awen to mean mystical, poetic inspiration. It originally appeared in the story of Ceridwen and Taliesin, where it was a magic potion that gave the drinker amazing powers. That the potion flies out of the cauldron in three drops has lead to all sorts of ideas buy later commentators. Some have seen it as a symbol of the Christian Trinity, others as embodying the three aspects of the Wiccan Goddess, or referring the three worlds (land, sea & sky.) We no longer know quite how the bards of Medieval Wales saw the idea of Awen.
In Gaelic, the term is compered to Imbas or Ai, mentioned in Lesson 17. Many modern Druids tend to chant the word Awen (or Imbas) in their rituals, and sometimes prior to writing poetry. The chant may be believed to help gain a vision for the poem, or more often to raise magical power in the way that Wiccans will try to raise a Cone of Power. Others may use it more like a meditative mantra, to tune in to the Spirit. We have no evidence that the Druids of old chanted any of these words specifically, but if it works for you, go for it! Certainly one of the powers gained by Taliesin after consuming Awen (and by Fionn after tasting the juices of the Salmon of Wisdom) was an amazing command of poetry and language in general.
Poetry, like stories, can be used to convey very complex ideas and images in a way that laborious explanations fail to do. Few people in modern Britain seem to see poetry as a worthwhile thing, fewer still seem to regard stories as anything other than a way of sending kids to sleep at night. To convey the importance of both these art forms to our ancient ancestors and to the modern form of their spiritual beliefs can be remarkably hard.
Some questions for to think about:
What stories do you have within your own family ~ tales about relatives living or dead, major upheavals you may have lived through (wars, emigration etc)? How are these stories kept alive within the family, or does hardly anyone in your family know much about past generations?
What do you regard the central and important stories of your culture to be? Are you more familiar with old Pagan myths than with the stories told by the wider culture in which you reside?
If a god has no surviving myths or stories, how might you go about learning their nature? Are stories actually necessary?
Practical exercise:
Write a poem in one of the above metres. Alternatively, tell a story at a festival, pub moot or other gathering.
The Seven Grades of the Filidh
This information is gathered from the “Sequel to the Crith Gabhlach”and relates to the practices of the filidh (Irish bards) during the Middle Ages. There is, however, strong reason to suppose that the Christian filidh were doing almost the same things as their Pagan ancestors, so the training of the pre-Christian filidh may well have been nearly identical to the pattern shown here. It’s possible that some skills once the province of the draoi or faith may have eventually been lumped under the umbrella of the filidh.
| RANK | REQUIRED LEARNING |
| Fochlac (speaker; orator; sprig of brooklime?) | 50 oghams; 10 dreachts (compositions); 6 dians (difficulties / challenges); 30 tales; The Uraicept na h-Eicsin and its Remenda |
| Mac* Fuirmidh (determined son/daughter)[* Nic for female] | 50 oghams; 6 philosophy lessons; 30 tales; poems (of an unspecified number) |
| Dos (a sapling; a bush) | 50 oghams; 6 philosophy lessons; 40 poems; Principles of grammar |
| Cana (singer; wolf cub) | 20 Eman poems (birth); 110 tales; More principles of grammar; The Bretha Nemed (the Laws of Privileges) |
| Cli (a pillar) | 40 Nuath poems (twins); 30 tales; The Secret Language of the Poets (possibly sign language?) |
| Anruth (a noble stream) | The Brosnacha (miscellanies); The art of prosody; Glosses of strange words The prophetic arts of: Teimn Laeghda Imbas Forosnai Dicheltal do Chennibh The Dindsenchas (tales of places); Duili Feda (wisdom tales); Poetic styles of: Sennet (chanting?) Luasca (rocking / undulating) Nena (?) Eochraid (keys) Sruith (streams) 175 tales |
| Ollamh (master) | 100 Anamuin poems (spiritual?); 120 Cetals (orations); The Four Arts of Poetry; 175 tales |