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A Publication of The Institute of Irish Studies Queen s University, Belfast
THE
EARLY
ENGLISH
AND
CELTIC
LYRIC
THE EARLY ENGLISH AND CELTIC LYRIC BY
P. L. HENRY B.A., M.Econ.Sc., D. Phil. Reader in Celtic, Queen’s U niversity Belfast
London
GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD R U S K I N HO U S E
MU S E UM S T R E E T
F I R S T P U B L I S H E D IN I 9 6 6 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. A p art from any fa ir dealing fo r the purposes o f private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright A c t, 1 9 5 6 , no portion m ay be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publishers © George Allen & Unwin L t d ., 1966
P R I N T E D IN G R E A T B R I T A I N
in i t point Fournier type B Y UN WI N B R O T H E R S L T D . W O K I NG AND L O NDON
TO MY M O T H E R
FOREWORD It is a pleasant duty to express my obligation to all those who have helped in the production of the present study, among whom I would wish to include my predecessors in the field. I have to thank my colleague Professor H. Wagner for many constructive observations in the course of the work, and for his views on the completed manuscript. I am also indebted to Professor Proinsias Mac Cana for reading the MS and for several critical comments on the Irish and Welsh sections of it. To Professor Gearóid Mac Eoin I owe some improvements in the reading and interpretation of the two Irish poems edited in Chapter III. I have also to thank members of the R.I.A. dictionary staff who enabled me to consult unpublished material, and the editors of Die Sprache and of Z C P for permission to reprint The Opening O f The Finnsburg Fragment (Chapter XIII), and matter in Appendix I la, respectively. I owe a special debt to The Institute Of Irish Studies of Queen’s University for their gracious acceptance of this work to initiate their series.
CONTENTS Foreword Abbreviations INTRO DUCTIO N : THE OLD ENGLISH LYR IC : O r ig in ;
P e n iten tial and O u tca s t
P o e try ;
W e ls h
and
page 9 13 G en re, Irish
S o u r c e s ; C o u r s e o f the In v e stig a tio n
I.
a. Irish b. H i b e r n o -E n g lis h
II.
in.
*
29 ·
THE ANCHORITE MOVEMENT IN IRELAND AND BRITAIN THE MOTIF OF A IL IT H R E (P E R E G R IN A T IO ) IN EA RLY IRISH LITERA TU RE a. T h e Im m ra m a ( V o y a g e s )
η. V.
17
THE CHRISTIAN EXILE-SEAFARER
b. L y r i c P o e tr y THE WELSH BACKGROUND: PENITENTIAL AND SENTENTIOUS PO ETRY THE GNOMIC MANNER AND M ATTER OF a. O ld E n g lis h (9 1) b. E a r ly Irish c. O ld Ic e la n d ic d. E a r ly W e ls h
THE S E A F A R E R : IN TERPRETATIO N OF T E X T VII. THE S E A F A R E R : SUMMARY, ANALYSIS, SYN THESIS v m . THE W A N D ER ER lx . THE P E N I T E N T S P R A Y E R X. THE PENITENTIAL MOTIF AND THE BACK GROUND OF THE EXILIC AND SEAFARING IMAGES XI. SOME OLD ENGLISH RELIGIOUS TERMS m i . THE ORIGIN OF CÆ DM O N 'S H Y M N XIII. THE OPENING OF THE F IN N S B U R G F R A G M E N T appendix 1: NOTES ON THE IRISH POEMS appendix II.- ON CELTIC-ENGLISH RELATIONS appendix III: OLD IRISH POEMS ON THE TRANSITORINESS OF RO YAL G LO RY Vi.
35
40
46 50
(·ηJ 93 10 4 117 12 4 J
133 15 2 16 1 17 6
18 1
195 209 216 222 225
Addenda
228 235
In dex
238
A B B R E V IA T IO N S
(Established abbreviations o f English are intended to be transparent, and T itles o f E dd a poems are occasionally F o r Irish cf. further Contributions to a
source-titles are adopted; others radical contractions are avoided. co