Mythology and Symbolism in Irish Literature - Essay Example

Dreaming and Mythologizing as a Peculiarly Irish Phenomenon The present work is the synoptic essay, discussing the question of mythology and symbolism in Irish literature. According to Elmer Andrews, the disposition for dreaming and mythologizing is a peculiarly Irish phenomenon. (Andrews 1995, p. 10 ) The work is aimed to prove, that it is often used in Irish literature, using parallels with Celtic mythology and other national symbols. The three literary works to be analyzed and used to prove the statement will be: W.B. Yeasts Selected Poems, Brian Friels Dancing at Lughasa, and Michael Longleys Selected Poems. All three have common lines in relation to symbolism and mythologizing. To start with, the mechanism of mythologizing, on the levels of both artistic and mass conscience, returned to its active role in the 20th century, when there appeared the impossibility to explain the world phenomena with the help of rational connections. The active use of mythology is based on the total reconsideration of the public history, and the facts, which were supposed to be truthful before, are now probable to turn into myths. The destruction of one myth usually gives birth to another one. (Vance 1990, p. 18) The first impulse for new mythologizing was given by symbolists. Already at the end of 19th century, pondering over the nature of symbolism as the most significant phenomenon of the new art, Yeats paid attention to the mythological tendency as the real way to return imagination to poetry, thus stimulating its further development by his own creative work. Yeats saw the contribution of Irish literature into modern art in opening new poetic source – Irish myths, which may give the most unforgettable symbols to the new age. He saw the advantage of myths in their close connection with national art, because many images and motives of Celtic myths and ancient epos, having transformed into fairy-tales, have been kept in oral tradition to the 20th century. This connection gave Yeats the feeling of direct connection with the past epoch. The attitude of Yeats to the national folklore and mythology was mostly defined by cultural tasks, which were urgent for Ireland at the end of 19th century, and in solving of which he played one of the principal roles, not only as a poet, but as an organizer of literary societies. The main subjects, which Yeats discussed in his works, were nationalism of Ireland, Celtic myths, mysticism and love. But mysticism is for sure the major line of all his creative work. According to his words, the mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write. (Foster 1998, p. 34) Reflecting the background knowledge of Yeats life will help to better understand why occult and myths became the main subject of his poetry. The family of Yeats mother was well-known for their interest in magic and astrology. Yeats father was against Christianity, which led him to the research of everything exotic and occult. He was also a member of Theosophical Society. (Foster 1998, p. 49) But not simply a theoretic learner he was. He made experiments with telepathy, was a good connoisseur of esoteric symbols and was able to combine this knowledge with his poetic gift. First of all, Yeats used to speak about his dreams and visions in his poems. Some of these visions were about the life after death, others related to visions coming from history. "I saw a staring virgin stand Where holy Dionysus died, And tear the heart out of his side, And lay the heart upon her hand…" (Two Songs from a Play) This is an example of Yeats describing his visions based on history. One of the symbols to be frequently described by Yeats was the symbol of gyres, - the cones which symbolize the subjective and objective parts of the world. When one looks down on gyres, they look like a single circle, which symbolizes the moon and its twenty-eight phases, and thus the beginning and the end of time. "Though I had long perned in the gyre, Between my hatred and desire, I saw my freedom won And all laugh in the sun." (Demon and Beast) Yeats believed that the circle was symbolizing the human souls evolution. He was sure, that there were different cycles in human history, each of them lasted 2000 years and had its own myth. Another Yeats idea was coming from the previous one and was related to the question of life and death. The poet believed in reincarnation. He often spoke about what might happen after death and described the process of soul in trance. But not only through human being did Yeats share the idea of reincarnation. He related this thought to all things in the world. He had a view of the world, which even now can be called modern. His vision of the universe was as of a total system of energies, which are interrelated, and are constantly changing, but never disappearing. (Matthews 1997, p. 94) "Many times man lives and dies Between his two eternities, That of race and that of soul." (Under Ben Bulben) At the same time, Yeats was expressing his constant search for eternity. He contrasted the world of imagination to the world of reason; being sure that imagination was eternal. He also used to speak about Great memory in his works. He was often surprised by the fact, that ideas which seemed to have arrived from beyond of his consciousness, appeared to have already been described in other works. "Whose images, in the Great Memory stored, Come with loud cry and panting breast To break upon a sleepers rest". (The Tower) Yeats believed that politics and art were linked and he expressed his political attitudes in his creative works. He also used his art to give readers more knowledge about Irish cultural history. His poems "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death", "A Meditation in Time of War", "Easter 1916" perform a role of political manifests. Yeats was sure, that one of the possible roles of art was in criticizing and commenting political events, and informing the population on political issues. (Foster 1998, p. 110) Fate was one of the major Yeats beliefs. He was devoted to mysticism and rejected Christianity. He believed that everything was preordained in this world. At the same time, he has devoted many of his works to the description of divine. The reason for appearing of symbolism in the Irish literature is probably the political situation in Ireland, when the politics and culture were suppressed and there was not a single means to express thoughts and ideas, but to use symbols. There has already been described the symbol of gyre, as one of the most frequently used symbols in Yeats works. Another symbol is swan. It is a common image in poetry for describing idealized nature. If we take Yeats poem "Leda and the Swan", the symbol of the swan in the Greek myth about Leda and Zeus is used to express the inevitable role of fate in history. Making this well-known symbol violent, the author performs the act of modernism in literature. And to my mind, one more symbol of Yeats poetry should be described here to see that mythologizing became the major means of poetic expression in the 20th century in Ireland. Yeats uses the image of Great Beast. It is a violent animal for expressing different abstract ideas or concepts. In his "Second Coming" there appears the Great Beast, which plays the major role of destruction. This image was used by Yeats to show the ideas about the modern world and its state. (Foster 1998, p. 112) From the viewpoint of authors mythology, the most interesting is the notion of mask, developed by Yeats. In his creative work, to conceal the face behind the masks meant to open the face. Yeats saw the mask as the maximum universalization of character. The mask, hiding actors face, had to replace his occasional, movable features for the unchangeable expression of his essence, static by nature. Mythologizing of Yeats was determined by the individualism’ rejection and the rejection of ‘character’ towards ‘archetype’. The basic principle of poetry for Yeats was objectification of the subjective emotion. The process of creativity turns an individual into a general image of ‘poet’. (Vance 1990, p. 74) During all his creative work Yeats has been trying to create his own monomyth. He was constantly returning to the thought, that there is a specific myth for every person, and if everyone knew it, it could have explained all his deeds and feelings. Yeats is considered one of the basic personalities in Irish literature which was filled with myths and symbols. Of course, no one argues about the role of Joyce or Baker, but still Yeats brought some kind of modernism into his symbolic works. Speaking about mythologizing as a particularly Irish feature, there should also be mentioned the work of Brian Friel ‘Dancing at Lughansa’, another work, which was full of symbols. This work is a tale about the life and break up of a family in the 1930s, which was caused by economic and political stress. The story is told from the viewpoint of the seven year old boy. The story is full of pagan rituals and the author shows how Christianity breaks the family apart. (Andrews 1995, p. 77) ‘Dancing at Lughasa’ is a recollection of a boy about the Festival in 1936, when he lived with his mother and her four sisters in Donegal. It should be pointed out that this is the first play in Irish literature that was so much focused on depicting women. Woman has always been one of the main symbols of Ireland, as the name of Ireland itself has always been associated with female gender, which can’t be said about Britain, being always associated with masculine. In this play men remain on the background. The center of the whole story is the five women. ‘Never before has he [Friel] so consciously and successfully balanced out the ‘male gaze’ – his male writer’s perspective, here even reinforced by the male narrator on stage – both by sheer numbers and by creating open-ended female characters leaving room for interpretation which the actors as collaborators of author and narrator can fill’. (Pine 1990, p. 86) This quotation is the best proved by the scene in Act I, when all five sisters dance. This outburst can easily be called savage and wild. This is purely theatrical moment. Their dance is the symbol of attempt to escape hard reality. They are trying to forget that ‘life is passing them by and that they are trapped in deadening routines from which no escape seems possible’. (Andrews 1995, p. 89) Though Friel was known as the master of depicting realism, the bright example of which is his Translations, with the famous scene of love between Yolland and Maire, his ‘Dance at Lughansa’ is full of the body language, dancing and rituals. This play seems to have been influenced by the recent trends of Irish literature and theatre. In the beginning of 1980s the traditional Irish theatre was met by new non-realistic and non-verbal features. In addition, Friel himself was looking for a new topic of his creative work. In distinction from Yeats, who actively used the historical background and historic symbols in his poetry, Friel in his ‘Dancing at Lughansa’ almost totally eliminated history, making it work here only as a support for the general plot line. At the same time, the story is full of autobiographical allusions. The image of sisters Mundy is based on author’s aunts. But the most important is that women here serve as the central background and foreground at the same time. The main thing is that in 1930s all kinds of dance were rejected by the Church, it can even be said that dancing at the time was considered to be immoral, and thus Friel chose the dance as the way to show the real state of things in Ireland in that period. The central image of the play is dancing. It differs from civilized tame style to wild dancing of Irish women. The main parallel of Lughansa and the Celtic mythology is between the Festival and the historical pagan celebration of the Celtic god Lugh. According to the mythology of Celts, every 1st of August was celebrated by them as the harvest festival, praising the unity of earth and sun. Christianity has rejected almost all pagan traditions, but the major line of Friel’s work is that probably these traditions should be changed and kept, rather than totally eliminated. Through his dancing symbols he tries to prove, that despite the wide spreading of Christianity, all people still remain pagans inside: “I think I am a Christian, because the Sermon on the Mount satisfies so much in me that pines consciously and subconsciously for appeasement. But I have no doubt that I am also a pagan…” (Seamus Heaney in Pine 1990, p. 99) Andrews asserts that mythologizing and dreaming is the feature which is particularly characteristic of Irish literature. The history of Ireland was full of dark times, when myths remained the only way to convey the information to the public. The festival of Lughansa carries two opposite connotations: on the one hand, it is emotional transformation and the beginning of the period when the days become darker, which is the difficult period for Ireland. But the dance of five sisters is a triumph of the life force and power, and liberating the force of the dance seems to be celebrating the victory of pagans over Christianity. The dance of the sisters is individual and collective at the same time – the same as it has been in Celtic times, which carried ‘hidden, submerged culture, which neither colonial influence nor Christian teaching has been able to distinguish’. (Vance 1990, p. 67) But though the first impression may deliver the feeling of the dance being the feast, in reality this is the last feast of sisters. It is the culmination which turns life to the tragic way. The sad end of the story is the symbol of difficult and stifling cultural, economic and social conditions in Ireland in the 1930s. But still the play is not pessimistic. Elmer Andrews in his description of the play wrote that ‘life retains its aura of enchantment, and the play refuses pessimism’. (Andrews 1995, p. 119) So, this is one more creative work, in which parallels with Celtic mythology was used as a symbol of depicting modern reality. It is one more proof to Andrew’s assertion, which served the title to the present work. Irish history, culture and social life themselves made authors use symbols and myths in their works for better understanding the inner and outer processes taking place in the society of the time. Much can be said about Michael Longley, an Irish poet, whose works have become a bright display of love to nature. But at the same time, nature in his works serves as a symbol and background for depicting love, violence and death. The stem of Longley’s poetry is located in physical world. The symbol of artist in Longley’s poetry is very important. He is very much concerned about his development as a poet. Pictures from nature are used by him to make his thinking clearer to the reader. (Matthews 1997, p. 118) At the same time, his role here is that of an observer, who watches everything from the distance, making his remarks and judgments. For example, it can be suggested, that in his ‘Icon and Lares’, Longley sees the nature as a kind of compensation for the features which are missing in real life. The author appears to be under the spells of nature. One of the symbolic works of Longley, to my mind, is his ‘We Follow the Footprints of Animals’. History, mythology and symbolism are combined in it, creating some kind of way from the past to the future. At the same time he depicts the role of artist in this situation: the way one follows the footprints of animals to discover their origin, the author is to trace his whole intuition to discover the hidden moments of nature, and to depict them in his works. Longley shows his unity with nature in his other work called ‘Spring Tide’, where his footprints are mixed with those of sheep and other cattle. (Brown 1985, p. 41) The theme of footprints appears in his poem ‘In Mayo’, where Longley is able to easily explore his imagination through following animals’ footprints. But as footprints appear as a major symbol in several Longley’s poems, his work ‘The Osprey’ is even more emblematic. ‘The trout each fathom dignifies’ – that’s how he describes the osprey, a bird of prey. Longley appears to be a very keen and detailed observer, being able to put down all his ideas and thoughts in a very skilled language. In his creative works, Longley makes the stress on depicting the role of artist in the life and society of the world. If we make the parallel between the badger, whom Longley values and respects, and who digs the land with his paws, and the artist, who has his own perception of the world and has to write down these thoughts in a clear and understandable language, it will be seen that being creative for Longley means to be a skilled observer together with the ability to express the perceptions and feelings. As an osprey, who lives in air but must be able to be in water to survive, a poet lives in his imagination, but must be able to enter reality to survive. (Vance 1990, p. 28) The even more symbolic is the Longley’s poem ‘The White Butterfly’, where he describes a cabbage butterfly wandering along the empty skull of the dead horse. First of all, the poem is based on the Blaskets legend, which played a unique role in Irish history. The main plot shows how the butterfly ‘May become the soul of one/ Who lies sleeping in the fields’. This butterfly’s ‘traveling’ symbolizes the poet’s search for the explanation of life and death notions. At the same time, the legend, which Longley used in his poem shows that the artist should be able to live in reality, to acknowledge the phenomena of life and death. Michael Longley carries an acute sense of nature, using it as a symbol and historical parallel in his creative work. ‘I articulate through the nightingale’s throat, Sing with the vocal chords of the orang-outang…’ (Self-Portrait) In each of his poem nature serves the means of depicting certain ideas. Both the badger and the osprey, together with waterfall or a lapwing, carry the deeper sense. As Celtic mythology was for Yeats, and the dancing was for Friel, nature for Longley became the major symbol of the poetry. At first sight it may seem that Longley is merely describing nature in his creative works, but there is more than simply the description of nature, as the nature in Longley’s works serves the main pathway of expressing the perceptions and ideas of the poet. His writing is eloquent, and he was able to relate the Irish experience to different contexts of his poems. Nature is the mirror of his imagination’ nuances. (Matthews 1997, p. 123) Conclusions Irish literature is characterized by wide range of subjects and themes, depicted in the creative works of the numerous authors. But symbolism, mythologizing and dreaming seems to be the most characteristic feature of Irish literary tradition. The key concepts expressed in different literary works are the following: - historical background as the means for depicting the direct connection of the past and the present times; - women as one of the basic symbols of Irish literature and culture; - the role of artist in perception and depicting the surrounding reality; These three concepts have been described in this work. One of the leading authors to use history in his works was W.B. Yeats, whose works are full of symbols and mythologizing. The main direction of Yeats’ works were the description of the present time through the reflection of the past, the use of Celtic mythology for making parallels with modern times, and the constant search for immortality through considering about reincarnation together with the life and death notions. The main reason for Yeats’ use of symbols in his works was to carry the real information and meaning to the public. He believed that the future can be seen through the past, and that each person has his own myth, which is possible to be discovered, thus making the way to our inner world. Yeats represents that part of Irish poetry, which is colored with mysticism and occult. In distinction from Yeats, another author, Brian Friel, didn’t use any mysticism in his work ‘Dancing at Lughansa’, though through using the symbol of dancing he aimed to show the real situation in the Irish society in 1930s. Friel’s work is more realistic and close to real life situations, than the works of Yeats, which are at times difficult to understand. At the same time, it is characteristic for Ireland, as a peculiarity of its history, to use Celtic parallels in creative works for description of various perceptions. Celtic mythology appears to be one of the most enigmatic in the world history. Even in Greek and Roman literature, where one can find abundant information on many ancient issues, Celts are almost absent as the phenomenon of the society. Dancing is the key symbol together with women, who have always served the display of Irish essence in literature and culture of Ireland. The last key concept of Irish literature, depicting the role of artist through connecting past and present, lies in the works of Michael Longley. His basic symbol is nature, and he tries to convey the idea that the role of artist in this world is to watch, observe, notice, and put down everything that he sees and perceives in such language, that it should be understood by the public, and would also carry some additional information or ideas. The use of myths and mythological parallels in Irish literature might serve more than just a literary issue, but a means for political and social debate. It is well-known, that the appearance of symbols and myths in literature is usually connected with serious transformations in society, either political, economic, social, or all of them together. Though it may seem difficult at times to understand what the above mentioned authors wanted to convey, one of the peculiarities of their works is that they were trying to make everything easier both for the reader and for the critic. They aimed to make the reader easily understand the hidden meanings. The use of symbols, myths and dreams in the Irish literature appeared to be the magnificence of imagery, rhetoric and of course, of emotion. Poets and writers put all their passions, trying to combine the past and the present time in their works. These creative masterpieces were the main means of forming the edifice of the poetic oeuvre. Through mythologizing these books have become the sacred works of art. On the one hand, the Irish literature was hard and realistic, but on the other hand, the number of images which were carried by literary works, can hardly be underestimated. The multiple interests, depicted in works of Irish authors, were the display of how absolutely different views and emotions impacted each other to produce a coherent unity. The Andrews assertion in relation to mythologizing is showing the truthful nature of Irish literature. Mythologizing in Irish literature was the sign of its deep philosophic context, and the striving of authors for perfection. Works Cited Andrews, Elmer. The Art of Brian Friel: Neither Reality Nor Dreams. London: Macmillan, 1995 Brown, T. Ireland: A social and cultural history 1922-1985. Fontana, 1985 Foster, R. W.B. Yeats: A Life I: The Apprentice Mage 1865-1914. OUP, 1998 Matthews, S. Irish Poetry: politics, history, negotiation. London: Macmillan, 1997 Pine, R. Brian Friel and Ireland’s Drama. London: Routledge, 1990 Vance, N. Irish Literary Tradition 1609 – 1986. Blackwell, 1990 Read More