Celtic history and the mythology

In this delightful gathering of legend and song, the familiar characters of Irish myth come to life: the mercurial trooping fairies, as ready to make mischief as to do good; the solitary and industrious Lepracaun and his dissipated cousin, the Cluricaun; the fearsome Pooka, who lives among ruins and has “grown monstrous with much solitude”; and the Banshee, whose eerie wailing warns of death. More than an ambitious and successful effort to preserve the rich heritage of his native land, this volume confirms Yeats’s conviction that imagination is the source of both life and art.

Poems. The song of the Happy Shepherd,The Stolen Child, He Meditation of the Old Fisherman, To the Rose upon the Rood of Time, The Hosting of the Sidhe…

Cathleen Ni Houlihan (1902), The Pot of Broth (1904), On Baile’s Strand (1904), The Unicorn from the Stars (1908), The Player Queen (1922), The Resurrection (1931), The Words Upon the Window-Pane (1934), The Death of Cuchulain (1939)

W B Yeats (1865-1939) was one of the great and innovative poets of the twentieth century. Much of his most vigorous verse on love, sex, Irish and international politics, the complexities of the occult and the ‘sedentary toil’ of poetry was produced in the years between his fiftieth birthday in 1915 and his death in 1939. This selection of Yeats’s work includes the final book from the unjustly neglected narrative poem The Wanderings of Oisin and a number of lyrics from Yeats’s work as poetic dramatist.

This is one of the best-known collections of Yeats’ prose; in it he explores the longstanding connection between the people of Ireland and the inhabitants of the land of Fairy. Yeats, who had profound mystic and visionary beliefs, writes with conviction of the reality of Fairies, both in his own experience, and in the everyday life of the Irish. This relatively short work serves as a way for readers to discover Yeats’ powerful wordcraft and get an overview of celtic Fairy lore.

Arranged in chronological sequence, The Secret Rose offers a glimpse of all Yeats’ styles-beginning with his youthful romantic idealism and ending with his more outspoken, sardonic treatment of sexuality

A man, with thin brown hair and a pale face, half ran, half walked, along the road that wound from the south to the town of Sligo. Many called him Cumhal, the son of Cormac, and many called him the Swift, Wild Horse; and he was a gleeman, and he wore a short parti-coloured doublet, and had pointed shoes, and a bulging wallet. Also he was of the blood of the Ernaans, and his birth-place was the Field of Gold; but his eating and sleeping places where the four provinces of Eri, and his abiding place was not upon the ridge of the earth. His eyes strayed from the Abbey tower of the White Friars and the town battlements to a row of crosses which stood out against the sky upon a hill a little to the eastward of the town, and he clenched his fist, and shook it at the crosses. He knew they were not empty, for the birds were fluttering about them; and he thought how, as like as not, just such another vagabond as himself was hanged on one of them; and he muttered: ‘If it were hanging or bowstringing, or stoning or beheading, it would be bad enough. But to have the birds pecking your eyes and the wolves eating your feet! I would that the red wind of the Druids had withered in his cradle the soldier of Dathi, who brought the tree of death out of barbarous lands, or that the lightning, when it smote Dathi at the foot of the mountain, had smitten him also, or that his grave had been dug by the green-haired and green-toothed merrows deep at the roots of the deep sea.’… Read more

The Unicorn from the Stars is a classic Irish drama collection by William Butler Yeats.

The Land of Heart’s Desire is a play by Irish poet, dramatist, and 1923 Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats. First performed in the spring of 1894, at the Avenue Theatre in London, where it ran for a little over six weeks, it was the first professional performance of one of Yeats’ plays. Read more

The Winding Stair is a volume of poems by Irish poet W. B. Yeats, published in 1933. It was the next new volume after 1928’s The Tower.

ERNEST RENAN described what he held to be Celtic characteristics in The Poetry of the Celtic Races. I must repeat the wellknown sentences: ‘No race communed so intimately as the Celtic race with the lower creation, or believed it to have so big a share of moral life.’ The Celtic race had ‘a realistic naturalism,’ ‘a love of Nature for herself, a vivid feeling for her magic, commingled with the melancholy a man knows when he is face to face with her, and thinks he hears her communing with him about his origin and his destiny.’ ‘It has worn itself out in mistaking dreams for realities,’ and ‘compared with the classical imagination the Celtic imagination is indeed the infinite contrasted with the finite.’ ‘Its history is one long lament, it still recalls its exiles, its flights across the seas.’ ‘If at times it seems to be cheerful, its tear is not slow to glisten behind the smile. Its songs of joy end as elegies; there is nothing to equal the delightful sadness of its national melodies.’ Matthew Arnold, in The Study of Celtic Literature, has accepted this passion for Nature, this imaginativeness, this melancholy, as Celtic characteristics, but has described them more elaborately. Read more

Clear and reasonable explanation of races and racism.

Reviews the early history of England from the dawn of its civilization to the issuance of the Magna Carta

Comprehensive explanation of DNA, how chromosome patterns are formed, and how the cell reproduces

An enormously enjoyable spooky collection of ghost-sightings over the centuries, full of the spirit of place, in true Ackroyd style. The English, Peter Ackroyd tells us in this fascinating collection, see more ghosts than any other nation. Each region has its own particular spirits, from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Some speak and some are silent, some smell of old leather, others of fragrant thyme. From medieval times to today stories have been told and apparitions seen — ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just want to have fun. The English Ghost is a treasury of such sightings which we can believe or not, as we will. The accounts, packed with eerie detail, range from the door-slamming, shrieking ghost of Hinton Manor in the 1760s and the moaning child that terrified Wordsworth’s nephew at Cambridge, to the headless bear of Kidderminster, the violent daemon of Devon who tried to strangle a man with his cravat and the modern-day hitchhikers on Bluebell Hill. Comical and scary, like all good ghost stories, these curious incidents also plumb the depths of the English psyche in its yearnings for justice, freedom and love.

Acclaimed biographer Peter Ackroyd vibrantly resurrects the legendary epic of Camelot in this modern adaptation The names of Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad, the sword of Excalibur, and the court of Camelot are as recognizable as any from the world of myth. Although many versions exist of the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory endures as the most moving and richly inventive. In this abridged retelling the inimitable Peter Ackroyd transforms Malory’s fifteenth-century work into a dramatic modern story, vividly bringing to life a world of courage and chivalry, magic, and majesty. The golden age of Camelot, the perilous search for the Holy Grail, the love of Guinevere and Lancelot, and the treachery of Arthur’s son Mordred are all rendered into contemporary prose with Ackroyd’s characteristic charm and panache. Just as he did with his fresh new version of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Ackroyd now brings one of the cornerstones of English literature to a whole new audience.

Excerpt: “Maisie Llewelyn had never been asked to Wolverden before; therefore, she was not a little elated at Mrs. West’s invitation. For Wolverden Hall, one of the loveliest Elizabethan manor-houses in the Weald of Kent, had been bought and fitted up in appropriate style (the phrase is the upholsterer’s) by Colonel West, the famous millionaire from South Australia” Maisie Llewelyn is invited as a guest to Wolverden Hall for Christmas. There is also an old church nearby, whose tower was recently rebuilt. This restoration was not very successful but was absolutely necessary. Here Maisie befriends two young girls, Yolande and Hedda, but strangely, none of the other guests seems to know the two. After Christmas, the three girls want to visit the church again and climb the steeple, because Maisie is of royal blood and the tower needs a new protective spirit. Unknown to poor Maisie, danger lurks in a dark corner to strike her. What will happen with her and what is the secret of the Wolverden Tower? Read on.

In book two of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius adjusts to his new role as sovereign of Ys as threats from all sides begin closing in As the Roman Empire loses its grip on its far-flung territories, the mystical kingdom of Ys in western Gaul is in great danger of slipping into oblivion. Suffocated for years by the rule of a tyrant king, Ys’s last hope arrived in the form of a Roman emissary, Gratillonius, who defeated the sitting king to take the throne himself. Now Gratillonius must grapple with the kingdom’s political strife and religious tensions while balancing his responsibilities to the Gallicenae, nine wide-ranging witches who have become his wives. Though Rome seeks to spread Christianity, and Gratillonius stands firm in his worship of Mithras, the Ysans hold to an entirely different religion in service of pagan deities who must be obeyed lest grave consequences descend on the fragile kingdom.

In book three of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius’s reign faces a deadly new threat from across the sea For sixteen years Gratillonius has been the king of Ys, a position he has used to bring the once-teetering city-state back to stability as the Roman Empire continues to collapse around it. Rome would prefer a more malleable leader in Gratillonius’s place and makes no secret of it. As pressure from Roman leadership increases, Gratillonius must also contend with Niall maqq Echach, the leader of Northern Ireland who holds the Ysan king responsible for the death of his son. Compounding these complications is the ever-present threat of retribution by the Ysan gods, should the kingdom’s leadership make a misstep. But perhaps the greatest danger of all is unfolding from within Gratillonius’s own household, where, following the death of one of his nine wives, the gods have named an unsettling replacement: Dahut, Gratillonius’s own daughter. As treachery mounts from within and without, Gratillonius must hold to his principles in defiance of the gods while still protecting Ys from the destruction closing in on all sides.

In the fourth and final book of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius and the Ysan survivors have one final chance to rebuild in the wake of inconceivable destruction As legendary as King Arthur’s Court and as mystical as Atlantis, the fabled kingdom of Ys has finally fallen, the victim of invading hordes and vengeful gods. Destitute, the remaining Ysans put their faith in their longtime leader, Gratillonius, who protected the city-state of Ys for two decades before it succumbed to the malevolent forces surrounding it. Now more vulnerable than ever, Gratillonius and the Ysans set out to rebuild their beloved city, first with wood and then with stone, providing a fortress against the elements and the marauding King Niall maqq Echach, still on his years-long quest to see Ys turned to dust. While the Dark Ages begin to rise across Europe, the Ysans and their king grasp one last time for survival—lest their history be lost forever. The Dog and the Wolf is the final book in Poul and Karen Anderson’s King of Ys series, which also includes Roma Mater, Gallicenae, and Dahut.

Book one of the King of Ys series: Blending fantasy, history, and adventure, the epic story of Ys begins as the Roman Gratillonius finds himself thrust into the highest seat of power In the waning days of the Roman Empire, Magnus Maximus sends his prefect Gratillonius to western Gaul and the faraway land of Ys, a place shrouded in legend and ruled by a cruel and tyrannical king. When the sovereign challenges Gratillonius to a duel, the envoy from Rome emerges victorious and claims the throne as the new king of Ys, inheriting a land whose religion, culture, and history are entirely foreign. He also gains the former king’s nine wives, the Gallicenae, a powerful group of women to whom he must appear equally devoted despite his growing feelings for one in particular. As he adjusts to his new role as ruler of Ys, Gratillonius must fight to keep his strange new country on its feet while the rest of the Roman Empire begins to crumble around him. Roma Mater is the first book in Poul and Karen Anderson’s King of Ys series, which continues with Gallicenae.

In a sweeping historical novel moving from the sinking of the “Titanic” to World War II and the birth of Israel, two families–one Welsh and one Irish–are bound together by love, friendship, and an ancient myth

Irish Kings and High-Kings is an analysis of the nature of early Irish kingship, using annalistic and genealogical material to interpret Irish saga and legend.Professor Byrne examines the unique blend of pagan tribalism and Christian monasticism which characterises the political landscape of early Ireland, exploring the nature of the traditional Five Fifths of Ireland, the mythology of Tara, and the growth of the high-kingship of Ireland. Numerous maps and genealogical tables illustrate the development of the great over-kingships of Ulster, Leinster and Connacht, and Cashel. The confrontation of St Patrick with the Irish kings, the relations between St Colum Cille and his royal cousins, and the ecclesiastical politics of Armagh, Kildare and Clonmacnoise are described and analysed. More than twenty years after its original publication, Irish Kings and High-Kings remains unsurpassed as an overview of this central issue in Irish history.

A core introductory textbook that provides students with a concise overview of the full sweep of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh history, from pre-Roman times right through to the present day. Jeremy Black offers a balanced and absorbing account of a group of islands, their peoples, their extraordinary shared past and their remarkable impact on the rest of the world.