Welcome back, bookworms! Did you miss me? I wish I could say I missed you, but I was having too much fun in Ireland. And, of course, I want to share some of the things I learned.
Ireland has a long tradition of storytelling. Stories, folklore, faerie tales and myths were all used by the ancient Irish to help explain things that otherwise wouldn’t make sense. That’s why we have faeries, leprechauns and sprites. Even St. Patrick joined in on the storytelling; he used the storytelling techniques to teach the pagan Irish about Christianity. Celtic crosses that often had Bible stories carved onto them are called “storytelling crosses” because they helped the priests tell the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abraham (among others).
In Ireland, the national symbol is a harp (not a shamrock!). The harp as a symbol dates back to ancient Celtic times when a written language was primitive or non-existent. In order to keep the family traditions, history and stories alive, each family would have a designated storyteller. These storytellers, known as seanchaí, would often sing the stories and histories, accompanied by a harp.
In Dublin, I had the chance to explore Oscar Wilde’s birthplace and home, as well as see an exhibit on William Butler Yeats at the National Library. The National Library in Dublin opened in 1890 and contains first editions of every major Irish writer and a copy of almost every book ever published in Ireland. Yeats is an interesting character, both because he included a lot of the ancient folk stories and faerie tales in his poetry and because he was a major force in the Irish Literary Revival in the early 20th century. Yeats and his siblings were the single most significant artistic family in 20th century Ireland. The exhibit had a lot of original manuscripts, some of which were in Yeats’ own handwriting.
I also caught a glimpse of another original manuscript at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, this one belonging to Jonathan Swift. Swift was Dean of St. Patrick’s from 1713 to 1745, so the cathedral has copies of his work on display. It was thrilling (yes, I’m a geek) to see an original copy of A Modest Proposal.
But the literary highlight of my trip to Ireland was seeing the Book of Kells at Trinity College. Dating back to the 9th century, the Book is truly amazing. It’s kept in amazing shape and you can still see all the intricate work that went into it. It alone is worth a trip to Ireland.
Well, bookworms, it’s good to be back.
