Graves was, I think, farthest off the mark in his "translation" (it was nothing of the kind) of "Cad Goddeu," the "Battle of the Trees." Cad Goddeu is in the Llfyr Taliesin, and it's one of the weirder "transformation" poems of the "mythological" Taliesin (as a poetic construct separate from the actual poet). Graves essentially started a school of well, Celtic pseudo scholarship that is alive and well today, largely under the aegis of Llewellyn Publishing, and a few prime spear carriers. Peter Ellis, Celticist and author of fun mysteries has an good article on Graves' scholarship in the context of Celtic astrology here.
Grave's is being overly inventive, and working without really knowing a Celtic language. We do have two authentic Continental Celtic calendars; the most complete one is the Coligny Calendar, fragments found in the ruins of a Gaulish temple. You can read about it here. Graves is responsible for a lot of the more crap-laden Neo Pagan and New Age "Celtic" stuff, including the "Mother-Maiden-Crone" stuff. But he's also responsible for I Claudius for which he has earned sufficient good karma to overwrite the bad, in my book.
On Constellations, there probably is a boar one, but I'd have to go hunting in a couple of books, and I've just started my first cup of coffee and I'm supposed to writing . . .
The Caxton link is a great one, but it's not the original Canterbury Tales. We don't, probably, have the "original" CT. What we have are, (she says, going from memory) about sixty four manuscripts, some complete, but most partial. The two best known CT mss. are the Ellesmere Chaucer, famous for it's illustrations of the pilgrims, and owned by the Huntington Library. Here's an image from the Ellesmere, showing the Wife of Bath's bit from the General Prologue. The other best known ms. of CT, and like the Ellesmere, usually the source for editions, is the Hengwrt Chaucer now in the National Library of Wales. There are Chaucer mss. as well, like Oxford's Corpus Christ MS. 198.
Graves was, I think, farthest off the mark in his "translation" (it was nothing of the kind) of "Cad Goddeu," the "Battle of the Trees." Cad Goddeu is in the Llfyr Taliesin, and it's one of the weirder "transformation" poems of the "mythological" Taliesin (as a poetic construct separate from the actual poet). Graves essentially started a school of well, Celtic pseudo scholarship that is alive and well today, largely under the aegis of Llewellyn Publishing, and a few prime spear carriers. Peter Ellis, Celticist and author of fun mysteries has an good article on Graves' scholarship in the context of Celtic astrology here.
posted by digitalmedievalist 20 years ago
Grave's is being overly inventive, and working without really knowing a Celtic language. We do have two authentic Continental Celtic calendars; the most complete one is the Coligny Calendar, fragments found in the ruins of a Gaulish temple. You can read about it here. Graves is responsible for a lot of the more crap-laden Neo Pagan and New Age "Celtic" stuff, including the "Mother-Maiden-Crone" stuff. But he's also responsible for I Claudius for which he has earned sufficient good karma to overwrite the bad, in my book. On Constellations, there probably is a boar one, but I'd have to go hunting in a couple of books, and I've just started my first cup of coffee and I'm supposed to writing . . .
posted by digitalmedievalist 20 years ago
In "Caxton's Chaucer: View the Original Canterbury Tales."
The Caxton link is a great one, but it's not the original Canterbury Tales. We don't, probably, have the "original" CT. What we have are, (she says, going from memory) about sixty four manuscripts, some complete, but most partial. The two best known CT mss. are the Ellesmere Chaucer, famous for it's illustrations of the pilgrims, and owned by the Huntington Library. Here's an image from the Ellesmere, showing the Wife of Bath's bit from the General Prologue. The other best known ms. of CT, and like the Ellesmere, usually the source for editions, is the Hengwrt Chaucer now in the National Library of Wales. There are Chaucer mss. as well, like Oxford's Corpus Christ MS. 198.
posted by digitalmedievalist 20 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)