Celtic mythological animals in contemporary Irish poetry

Abstract

Rooted in Celtic mythology, Irish literature, from its mythological cycles and Gaelic sagas of the Middle Ages, has thematized the intense relationship between man and animal. The epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, from the 8th century, chronicled the legendary story of the Brown Bull of Cooley; likewise, the parodical saga Scél Mucci Mic Dathó describes the battle between two kingdoms for a hound. Mythological animals reappear in pre-modern Irish literature, in the historical compilation of oral literature made by Lady Gregory in the 19th century, or in the poetry of W. B. Yeats in the 20th century. How the mythological animals appear in the contemporary Irish poetry by, for example, Seamus Heaney, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, is the subject discussed here.