Bard Recommended Reading List

This is a really good introduction to the skills needed to analyse the myths and legends.  Bronwen has taken the often obscure, jargon filled, texts of semiotics – the science of meaning to craft a very accessible introduction to this important field.  She takes the myth of Philomel and then demonstrates the semiotic tools in […]

This book is an outline of the meaning of the Irish myths as a wisdom tradition of relevance to us today in contemporary life.  Peter stresses that to navigate a path into the labyrinth that is this tradition, it is important to stay anchored in your own ‘ground’.  In the case of Peter this is […]

This is a summary of the literature of the Kings – sometimes called the Historical Cycle.  These tales are in no way as well known as those of the Ulster (CúChulain) and Fenian (Finn) Cycles.  Maybe it is that a colonised country will tend not to tell King tales.  And for this reason this book […]

This is the last work of a brilliant French scholar who particularly outlines academic background to the Gods and Goddesses and the Chieftain Gods.  Of particular importance is her distinction between the Heroes of the Tribe (CúChulain) and Heroes outside the Tribe (Finn and the Fianna).

This is a selection of translations of the early Irish Stories by a scholar whose purpose was to remain faithful to the original and yet write in an accessible and evocative way.  The challenge being to work with language to evoke the mythical time, holding the tension between fantasy and reality and articulating a world […]

Excellent introduction to the unique and extensive written heritage of Old and Middle Ireland 600 – 1200 AD.  Gives an introduction to all of the cycles as well as setting the literature within a cultural context.  So the poets, druids and the Christian monks are briefly covered along with some material on the shift from […]