Celtic Poetry: Ode by Arthur O’Shaughnessy

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

— Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Celtic History: Origins of the Celtic People

Shrouded in mystery, lost in oral history, the legacy of the Celts creates a puzzle created from acheology research, reports written by other cultures and perceptions we have created based on the more recent historic periods in which the remnants of Celtic culture still remained. The Celtic origins are ancient and stretch back into the eons before Christ.

Celtic origins can be traced to Central Europe. Influences from the areas of modern Russia to the middle east supported the development of early celtic peoples. Agricultural, metalurgic(metalworking) and trade improvements over the centuries provided the base upon which celtic society was built. The Hallstatt culture existed from approximately 700 to 500 B.C. in Central Europe and appears to have emerged from the Upper Danube region of Austria, Bavaria and Bohemia. This culture evolved into and was followed by the La Tene culture.

The love of feasting and drinking was supported by increased trade with Mediterranean cultures. This was followed by advancements in organization and warfare which lead to expansionism. Some of the agression can be attributed to raiding parties looking for loot while other warlike behavior was motivated by the acquisition of new land. Celts strength in warfare allowed them to explode across the continent. Celts sacked Rome in 390 B.C. and Delphi in 279 B.C. The sheer magnitude of the celtic reach can be seen in the fact that the Galatae who settled in the Middle East were the Galatians of the New Testament. Eventually the wilder barbaric individualism of the Celts warfare fell to the discipline of the Roman military machine.

Because the later Celtic peoples of Britian and Ireland avoided conquest longer than those on the continent, they have left a clearer picture of their culture behind. This by no means implies that it is the whole of Celtic history. The depth and breadth of Celtic influence on later civilizations shall not be underestimated, for the strength of the myth and mystery of Celts has captured hearts and imaginations worldwide.