Morrigan DeVito, Southern Utah University
Belief in life, death, and rebirth is the most important concept in Irish mythology. Irish myths venerate all aspects of nature, from harsh winters to bountiful summers. In this paper I will examine how Ireland’s physical landscape affected early Irish people’s myths, gods and goddesses. Because Irish myths have awe for the fearsome power of nature, they are deeply rooted into the ÛÏmythic sublimeÛ. Mythic sublimity incorporates both reverence and fear towards the divine because humans cannot fully comprehend divinity, and Irish myths arose out of the desire to understand nature and the divine. Part of their comprehension of the mythic sublime is the repeated image of life, death and rebirth in their myth and deities. In this paper I will examine ancient Irish relationship to the mythic sublime by closely reading the Mythological Cycle and Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, specifically the TÌÁin BÌ_ C̼ailnge, which is the text of the Ulster cycle. I will also incorporate Kant’s theories about sublimity, Levi-Strauss’s ÛÏStructural Study of MythÛ and Joseph Campbell’s theories about the four functions of myth. Using these scholars as secondary sources I will closely study how the repetition of life, death and rebirth is how ancient Irish people connected to the mythic sublime. I will also study whether or not the mythic sublime can be experienced in the modern world as we read, hear, and tell the ancient Irish myths, or if one has to experience a direct connection to the land like the ancient Irish people in order to understand the mythic sublime completely. This project is significant because it will bridge the ancient Irish connection with the mythic sublime to the modern world, reflect on how modern people can connect to the mythic sublime, and how the mythic sublime helps humans understand the universe regardless of their time period.