1.
John Duncan (painter)
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John Duncan was a Scottish painter. Duncan was born in the Hilltown area of Dundee in 1866, John, however, had no interest in the family business and preferred the visual arts. By the age of 15 he was submitting cartoons to the local magazine The Wizard of the North and was taken on as an assistant in the art department of the Dundee Advertiser. At the same time he was also a student at the Dundee School of Art, in 1887-88 he worked in London as a commercial illustrator, then travelled to the continent to study at Antwerp Academy under Charles Verlat and the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1889 Duncan returned to Dundee and exhibited in the new Victoria Art Galleries extension of the Albert Institute, the following year he became one of the founder members of the Dundee Graphic Arts Association. Most of his income at this time was derived from portrait commissions, including jute merchant John L Luke, in 1892 Duncan moved to Edinburgh to work with the sociologist, botanist and urbanist Patrick Geddes, whom Duncan had met in Dundee. As part of the Celtic Revival movement, Duncan painted murals for Geddess halls of residence at Ramsay Garden and he also became the principal artist for Geddes 1895-97 seasonal magazine The Evergreen. The magazine also featured work by Dundee artist Nell Baxter and the decorative artist Robert Burns. Among other subjects, Duncan depicts Bacchus and Silenus in a mythical scene, Duncan also acted as director of Geddess short-lived Old Edinburgh School of Art. In 1897 Duncan returned to Dundee and exhibited Celtic and symbolist paintings at the Graphic Arts Association as well as the Royal Scottish Academy and it was at this time that he painted The Glaive of Light now in the University of Dundees collection. He continued to teach art and design, at the Dundee YMCA, the University, thanks to Patrick Geddess influence, in 1900 Duncan was appointed as a Professor at the Chicago Institute founded by Francis Wayland Parker. His stay there was not a one, and after Parkers death he returned to Scotland and settled in Edinburgh. Duncans last major work was entitled Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay, the work was commissioned and is now held by the University of St Andrews. The painting was completed in spite of the critical antagonisms Duncan was facing at the time, a smaller scale replica is held in the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle
2.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
3.
Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A
4.
Irish mythology
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The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity. However, much of it was preserved in medieval Irish literature and this literature represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. There are also a number of extant mythological texts that do not fit any of the cycles. Additionally, there are a number of recorded folk tales that, while not strictly mythological. Despite the dates of these sources, most of the material they contain predates their composition, the earliest of the prose can be dated on linguistic grounds to the 8th century, and some of the verse may be as old as the 6th century. The first of these part of the earliest known version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge and is housed in Trinity College. The other three are in the Royal Academy, when using these sources, it is, as always, important to question the impact of the circumstances in which they were produced. There was also a tendency to rework Irish genealogies to fit into the known schema of Greek or Biblical genealogy and it was once unquestioned that medieval Irish literature preserved truly ancient traditions in a form virtually unchanged through centuries of oral tradition back to the ancient Celts of Europe. A consensus has emerged which encourages the critical reading of the material, the Mythological Cycle, comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. The most important sources are the Metrical Dindshenchas or Lore of Places, Other manuscripts preserve such mythological tales as The Dream of Aengus, The Wooing Of Étain and Cath Maige Tuireadh, The Battle of Magh Tuireadh. One of the best known of all Irish stories, Oidheadh Clainne Lir, Lebor Gabála Érenn is a pseudo-history of Ireland, tracing the ancestry of the Irish back to before Noah. They faced opposition from their enemies, the Fomorians, led by Balor of the Evil Eye, Balor was eventually slain by Lug Lámfada at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground to become the people of later myth. The Metrical Dindshenchas is the great work of early Ireland. It includes a lot of important information on Mythological Cycle figures and stories, including the Battle of Tailtiu, in which the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians. It is important to note that by the Middle Ages the Tuatha Dé Danann were not viewed so much as gods as the shape-shifting magician population of an earlier Golden Age Ireland. Texts such as Lebor Gabála Érenn and Cath Maige Tuireadh present them as kings and heroes of the distant past, however, there is considerable evidence, both in the texts and from the wider Celtic world, that they were once considered deities. Even after they are displaced as the rulers of Ireland, characters such as Lug, a poem in the Book of Leinster lists many of the Tuatha Dé, but ends Although enumerates them, he does not worship them
5.
Scottish mythology
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It was the belief that Beira, the Queen of Winter, had a firm hold on the country by raising storms during January and February thus preventing greenery to emerge. She was considered a tough and brutal old woman who stirred the deadly spiraling action of Corryvreckan, ushering snow, even the creation of lochs and mountains were attributed to her. Scottish mythology is not like the Greek and Roman myths as it deals with aspects of nature. In this context the most powerful and feared goddess representing winter is Beira who rules winter for its entire duration, immediately, the following season she readily concedes to Dual Lord and Lady who then enjoy equal power during the ensuing season. This myth is akin to the myth of the Mayans and deals with female power in the creation. However, Donald Mackenzie in his book Scottish Wonder Tales from Myth and Legend states that the goddesses of the Scottish myths are not glorified, Scottish mythology is dominated by goddesses, and according to Donald Mackenzie they are greater and stronger than the gods. The Celtic goddesses were authoritative and were associated with female fertility as related to female divinity, in olden times the Celtics land and national societies were both linked with the body of the goddess and her representative on earth was the queen. Another ambivalent character in Scottish myths was the hag, the Goddess, the Gaelic Cailleach, and the Giantess, the hag is also considered a healer and helpful during childbirth and is divine and said to have long ancestry and incredible longevity. She is also known as at once creator and destroyer, gentle and fierce, several origin legends for the Scots arose during the historical period, serving various purposes. One Scottish origin legend, or pseudo-historical account of the foundation of the Scottish people, as they roamed through Ireland, from Clonmacnoise, Armagh and Kildare to Cork, and finally, to Bangor, they were continually engaged at war with the Pictanei. After some time, they crossed the Irish Sea to invade Caledonia North of Roman Britain, successively capturing Iona, the latter places are echoed by the appearance of Cinnrígmonaid and Cinnbelathoir in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba. The territory so conquered was then named Scotia after Scota, the Egyptian wife of Spartan commander Nél or Niul, once the Picts adopted Gaelic culture and their actual characteristics faded out of memory, folkloric elements filled the gaps of history. In the eighteenth century the Picts were co-opted as a Germanic race, in the Celtic domains of Scotland, also known as Gaelteached, there were ancient pre-Christian structures. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland, the Ulaid had close links with Gaelic Scotland, where Cúchulainn is said to have learned the arts of war. These stories are written for the most part in prose, the centrepiece of the Ulster Cycle is the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Other important Ulster Cycle tales include The Tragic Death of Aifes only Son, Fled Bricrenn Bricrius Feast and this cycle is, in some respects, close to the mythological cycle of the rest of the Gaelic speaking world. Some characters from the latter reappear, and the sort of shape-shifting magic is much in evidence, side by side with a grim. Scottish Gaelic adaptations of Ulster Cycle tales appear in the Glenmasan manuscript, the stories of Finn mac Cumhaill and his band of soldiers the Fianna, appear to be set around the 3rd century in Gaelic Ireland and Scotland
6.
Fairy
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A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. According to Thomas Keightley, the word derives from the Latin fata. Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal fada, in old French romance, fee was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs. Faierie became fairy, but with that now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people. The word fairy was used to represent an illusion, or enchantment, to the word faie was added the suffix -erie, used to express either a place where something is found or a trade or typical activity engaged in. In later usage it applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular type of person. In the sense land where fairies dwell, the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery, the latinate fay is not to be confused with the unrelated fey, meaning fated to die. Various folkloristic traditions refer to them euphemistically, by such as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk. Sometimes the term fairy is used to any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes, at other times. Fairies have their origin in the conflation of Celtic traditions in the Middle French medieval romances. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning enchanted, but was used as a name for enchanted creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, the Victorian and Edwardian eras saw an increase in interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival viewed them as part of Irelands cultural heritage, carole Silvers and others suggest that the fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization, and loss of folkways. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers, even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant. Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans, on Orkney they were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are rare in the folklore, even very small fairies flew with magic. Nowadays, fairies are depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. In some folklore, fairies have green eyes, some depictions of fairies either have them wearing some sort of footwear and other depictions of fairies are always barefoot
7.
Elf
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An elf is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Reconstructing the early concept of an elf depends almost entirely on texts in Old English or relating to Norse mythology, later evidence for elves appears in diverse sources such as medical texts, prayers, ballads, and folktales. Legends of álfar may have been changing and were perhaps always heterogeneous so it might be argued that any particular source will only reflect the state of affairs at one given time. However, the character of beliefs in elves across the Germanic-speaking world has varied considerably across time, space. In Old Norse mythological texts, elves seem at least at times to be counted among the gods, in medieval German texts they seem more consistently monstrous. Elves are prominently associated with sexual threats, seducing people and causing them harm, for example, a number of early modern ballads in the British Isles and Scandinavia, originating in the medieval period, describe human encounters with elves. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, German Romanticist writers were influenced by this notion of the elf, and reimported the English word elf in that context into the German language. In Scandinavia, probably through a process of euphemism, elves often came to be conflated with the called the huldra or huldufólk. Meanwhile, German folklore has tended to see the conflation of elves with dwarfs, the Christmas elves of contemporary popular culture are of relatively recent tradition, popularized during the late nineteenth-century in the United States. Elves entered the high fantasy genre in the wake of works published by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, for which. The English word elf is from the Old English word most often attested as ælf, although this word took a variety of forms in different Old English dialects, these converged on the form elf during the Middle English period. During the Old English period, separate forms were used for female elves, the main medieval Germanic cognates of elf are Old Norse alfr, plural alfar, and Old High German alp, plural alpî, elpî. These words must come from Common Germanic, the ancestor-language of English, German, and the Scandinavian languages, Germanic *ɑlβi-z~*ɑlβɑ-z is generally agreed to be cognate with the Latin albus, Old Irish ailbhín, Albanian elb, and Germanic words for ‘swan’ such as Modern Icelandic álpt. These all come from an Indo-European base *albh-, and seem to be connected by whiteness, the Germanic word presumably originally meant white person, perhaps as a euphemism. Jakob Grimm thought that whiteness implied positive moral connotations, and, noting Snorri Sturlusons ljósálfar and this is not necessarily the case, however. Compare descriptions such as ‘swan white’ to describe the beauty of fair complexion, Norse cultural values view masculinity as an ideal of beauty, which the Alfr personifies. For example, the Norse Eddas similarly celebrate the beauty of Baldr. Icelandic Sagas celebrate the beauty of the giants, and certain warrior kings that descend from them
8.
Parallel universe (fiction)
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A parallel universe is a hypothetical self-contained reality co-existing with ones own. A specific group of parallel universes are called a multiverse, although this term can also be used to describe the parallel universes that constitute reality. The term parallel universe is more general, without any connotations implying a relationship, or lack of relationship, the actual quantum-mechanical hypothesis of parallel universes is universes that are separated from each other by a single quantum event. Fantasy has long borrowed an idea of world from myth, legend. Heaven, Hell, Olympus, and Valhalla are all alternative universes different from the material realm. Plato reflected deeply on the realities, resulting in Platonism. The lower reality is similar but with flaws, modern fantasy often presents the concept as a series of planes of existence where the laws of nature differ, allowing magical phenomena of some sort on some planes. This concept was found in ancient Hindu mythology, in texts such as the Puranas. S. Lewis or even the beyond-the-reflection travel in the two works of Lewis Carroll. P. Lovecraft and the Doom computer game series, or Warhammer/40K miniature, in such stories, the nature of this other reality is often left mysterious, known only by its effect on our own world. One of the first Sci-Fi examples is Murray Leinsters Sidewise in Time, while this is a common treatment in Sci-Fi, it is by no means the only presentation of the idea, even in hard science fiction. One motif is that the way time flows in a parallel universe may be very different, picking a genre becomes less a matter of setting, and more a matter of theme and emphasis, the parts of the story the author wishes to explain and how they are explained. Narnia is clearly a fantasy, and the TV series Sliders is clearly science fiction, while technically incorrect, and looked down upon by hard science-fiction fans and authors, the idea of another dimension has become synonymous with the term parallel universe. The usage is common in movies, television and comic books. The idea of a world was first introduced in comic books with the publication of The Flash #123. In written science fiction, new dimensions more commonly – and more accurately – refer to coordinate axes. By proposing travel along these axes, which are not normally perceptible. Abbott wrote the seminal novel exploring this concept called Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions, isaac Asimov, in his foreword to the Signet Classics 1984 edition, described Flatland as The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions
9.
Irish language
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Irish, also referred to as Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people. Irish enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and it is also among the official languages of the European Union. The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island of Ireland and it has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. The fate of the language was influenced by the power of the English state in Ireland. Elizabethan officials viewed the use of Irish unfavourably, as being a threat to all things English in Ireland and its decline began under English rule in the 17th century. In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a decrease in the number of speakers. Irish-speaking areas were hit especially hard, by the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers have been in the minority, efforts have been made by the state, individuals and organisations to preserve, promote and revive the language, but with mixed results. Around the turn of the 21st century, estimates of native speakers ranged from 20,000 to 80,000 people. In the 2011 Census, these numbers had increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, there are several thousand Irish speakers in Northern Ireland. It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene probably comprises 5 to 10 per cent of Irelands population, there has been a significant increase in the number of urban Irish speakers, particularly in Dublin. In Gaeltacht areas, however, there has been a decline of the use of Irish. Údarás na Gaeltachta predicted that, by 2025, Irish will no longer be the language in any of the designated Gaeltacht areas. Survey data suggest that most Irish people think highly of Irish as a marker of identity. It has also argued that newer urban groups of Irish speakers are a disruptive force in this respect. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil the name of the language is Gaeilge, before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge, originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in Classical Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Classical Irish and Goídelc in Old Irish, the modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent dh in the middle of Gaedhilge, whereas Goidelic languages, used to refer to the language family including Irish, comes from Old Irish
10.
Mound
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A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, a mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including ceremonial, burial, in the archaeology of the United States and Canada, a mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen structure or earthwork, intended for a range of potential uses. In European and Asian archaeology, the word tumulus may be used as a synonym for an artificial hill, while the term mound may be applied to historic constructions, most mounds in the United States are pre-Columbian earthworks, built by Native American peoples. Native Americans built a variety of mounds, including flat-topped pyramids or cones known as mounds, rounded cones. Some mounds took on unusual shapes, such as the outline of cosmologically significant animals and these are known as effigy mounds. Some mounds, such as a few in Wisconsin, have rock formations, or petroforms within them, on them, while these mounds are perhaps not as famous as burial mounds, like their European analogs, Native American mounds also have a variety of other uses. While some prehistoric cultures, like the Adena culture, used preferentially for burial, others used mounds for other ritual and sacred acts. The platform mounds of the Mississippian culture, for example, may have supported temples, the houses of chiefs, council houses, other mounds would have been part of defensive walls to protect a certain area. The Hopewell culture used mounds as markers of complex astronomical alignments related to ceremonies, mounds and related earthworks are the only significant monumental construction in pre-Columbian Eastern and Central North America. Mounds are given different names depending on which culture they strive from and they can be located all across the world in spots such as Asia, Europe and the Americas. Mound builders have more commonly associated with the mounds in the Americas. They all have different meanings and sometimes are constructed as animals, kankali Tila is a famous mound located at Mathura in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. A Jain stupa was excavated here in 1890-91 by Dr. Fuhrer, mound, as a technical term in archaeology, is not generally in favor in the rest of the world. More specific local terminology is preferred, and each of these terms has its own article
11.
Secondary source
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In scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere. However, as discussed in detail in the section below on classification, secondary sources involve generalization, analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of the original information. Primary and secondary are relative terms, and some sources may be classified as primary or secondary, depending on how they are used. A third level, the source, such as an encyclopedia or dictionary, resembles a secondary source in that it contains analysis. Many sources can be considered either primary or secondary, depending on the context in which they are used, moreover, the distinction between primary and secondary sources is subjective and contextual, so that precise definitions are difficult to make. Other examples in which a source can be primary and secondary include an obituary or a survey of several volumes of a journal counting the frequency of articles on a certain topic. Whether a source is regarded as primary or secondary in a context may change. Attempts to map or model scientific and scholarly communication need the concepts of primary, secondary, one such model is the UNISIST model of information dissemination. Within such a model these concepts are defined in relation to other. Some other modern languages use more than one word for the English word source, German usually uses Sekundärliteratur for secondary sources for historical facts, leaving Sekundärquelle to historiography. A Sekundärquelle is a source which can tell about a lost Primärquelle, such as a letter quoting from minutes which are no longer known to exist, in general, secondary sources are self-described as review articles or meta-analysis. Primary source materials are defined as original research papers written by the scientists who actually conducted the study. An example of source material is the Purpose, Methods, Results. A survey of work in the field in a primary peer-reviewed source is secondary source information. This allows secondary sourcing of recent findings in areas where full review articles have not yet been published, a book review that contains the judgment of the reviewer about the book is a primary source for the reviewers opinion, and a secondary source for the contents of the book. A summary of the book within a review is a secondary source, secondary sources in history and humanities are usually books or scholarly journals, from the perspective of a later interpreter, especially by a later scholar. In the humanities, a reviewed article is always a secondary source. The delineation of sources as primary and secondary first arose in the field of historiography, in scholarly writing, an important objective of classifying sources is to determine the independence and reliability of sources
12.
W. B. Yeats
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William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and others. He was born in Sandymount, Ireland and educated there and in London and he spent childhood holidays in County Sligo and studied poetry from an early age when he became fascinated by Irish legends and the occult. These topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the 20th century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and its slow-paced and lyrical poems display Yeatss debts to Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, from 1900, his poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, in 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Of Anglo-Irish descent, William Butler Yeats was born at Sandymount in County Dublin and his father, John Butler Yeats, was a descendant of Jervis Yeats, a Williamite soldier, linen merchant, and well-known painter who died in 1712. Benjamin Yeats, Jerviss grandson and Williams great-great-grandfather, had in 1773 married Mary Butler of a family in County Kildare. Following their marriage, they kept the name Butler in the family name, Mary was a descendant of the Butler of Ormond family from the Neigham Gowran branch of the family. They were descendants of the first Earls of Ormond, by his marriage, Williams father John Yeats was studying law but abandoned his studies to study art at Heatherleys Art School in London. His mother, Susan Mary Pollexfen, came from a merchant family in Sligo. Yeats was raised a member of the Protestant Ascendancy, which was at the time undergoing a crisis of identity. In 1997, his biographer R. F. Foster observed that Napoleons dictum that to understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty is manifestly true of W. B. Y. Yeatss childhood and young adulthood were shadowed by the power-shift away from the minority Protestant Ascendancy, the 1880s saw the rise of Charles Stewart Parnell and the home rule movement, the 1890s saw the momentum of nationalism, while the Catholics became prominent around the turn of the century. These developments had an effect on his poetry, and his subsequent explorations of Irish identity had a significant influence on the creation of his countrys biography. In 1867, the moved to England to aid their father, John. At first the Yeats children were educated at home and their mother entertained them with stories and Irish folktales. John provided an education in geography and chemistry, and took William on natural history explorations of the nearby Slough countryside
13.
Milesians (Irish)
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In the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Irish Christian pseudo-history, the Milesians are the final race to settle in Ireland. The Milesians are Gaels who sail to Ireland from Hispania after spending hundreds of years travelling the earth, when they land in Ireland they contend with the Tuatha Dé Danann, who represent the pagan gods. The two groups agree to divide Ireland between them, the Milesians take the world above, while the Tuath Dé take the world below and they are named after the character Míl Espáine, which is the Irish form of the Latin Miles Hispaniae. Scholars believe that the tale is mostly an invention of medieval Christian writers, the Lebor Gabála, which was probably first written in the 11th century AD by Christian monks, purports to be a history of Ireland and the Irish. It tells us that all mankind is descended from Adam through the sons of Noah, Fénius, a prince of Scythia, is described as one of 72 chieftains who built the Tower of Babel. His son Nel weds Scota, daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh, Goídel crafts the Goidelic language from the original 72 languages that arose after the confusion of tongues. Goídels offspring, the Goidels, leave Egypt at the time as the Israelites. Eventually, they reach Hispania by sea and conquer it, there, Goídels descendant Breogán founds a city called Brigantia, and builds a tower from the top of which his son Íth glimpses Ireland. Brigantia refers to Corunna in modern-day Galicia, in Spain, and Breogáns tower is based on the Tower of Hercules. Íth sails to the island with a group of men and he is welcomed by its three kings, Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Gréine. These three are members of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who ruled Ireland at the time, evidence suggests that Tuath Dé were the main pagan gods of Ireland. Íth is then killed by unnamed attackers and his men return to Iberia, the eight sons of Íths brother Míl Espáine, lead an invasion force to avenge his death and take Ireland. After they land, they fight against the Tuath Dé and make for Tara, on the way, they are met on three mountains by Banba, Fódla and Ériu – the wives of Irelands three kings. They are believed to have been a trio of land goddesses, each woman says that the Gaels will have good fortune if they name the land after her. One of the Gaels, Amergin, promises that it shall be so, at Tara, they meet the three kings, who defend their claim to the joint kingship of the land. They ask that there be a truce, during which the Gaels must stay a distance of nine waves from land. The Gaels agree, but once their ships are nine waves from Ireland, however, Amergin calms the wind by reciting a verse. The surviving ships return to land and the two agree to divide Ireland between them
14.
Fairy ring
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A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow to over 10 metres in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and they are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by sporocarps in rings or arcs, as well as by a necrotic zone, fungus mycelium is present in the ring or arc underneath. Fairy rings are the subject of folklore and myth worldwide—particularly in Western Europe. While they are seen as hazardous or dangerous places, they can sometimes be linked with good fortune. The mycelium of a growing in the ground absorbs nutrients by secretion of enzymes from the tips of the hyphae. This breaks down molecules in the soil into smaller molecules that are then absorbed through the walls of the hyphae near their growing tips. The mycelium will move outward from the center, and when the nutrients in the center are exhausted, there are two theories regarding the process involved in creating fairy rings. One states that the ring is begun by a spore from the sporocarpus. The underground presence of the fungus can also cause withering or varying colour or growth of the grass above, if they make an arc or a ring, they continuously grow about the centre of this object. One of the manifestations of fairy ring growth is a necrotic zone—an area in which grass or other plant life has withered or died and these zones are caused by the mycelia which, during a very dry year, coat the roots of grasses and other herbs in meadows. After some time they are removed by biotic factors from the ground, patterns other than the basic ring or arc are also possible, circles, doubled arcs, sickle-shaped arcs, and other complicated formations are also formed by this process. Fungi can deplete the soil of readily available such as nitrogen. Some fungi also produce chemicals which act like hormones called gibberellins, long-term observations of fairy rings on Shillingstone Hill in Dorset, England, further suggested that the cycle depended on the continuous presence of rabbits. Chalky soils on higher elevations in the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England used to support many meadow-type fairy rings, rabbits crop grass very short in open areas and produce nitrogen-rich droppings. Mushrooms need more soil nitrogen than grass does, a ring can start from only a few spores from which the mycelium develops, the fruiting bodies of the mushrooms only appearing later, when sufficient mycelial mass has been generated to support them. Subsequent generations of fungi grow only outwards, because the parent generations have depleted their local nitrogen levels, meanwhile, rabbits keep cropping the grass, but do not eat the fungi, allowing them to grow through their competition to tower, relatively, above the grass. It is unclear whether these were metabolites or pollutants, brominated compounds are unknown as metabolites from terrestrial fungi
15.
Crataegus monogyna
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Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced in other parts of the world. It can be an invasive weed, other common names include may, mayblossom, maythorn, quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw. This species is one of several that have been referred to as Crataegus oxyacantha, the common hawthorn is a shrub or small tree 5–14 metres tall, with a dense crown. The bark is brown with vertical orange cracks. The younger stems bear sharp thorns, approximately 12. 5mm long, the leaves are 20 to 40mm long, obovate and deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the midrib, with the lobes spreading at a wide angle. The upper surface is green above and paler underneath. The flowers are pollinated by midges, bees and other insects, the haw is a small, oval dark red fruit about 10mm long, berry-like, but structurally a pome containing a single seed. Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings, however they are inter-fertile and hybrids occur frequently, they are only entirely distinct in their more typical forms. Crataegus monogyna is one of the most common species used as the hawthorn of traditional herbalism, the plant parts used are usually sprigs with both leaves and flowers, or alternatively the fruit. Hawthorne has been investigated by evidence-based medicine for treating cardiac insufficiency, Crataegus monogyna is a source of antioxidant phytochemicals, especially extracts of hawthorn leaves with flowers. Common hawthorn is extensively planted as a plant, especially for agricultural use. Its spines and close branching habit render it effectively stock- and human-proof, the traditional practice of hedge laying is most commonly practised with this species. It is a good fire wood which burns with a good heat, numerous hybrids exist, some of which are used as garden shrubs. The most widely used hybrid is C. × media, of several cultivars are known. The fruit of hawthorn, called haws, are edible raw but are made into jellies, jams. Botanically they are pomes, but they look similar to berries, a haw is small and oblong, similar in size and shape to a small olive or grape, and red when ripe. Haws develop in groups of 2-3 along smaller branches and they are pulpy and delicate in taste
16.
Loch
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Loch is the Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Scots word for a lake or for a sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, some lochs could also be called firths, fjords, estuaries, straits or bays. The word is Indo-European in origin, cf. Latin lacus, lowland Scots orthography, like Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Irish, represents /x/ with ch, so the word was borrowed with identical spelling. English borrowed the word separately from a number of loughs in the previous Cumbric language areas of Northumbria and Cumbria, earlier forms of English included the sound /x/ as gh. However, by the time Scotland and England joined under a single parliament and this form was therefore used when the English settled Ireland. The Scots convention of using ch remained, hence the modern Scottish English loch, the Goidelic lo being taken into Scottish Gaelic by the gradual replacement of much Brittonic orthography with Goidelic orthography in Scotland. Many of the loughs in Northern England have also previously been called such as the Black Lough in Northumberland. However, reference to the latter as loughs, rather than as lakes, inlets, although there is no strict size definition, a small loch is often known as a lochan. Perhaps the most famous Scottish loch is Loch Ness, although there are other examples such as Loch Awe, Loch Lomond. Examples of sea lochs in Scotland include Loch Long, Loch Fyne, Loch Linnhe, Loch Eriboll, Loch Tristan, Trisloch. Some new reservoirs for hydroelectric schemes have been given names faithful to the names for bodies of water - for example, the Loch Sloy scheme. Other expanses are simply called reservoirs, e. g. Blackwater Reservoir above Kinlochleven, Scotland has very few bodies of water called lakes. Until the 19th century the body of water was known as the Loch of Menteith, the Lake of the Hirsel, Pressmennan Lake and Lake Louise are man-made bodies of water in Scotland known as lakes. The word loch is used as a shibboleth to identify natives of England. As loch is a common Gaelic word, it is found as the root of several Manx placenames, the United States naval port of Pearl Harbor, on the south coast of the main Hawaiian island of Oahu, is one of a complex of sea inlets. Several are named as lochs, including South East Loch, Merry Loch, East Loch, Middle Loch, Loch Raven Reservoir is a reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland. Brenton Loch in the Falkland Islands is a sea loch, near Lafonia, in the Scottish settlement of Glengarry County in present-day Eastern Ontario, there is a lake called Loch Garry. Loch Garry was named by those who settled in the area, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry after the well-known loch their clan is from, Loch Garry in Scotland
