Paper short abstract:

Drawing parallels between popular beliefs about Gaelic poets and the liminal figure of the piper in the Hamelin legend, this paper shows that the aesthetics of reciprocity mediated through the persona of the artist/poet remains a cogent illustration of ways of dwelling in European society.

Paper long abstract:

An inquiry into aesthetics in the Gaelic world leads inevitably to the role of the poet as arbiter of alignments between the supernatural and natural worlds in medieval Gaelic society. The poet as spokesperson for the king mediated his communication with people and reinforced the balance between the fertility of the land and the well being of the people as signs of the king's right to hold power. A violation of the king's power resulted in failure of crops and general want. Consequently, the reciprocity of the king's power was reinforced by the poet in eulogistic verse. Contrastingly, a king's injustice was condemned by satire. In Maussian terms, Gaelic society was a 'gift economy' where the endless circulation of gifts reinforced and supported the social order. From this perspective, the paper reads the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin (Hameln) in terms of the Gaelic poet's attributes. The crosáin (fools/buffoons/jesters), for example, were known for their pied attire and poets in Gaelic society were also popularly believed to have the power to expel rats. By drawing parallels between popular beliefs about Gaelic poets and the liminal figure of the piper in the Hamelin (Hameln) legend, this paper will show that the aesthetics of reciprocity mediated through the persona of the artist/poet remains a cogent illustration of ways of dwelling in European society, that predate capitalism and that still continue to inform our attitudes today.