". . . . The voyage of Bran, and the later voyage of Brendan - both concerned with
that most basic of spiritual impulses, the Quest - informed much of European Literature.
They and many others like them 'sailed over the wave-cries of the strong-haired sea, and
over the tempest of green waves, and over the jaws of the wondrous and bitter ocean.'
Up as far as the nineteenth century, poets, in allegory or sentimental ballad form or epic
poem, continued this sense of miraculous journey which, legendarily, so many Celts on
the western seaboard of the Atlantic felt compelled to take:
On the ocean that hollows the rocks where ye dwell
A shadowy land has appeared as they tell;
Men thought it a region of sunshine and rest
And they called it Hy-Brasil, the Isle of the Blest.
For Hy-Brasil read Heaven - a golden place somewhere in the sky, a combination of
Atlantis and Elysium, sweet birdsong, flowers, permanent youth and peace."
- Frank Delaney, The Celts
The personification had changed little since. Saints replaced the Celtic deities and during the
process of assimilation, paganism lost its power and gave way to Christianity. Thus, Celtic
gods and goddesses became Saints, of equal characteristics. The saints offered the Celts a new
type of heroism and "the anchorite tradition of isolation from the community, moral courage.
In remote corners of the countryside they built huts in woods and lived in stillness and
contemplation:
My heart stirs quietly now to think
of a small hut that no one visits
in which I will travel to death in silence."
In remote areas, often near sources of water - islands, rivers or near the sea, they prayed
and fasted and were diligent in their faith.
On some island I long to be,
a rocky promontory, looking on
the coiling surface of the sea.
To see the waves, crest on crest
of great shining ocean, composing
a hymn to the creator, without rest.
Citation: Delaney, Frank. The Celts. BBC Publications and Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. 1986. pp 100-01