When the sails awaken and the north winds blow
Then I will disappear
Why, I was asked, with Ireland so far north, did you not use west or south winds in the lyrics?
“I don’t know”, I answered. It just felt right. But now I have a better answer.
With “north winds” there is too strong a connection with Scotland and a beautiful woman. Caledonia as you probably know is Latin word used by the Romans for Scotland. And you can find references to a woman in literature in regards to north winds. Such as: “
The North wind plays a part in the Norwegian fable, “East of the Sun and West of The Moon", as the only wind capable helping a woman fly to the titular location to find her husband.
But the most relevant literature, to me, for these lyrics is by a Scottish author and poet, George MacDonald. C.S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his”master”.
He wrote the classic children’s novel “At The Back Of The North Wind”. Although written for children it is read by many adults. I have entered a couple of highly regarded reviews
from Amazon below which I think you will find of interest. Although, if you read the novel (unedited version is best), you may be surprised to find who this beautiful North Wind actually is, or represents.
Some quotes from the reviews:
The story also includes a super natural element where the North Wind appears to be a beautiful lady that speaks to Diamond teaching him things about her nature
and purpose and ushering him to the land that lies at the back of the north wind.
The story begins in the hayloft above the horse stalls where Diamond sleeps, as the wind blows, but it is not a simple wind, it is the North Wind, the romantic
and enchanting idea of a grand lady who is the north wind. Diamond, the infinitely innocent and pure child is beckoned into the air and weaved into many journeys
with the north wind where he learns goodness, truth and beauty.
As for North Wind in particular, it's quite a breathtaking, display of raw, imaginative brawn. The first third or so of the book is perhaps one of the most chilling and beautiful stories I've ever read.So, “north winds blow” seems so appropriate to Caledonia with a connection to an Scottish author and to a beautiful lady calling you.
Yes, Celtic Woman seems to have taken us to places, on journeys, we never would have thought. Wonderful , aren’t they? “I am calling you”
That it will never come again
is what makes life so sweet.
Emily DickinsonThe above quote will, perhaps, bring some solace when you reach the conclusion to the book.
The book in ways not unlike many an Irish song, whose stories speak of joys and pain and sorrow.
From the book:
She left the words, "Come after me," sounding in his ears….
Diamond nestled to her, and murmured into her bosom,--"Why did you
leave me, dear North Wind?"
"Because I wanted you to walk alone," she answered.
"But it is so much nicer here!" said Diamond.
"I daresay; but I couldn't hold a little coward to my heart.
It would make me so cold!"
"But I wasn't brave of myself," said Diamond, whom my older readers
will have already discovered to be a true child in this, that he
was given to metaphysics. "It was the wind that blew in my face
that made me brave. Wasn't it now, North Wind?"
"Yes: I know that. You had to be taught what courage was.
And you couldn't know what it was without feeling it: therefore it
was given you. But don't you feel as if you would try to be brave
yourself next time?"
"Yes, I do. But trying is not much."
"Yes, it is--a very great deal, for it is a beginning. And a beginning
is the greatest thing of all. To try to be brave is to be brave.
The coward who tries to be brave is before the man who is brave
because he is made so, and never had to try."
"How kind you are, North Wind!"
"I am only just. All kindness is but justice. We owe it."
Amazon reviews of the book:
The Magic of MacDonald's Fairy Tale, July 30, 2006
By
Chris (Littleton, Colombia)
This review is from: At the Back of the North Wind (Mass Market Paperback)
I am quite ready to add At the Back of the North Wind to my collection of masterpieces that shall remain close to me, I suspect, my entire life.
While a collection of favorite books by C. S. Lewis' site largest on that shelf, At the Back of the North Wind will be the second book by George MacDonald to join them.
This seems quite appropriate as Lewis himself held MacDonald in such high esteem, even calling him his `master.' While more childish than Phantastes,
At the Back of the North Wind manages to enchant my imagination in the same way that Narnia always has, while upon first inspection the tale may seem to be of little substance
to a more mature audience I think there is subtle depth hidden within the deceptively simple child whom the story centers upon.
Diamond is the young boy of a poor coach driver and his wife living in England during the late 1800's. The story begins in the hayloft above the horse stalls where Diamond sleeps,
as the wind blows, but it is not a simple wind, it is the North Wind, the romantic and enchanting idea of a grand lady who is the north wind. Diamond, the infinitely innocent
and pure child is beckoned into the air and weaved into many journeys with the north wind where he learns goodness, truth and beauty. Throughout the story, other people see him
as quietly wise or as one of `God's Babies.' As the story progresses Diamond becomes week and ill and while being taken to the enchanted country at the back of the North Wind
he lapses into unconsciousness. Diamond returns, and with what strength he has, blesses everyone whom he meets; helping his family by driving his father's cab while he is ill, saving
an orphaned friend off the streets, even quieting the drunken man's baby who lives next to him, whom even mistakes him for an angel. Finally touching the heart of the rich, but generous
and altruistic man who looks after Diamond's orphaned friend and gives Diamond's father a job and lodgings in the countryside.
Yet, it is not these heroic acts, if one might call them that, resound so thoroughly, he is not doing good deeds, doing good deeds seems almost insincere when considered next
to his genuine good nature. Like Narnia and Phantastes, there is a longing for something we may never fulfill here in our daily lives, a longing for something we have only hints of,
Lewis defines this as Joy, for Diamond it is the longing for the country at the back of the North Wind, of which his first journey there is only a hint of the true country. As for me,
I too feel this longing and it is an experience likely to be found in a quite forest and in the embrace of this extraordinary book.
Haunting and poignant, March 11, 2004
By
Nate Volkerding (Kansas City, USA)
This review is from: At the Back of the North Wind (Mass Market Paperback)
I've never read anyone who writes quite like MacDonald. When you read him it is not the quality of his writing, but rather his personality (kindly and eccentric,
at the same time so quintessentially Scotch)and immensely powerful and original imagination that show on the page. He is more an excellent storyteller than a "proper" author, I think.
In the North Wind, as in much of MacDonald's work, there is a wealth of moral and religous themes and analougies under the surface. In my mid 20's now, I was surprised at the effect
that reading MacDonald's childrens books has had on me. It is not that I would have disagreed on an intellectual level with anything in the books before reading them, but rather that McDonald
has a talent for gently bringing people to examine what their opinions mean and how they treat other people as a result of them. I've found more than a few chinks in my own armour, in that respect.
As for North Wind in particular, it's quite a breathtaking, display of raw, imaginative brawn. The first third or so of the book is perhaps one of the most chilling and beautiful stories I've ever read.
It becomes a little more conventional after that and meanders a little. There is a good bit of amiable nonsense and a fairy tale within it that, though it seems a little tacked on and has nothing to do
with the greater story, is still very clever and charming. I think most adults will see the ending coming, but it left me a little shaken up anyway.
Like some of the other reviewers have mentioned, it's a very hard thing to create a character who is absoulutely good. There is a real danger of making the character into a weak, simpering, priggish,
goody two shoes. It's a testament to MacDonald, even just that Diamond isn't appallingly annoying, but that he is actually a very likable and smypathetic character. He reminded me very much
of a small version of Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin.
To close, I feel I can hardly recommend MacDonald in general or North Wind in particular highly enough. Be certain to get an unedited version, there is nothing in the original that you'll want
to do without (I read the puffin classics edition with the cover art of Diamond on a glacier). Though the style is somewhat Victorian(not that there's anything in itself wrong with that) and though
MacDonald's writing is a little idiosyncratic to begin with, I don't think it would present any serious problems to an older child or young adolescent reading on their own -at least, no more so than
a book by Tolkien or Lewis would. It's true that McDonald was a Christian minister and this book is proabably best used, and was most likely originally intended, to be read aloud by parents to their
children within a Christian family. That said, I do not think there is anything in it that any person with faith in God, whether they were Christian or otherwise, would find fault with. I think MacDonald
is an author who repays an open and thoughtful reading in a way that will work for many people in many stages of their life.
Lester