![Ossian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Ossian._Den_gamle_blinde_skotske_barde_synger_til_harpen_sin_svanesang.jpg)
Ossian (;
Irish Gaelic
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...
/
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of
epic poems published by the Scottish poet
James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763),
and later combined under the title ''The Poems of Ossian''. Macpherson claimed to have collected
word-of-mouth material in
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
, said to be from ancient sources, and that the work was his translation of that material. Ossian is based on
Oisín, son of
Fionn mac Cumhaill (anglicised to Finn McCool), a legendary bard in
Irish mythology
Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...
. Contemporary critics were divided in their view of the work's authenticity, but the current consensus is that Macpherson largely composed the poems himself, drawing in part on traditional Gaelic poetry he had collected.
[
The work was internationally popular, translated into all the literary languages of Europe and was highly influential both in the development of the ]Romantic movement
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
and the Gaelic revival
The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century Romantic nationalism, national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including Irish folklore, folklore, Iri ...
. Macpherson's fame was crowned by his burial among the literary giants in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
. W.P. Ker, in the ''Cambridge History of English Literature'', observes that "all Macpherson's craft as a philological impostor would have been nothing without his literary skill."
Poems
In 1760, Macpherson published the English-language text ''Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Gaelic or Erse language''. Later that year, he claimed to have obtained further manuscripts and, in 1761, he claimed to have found an epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
on the subject of the hero Fingal (with Fingal or ''Fionnghall'' meaning "white stranger"), written by Ossian. According to Macpherson's prefatory material, his publisher, claiming that there was no market for these works except in English, required that they be translated. Macpherson published these translations during the next few years, culminating in a collected edition, ''The Works of Ossian'', in 1765. The most famous of these Ossianic poems was ''Fingal'', written in 1761 and dated 1762.
The supposed original poems are translated into poetic prose, with short and simple sentences. The mood is epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
, but there is no single narrative, although the same characters reappear. The main characters are Ossian himself, relating the stories when old and blind, his father Fingal (very loosely based on the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhaill), his dead son Oscar (also with an Irish counterpart), and Oscar's lover Malvina
Malvina is a feminine given name derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''Mala-mhìn'', meaning "smooth brow". It was popularized by the 18th century Scottish poet James Macpherson. Other names popularised by Macpherson became popular in Scandinavia o ...
(like Fiona
Fiona is a feminine given name. The name is associated with the Gaelic traditions of Ireland and Scotland (through the poetry of James Macpherson), but has also become popular in England.. It can be considered either a Latinisation of names, Lati ...
a name invented by Macpherson), who looks after Ossian in his old age. Though the stories "are of endless battles and unhappy loves", the enemies and causes of strife are given little explanation and context.[Okun, 328]
Characters are given to killing loved ones by mistake, and dying of grief, or of joy. There is very little information given on the religion, culture or society of the characters, and buildings are hardly mentioned. The landscape "is more real than the people who inhabit it. Drowned in eternal mist, illuminated by a decrepit sun or by ephemeral meteors, it is a world of greyness." Fingal is king of a region of south-west Scotland perhaps similar to the historical kingdom of Dál Riata and the poems appear to be set around the 3rd century, with the "king of the world" mentioned being the Roman Emperor; Macpherson and his supporters detected references to Caracalla
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...
(d. 217, as "Caracul") and Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius (died 293) was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and no ...
(d. 293, as "Caros", the "king of ships").
Reception and influence
The poems achieved international success. Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...
were prominent admirers and Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
was known to have written parodies of them. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
thought Ossian "the greatest poet that has ever existed", and planned to learn Gaelic so as to read his poems in the original. They were proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical writers such as Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
. "The genuine remains of Ossian...are in many respects of the same stamp as the Iliad," was Thoreau's opinion. Many writers were influenced by the works, including Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
, and painters and composers chose Ossianic subjects.
The Hungarian national poet Sándor Petőfi wrote a poem entitled ''Homer and Ossian'', comparing the two authors, of which the first verse reads:
Despite its doubtful authenticity, the Ossian cycle popularized Scottish national mythology across Europe, and became one of the earliest and most popular texts that inspired romantic nationalist movements over the following century. European historians agree that the Ossian poems and their vision of mythical Scotland spurred the emergence of enlightened patriotism on the continent and played a foundational role in the making of modern European nationalism.[
The cycle had less impact in the British Isles. ]Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
held it up as "another proof of Scotch conspiracy in national falsehood," while the Irish objected to what they saw as Macpherson's misappropriation of their own traditions. David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
eventually withdrew his initial support of Macpherson and quipped that he could not accept the claimed authenticity of the poems even if "fifty bare-arsed Highlanders" vouched for it. By the early 19th century, the cycle came to play a limited role in Scottish patriotic rhetoric.[
]
Authenticity debate
There were immediate disputes of Macpherson's claims on both literary and political grounds. Macpherson promoted a Scottish origin for the material, and was hotly opposed by Irish historians who felt that their heritage was being appropriated. However, both Scotland and Ireland shared a common Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
culture during the period in which the poems are set, and some Fenian
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
literature common in both countries was composed in Scotland.
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
, English author, critic, and biographer, was convinced that Macpherson was "a mountebank, a liar, and a fraud, and that the poems were forgeries". Johnson also dismissed the poems' quality. Upon being asked, "But Doctor Johnson, do you really believe that any man today could write such poetry?" he famously replied, "Yes. Many men. Many women. And many children." Johnson is cited as calling the story of Ossian "as gross an imposition as ever the world was troubled with".[Introduction of Robert Fagles' translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey] In support of his claim, Johnson also called Gaelic the rude speech of a barbarous people, and said there were no manuscripts in it more than 100 years old. In reply, it was proved that the Advocates' library at Edinburgh contained Gaelic manuscripts 500 years old, and one of even greater antiquity.
Scottish author Hugh Blair
Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse.
As a minister of the Church of Scotland, and occupant of the Ch ...
's 1763 ''A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian'' upheld the work's authenticity against Johnson's scathing criticism and from 1765 was included in every edition of ''Ossian'' to lend the work credibility. The work also had a timely resonance for those swept away by the emerging Romantic movement
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
and the theory of the "noble savage
A noble savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of the indigene, outsider, wild human, an "other" who has not been "corrupted" by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. Besides appearing in man ...
", and it echoed the popularity of Burke's
Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Bri ...
seminal '' A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful'' (1757).
In 1766 the Irish antiquarian and Gaelic scholar Charles O'Conor Charles O'Conor may refer to:
* Charles O'Conor (historian) (1710–1791), Irish writer, historian, and antiquarian
* Charles O'Conor (priest) (1764–1828), Irish priest and historian, grandson of the above
* Charles O'Conor (American politician) ( ...
dismissed Ossian's authenticity in a new chapter ''Remarks on Mr. Mac Pherson's translation of Fingal and Temora'' that he added to the second edition of his seminal history. In 1775 he expanded his criticism in a new book, ''Dissertation on the origin and antiquities of the antient Scots''.
Faced with the controversy, the Committee of the Highland Society enquired after the authenticity of Macpherson's supposed original. It was because of these circumstances that the so-called Glenmasan manuscript
The Glenmasan manuscript is a late 15th-century Gaelic vellum manuscript in the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, where it is catalogued as Adv.MS.72.2.3. It was previously held in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh, where it was classified ...
(Adv. 72.2.3) came to light in the late 18th century, a compilation which contains the tale ''Oided mac n-Uisnig''. This text is a version of the Irish ''Longes mac n-Uislenn'' and offers a tale which bears some comparison to Macpherson's "Darthula", although it is radically different in many respects. Donald Smith cited it in his report for the Committee.
The controversy raged on into the early years of the 19th century, with disputes as to whether the poems were based on Irish sources, on sources in English, on Gaelic fragments woven into his own composition as Johnson concluded, or largely on Scots Gaelic oral traditions and manuscripts as Macpherson claimed. In the late 19th century, it was demonstrated that the only "original" Gaelic manuscripts that Macpherson produced for the poems were in fact back-translations of his work from English. During the same period, Peter Hately Waddell
Peter Hately Waddell (19 May 1817 – 5 May 1891) was a Scottish cleric and prolific writer. He founded a congregation he called the "Church of the Future". He also wrote widely on aspects of Scottish culture and ancient Celtic history, sometime ...
defended the authenticity of the poems, arguing in ''Ossian and the Clyde'' (1875) that poems contained topographical references that could not have been known to Macpherson.
In 1952, the Scottish literary scholar Derick Thomson investigated the sources for Macpherson's work and concluded that Macpherson had collected genuine Scottish Gaelic ballads
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, employing scribes to record those that were preserved orally and collating manuscripts, but had adapted them by altering the original characters and ideas, and had introduced a great deal of his own.
According to historians Colin Kidd
Colin Craig Kidd (born 5 May 1964) is a historian who specializes in American and Scottish history. He is currently Professor of History at the University of St Andrews, after he served as Professor of Intellectual History and the History of Poli ...
and James Coleman, ''Fingal'' (1761, dated 1762) was indebted to traditional Gaelic poetry composed in the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as to Macpherson's "own creativity and editorial laxity", while the second epic ''Temora'' (1763) was largely his own creation.[ Yet acknowledging the tales were variations of the original Gaelic Irish versions.
]
Translations and adaptations
One poem was translated into French in 1762, and, by 1777, the whole ''corpus''.[Okun, 330] In the German-speaking states Michael Denis
Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis, also: ''Sined the Bard'', (27 September 1729 – 29 September 1800) was an Austrian Catholic priest and Jesuit, who is best known as a poet, bibliographer, and lepidopterist.
Life
Denis was born at Schärding ...
made the first full translation in 1768–69, inspiring the proto-nationalist poets Klopstock
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outsid ...
and Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
, whose own German translation of a portion of Macpherson's work figures prominently in a climactic scene of '' The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (1774). Goethe's associate Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism.
Biography
Born in Mohrun ...
wrote an essay titled ''Extract from a correspondence about Ossian and the Songs of Ancient Peoples'' (1773) in the early days of the Sturm und Drang movement.
Complete Danish translations were made in 1790, and Swedish ones in 1794–1800. In Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
and Germany the Celtic nature of the setting was ignored or not understood, and Ossian was regarded as a Nordic or Germanic figure who became a symbol for nationalist aspirations. In 1799, the French general Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius
, spouse =
, issue = Oscar I of Sweden
, house = Bernadotte
, father = Henri Bernadotte
, mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pau, ...
named his only son Oscar after the character from Ossian, at the suggestion of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, the child's godfather and an admirer of Ossian. Bernadotte later was made King of Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. In 1844, his son became King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway
Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte.
The only child of King Charles XIV John, Oscar i ...
, who was, in turn, succeeded by his sons Charles XV
Charles XV also Carl (''Carl Ludvig Eugen''); Swedish: ''Karl XV'' and Norwegian: ''Karl IV'' (3 May 1826 – 18 September 1872) was King of Sweden (''Charles XV'') and Norway, there often referred to as Charles IV, from 8 July 1859 until his dea ...
and Oscar II (d. 1907). "Oscar" being a royal name led to its becoming also a common male first name, especially in Scandinavia but also in other European countries.
Melchiore Cesarotti
Melchiorre Cesarotti (; May 15, 1730 – November 4, 1808) was an Italian poet, translator and theorist.
Biography
He was born at Padua, of a noble but impoverished family. He studied in the Seminary of Padua, where he obtained, immediately af ...
was an Italian clergyman whose translation into Italian is said by many to improve on the original, and was a tireless promoter of the poems, in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
as well as Italy. It was his translation that Napoleon especially admired, and among others it influenced Ugo Foscolo who was Cesarotti's pupil in the University of Padua
The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...
.
By 1800, Ossian was translated into Spanish and Russian, with Dutch following in 1805, and Polish, Czech and Hungarian in 1827–33. The poems were as much admired in Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
as in France and Germany; Hungarian János Arany wrote "Homer and Ossian" in response, and several other Hungarian writers – Baróti Szabó, Csokonai, Sándor Kisfaludy
Sándor Kisfaludy (27 September 1772 – 28 October 1844) was a Hungarian lyric poet, ''Himfy's Loves'' his chief work, was less distinguished as a dramatist. He is considered to be the first romantic poet from Hungary. He was the brother of K ...
, Kazinczy, Kölcsey, Ferenc Toldy, and Ágost Greguss, were also influenced by it.
The first partial Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
translation of Ossian was made by Ignacy Krasicki in 1793. The complete translation appeared in 1838 by Seweryn Goszczyński
Seweryn Goszczyński (4 November 1801, Illintsi - 25 February 1876, Lviv) was a Polish Romantic prose writer and poet.
Life
He was born on 4 November 1801 in Ilińce, Russian Empire and hailed from a Polish noble family of the Pobóg coat of ...
.
British composer Harriet Wainwright
Harriet Wainwright Stewart (c. 1766–1843) was a British composer, singer, and writer. A musical entrepreneur, she developed a subscription list of several hundred people and sold at least two of her compositions (''Comala'' and ''Seringapatam'') ...
premiered her opera ''Comala'', based on text by Ossian, in London in 1792.
The opera ''Ossian, ou Les bardes
''Ossian, ou Les bardes'' (English: ''Ossian, or The Bards'') is an opera in five acts by the French composer Jean-François Le Sueur. The libretto, by Alphonse François "Paul" Palat-Dercy and Jacques-Marie Deschamps, is based on the Ossian po ...
'' by Jean-François Le Sueur (with the famous, multimedial scene of "Ossian's Dream“) was a sell-out at the Paris Opera
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be ...
in 1804, and transformed the composer's career. The poems also exerted an influence on the burgeoning of Romantic music
Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...
, and Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
in particular composed Lieder
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...
setting many of Ossian's poems. In 1829 Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
was inspired to visit the Hebrides and composed the '' Hebrides Overture'', also known as ''Fingal's Cave''. His friend Niels Gade
Niels Wilhelm Gade (22 February 1817 – 21 December 1890) was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. Together with Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, he was the leading Danish musician of his day.
Biography
Gade was born ...
devoted his first published work, the concert overture ''Efterklange af Ossian'' ("Echoes of Ossian") written in 1840, to the same subject.
Gaelic studies
Macpherson's ''Ossian'' made a strong impression on Dugald Buchanan
Dugald Buchanan (Dùghall Bochanan in Gaelic) (Ardoch Farm, Strathyre (near Balquhidder) in Perthshire, Scotland 1716–1768) was a Scottish poet writing in Scots and Scottish Gaelic. He helped the Rev. James Stuart or Stewart of Killin to tr ...
(1716–68), a Perthshire
Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...
poet whose celebrated ''Spiritual Hymns'' are written in a Scots Gaelic of a high quality that to some extent reflects the Classical Gaelic literary language once common to the bards of both Ireland and Scotland. Buchanan, taking the poems of ''Ossian'' to be authentic, was moved to revalue the genuine traditions and rich cultural heritage of the Gaels. At around the same time, he wrote to Sir James Clerk of Penicuik, the leading antiquary of the movement, proposing that someone should travel to the Isles and Western Coast of Scotland and collect the work of the ancient and modern bards, in which alone he could find the language in its purity.
Much later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, this task was taken up by collectors such as Alexander Carmichael
Alexander Carmichael (full name Alexander Archibald Carmichael or Alasdair Gilleasbaig MacGilleMhìcheil in his native Scottish Gaelic; 1 December 1832, Taylochan, Isle of Lismore – 6 June 1912, Barnton, Edinburgh) was a Scottish excise ...
and Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray
Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray (17 March 1868 – 30 July 1940) was a Scottish folklorist who collected Gaelic folk tales and songs. She was also a skilled needleworker and collector of embroidery and lace.
Life
Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray wa ...
, and to be recorded and continued by the work of the School of Scottish Studies and the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society.
In art
Subjects from the Ossian poems were popular in the art of northern Europe, but at rather different periods depending on the country; by the time French artists began to depict Ossian, British artists had largely dropped him. Ossian was especially popular in Danish art, but also found in Germany and the rest of Scandinavia.
Britain, Germany and Scandinavia
British artists began to depict the Ossian poems early on, with the first major work a cycle of paintings decorating the ceiling the "Grand Hall" of Penicuik House
Penicuik House (alternative spellings in use until mid 19th century: ''Penycuik'', ''Pennycuik'') survives as the shell of a formerly grand estate house in Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. The 18th-century palladian mansion (at ) was built on the ...
in Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
, built by Sir James Clerk, who commissioned the paintings in 1772. These were by the Scottish painter Alexander Runciman and lost when the house burnt down in 1899, though drawings and etchings survive, and two pamphlets describing them were published in the 18th century. A subject from Ossian by Angelica Kauffman
Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...
was shown in the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
exhibition of 1773, and Ossian was depicted in ''Elysium'', part of the Irish painter James Barry's ''magnum opus'' decorating the Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
, at the Adelphi Buildings in London (still ''in situ'').
Works on paper by Thomas Girtin and John Sell Cotman
John Sell Cotman (16 May 1782 – 24 July 1842) was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, author and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters.
Born in Norwich, the son of a silk merchant and lace dealer, Cot ...
have survived, though the Ossianic landscapes by George Augustus Wallis, which the Ossian fan August Wilhelm Schlegel praised in a letter to Goethe, seem to have been lost, as has a picture by J.M.W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
exhibited in 1802. Henry Singleton exhibited paintings, some of which were engraved and used in editions of the poems.
A fragment by Novalis
Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure of ...
, written in 1789, refers to Ossian as an inspired, holy and poetical singer.
The Danish painter Nicolai Abildgaard
Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (11 September 1743 – 4 June 1809) was a Danish neoclassical and royal history painter, sculptor, architect, and professor of painting, mythology, and anatomy at the New Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen ...
, Director of the Copenhagen Academy
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark.
History
The Royal Dani ...
from 1789, painted several scenes from Ossian, as did his pupils including Asmus Jacob Carstens
Asmus Jacob Carstens (or "Jakob", May 10, 1754May 25, 1798) was a Danish-German painter, one of the most committed artists of German Neoclassicism. His career was erratic, partly because of his difficult personality, and the majority of his la ...
. His friend Joseph Anton Koch painted a number of subjects, and two large series of illustrations for the poems, which never got properly into print; like many Ossianic works by Wallis, Carstens, Krafft and others, some of these were painted in Rome, perhaps not the best place to evoke the dim northern light of the poems. In Germany the request in 1804 to produce some drawings as illustrations so excited Philipp Otto Runge that he planned a series of 100, far more than asked for, in a style heavily influenced by the linear illustrations of John Flaxman
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...
; these remain as drawings only. Many other German works are recorded, some as late as the 1840s; word of the British scepticism over the Ossian poems was slow to penetrate the continent, or considered irrelevant.
France
In France the enthusiasm of Napoleon for the poems accounts for most artistic depictions, and those by the most famous artists, but a painting exhibited in the Paris Salon
The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...
in 1800 by Paul Duqueylar (now Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence) excited ''Les Barbus'' ("the Bearded Ones") a group of primitivist artists including Pierre-Maurice Quays (or Quaï) who promoted living in the style of "early civilizations as described in Homer, Ossian, and the Bible". Quays is reported as saying: "Homère? Ossian? ... le soleil? la lune? Voilà la question. En vérité, je crois que je préfère la lune. C'est plus simple, plus grand, plus ''primitif''". ("Homer? Ossian? ... the sun? the moon? That's the question. Truthfully I think I prefer the moon. It's more simple, more grand, more ''primitive''"). The same year Napoleon was planning the renovation of the Château de Malmaison as a summer palace, and though he does not seem to have suggested Ossianic subjects for his painters, two large and significant works were among those painted for the reception hall, for which six artists had been commissioned.
These were Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, Girodet's painting of 1801–02 ''Ossian receiving the Ghosts of the French Heroes'', and ''Ossian Evoking ghosts on the Edge of the Lora'' (1801), by François Gérard, François Pascal Simon Gérard. Gérard's original was lost in a shipwreck after being bought by the King of Sweden after the fall of Napoleon, but survives in three replicas by the artist (a further one in Berlin was lost in 1945). One is now at Malmaison (184.5 × 194.5 cm / 72.6 × 76.6 in), and the Kunsthalle Hamburg has another (180,5 × 198,5 cm). A watercolour copy by Jean-Baptiste Isabey was placed as Book frontispiece, frontispiece to Napoleon's copy of the poems.
Duqueylar, Girodet and Gérard, like Johann Peter Krafft (above) and most of the ''Barbus'', were all pupils of Jacques-Louis David, David, and the clearly unclassical subjects of the Ossian poems were useful for emergent French Romantic painting, marking a revolt against David's Neoclassicism, Neoclassical choice of historical subject-matter. David's recorded reactions to the paintings were guarded or hostile; he said of Girodet's work: "Either Girodet is mad or I no longer know anything of the art of painting".
Girodet's painting (still at Malmaison; 192.5 x 184 cm) was a ''success de scandale'' when exhibited in 1802, and remains a key work in the emergence of French Romantic painting, but the specific allusions to the political situation that he intended it to carry were largely lost on the public, and overtaken by the Peace of Amiens with Great Britain, signed in 1802 between the completion and exhibition of the work. He also produced ''Malvina dying in the arms of Fingal'' (c. 1802), and other works.
Another pupil of David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, was to depict Ossianic scenes over most of his long career. He made a drawing in 1809, when studying in Rome, and in 1810 or 1811 was commissioned to make two paintings, ''The Dream of Ossian'' and a classical scene, to decorate the bedroom Napoleon was to occupy in the Palazzo Quirinale on a visit to Rome. In fact the visit never came off and in 1835 Ingres repurchased the work, now in poor condition.
The American painter based in Paris Wilbur Winfield Woodward exhibited an Ossian at the 1880 Salon.
Editions
National Library of Scotland has 327 books and associated materials in its Ossian Collection. The collection was originally assembled by J. Norman Methven of Perth and includes different editions and translations of James Macpherson's epic poem 'Ossian', some with a map of the 'Kingdom of Connor'. It also contains secondary material relating to Ossianic poetry and the Ossian controversy. More than 200 items from the collection have been digitised.
Below are some other online editions of interest and recent works:
*1760
''Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland''
Edinburgh second edition.
*1803: ''The Poems of Ossian in two volumes'', an illustrated edition
Vol.I
Vol.II
(London: Lackington, Allen and co.)
*1887
''Poems of Ossian: Literally translated from the Gaelic, in the original measure of verse''
by Peter McNaughton (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons).
*1888:
''Poems of Ossian translated by James Macpherson''
a pocket reprint of the 1773 edition omitting the four last poems (London: Walter Scott)
*1996: ''The Poems of Ossian and Related Works'', ed. Howard Gaskill, with an Introduction by Fiona Stafford (Edinburgh University Press).
*2004: ''Ossian and Ossianism'', Dafydd Moore, a 4-volume edition of Ossianic works and a collection of varied responses (London: Routledge). This includes facsimiles of the Ossian works, contemporary and later responses, contextual letters and reviews, and later adaptations.
*2011: ''Blind Ossian's Fingal : fragments and controversy'', a reprint of the first edition and abridgement of the follow-up with new material by Allan and Linda Burnett (Edinburgh: Luath Press Ltd).
*2021: ''Ossian: Warrior Poet'', an edited and illustrated edition of the Poems with a new introduction and index by Scottish artist Eileen Budd (Windermere: Wide Open Sea Press).
See also
* Ossian's Hall of Mirrors
* Folk process
* Romanticism
* Ossianic Society (Ireland)
*Vestiarium Scoticum
*Manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and of Zelená Hora
*Lord Dunsany
Notes
References
*
* Gaskill, Howard. (ed.) ''The reception of Ossian in Europe'' London: Continuum, 2004
*Hugh Honour, Honour, Hugh, ''Neo-classicism'', 1968, Pelican
* Kristmannsson, Gauti
''Ossian, the European National Epic (1760-1810)''
EGO - European History Online
Mainz
Institute of European History
2015, retrieved: March 8, 2021
pdf
.
*
*Moore, Dafydd. ''Enlightenment and Romance in James Macpherson's the Poems of Ossian: Myth, Genre and Cultural Change'' (Studies in Early Modern English Literature) (2003)
*Okun, Henry, "Ossian in Painting", ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', Vol. 30, (1967), pp. 327–356
JSTOR
*Rubin, James Henry, ''Gérard's Painting of "Ossian" as an Allegory of Inspired Art'', ''Studies in Romanticism'', Vol. 15, No. 3, Romantic Classicism (Summer, 1976), pp. 383–394, Boston University
JSTOR
*Hanselaar, Saskia, "La Mort de Malvina du musée Auguste Grasset à Varzy : une œuvre de jeunesse réattribuée à Ary Scheffer", La Revue des musées de France – Revue du Louvre, LXIe année, octobre 2011, n°4, p. 87–96.
*Schmidt, Wolf Gerhard. "Ossian, zeitgenössische Diskurse und die Frühphase der deutschen Rezeption (bd. 1)", 2003, De Gruyter.
*Thomson, Derick Smith. "The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's 'Ossian'", (1951), Aberdeen University Press
Further reading
*
*
in French:
*Collectif, ''La Légende d'Ossian illustrée par Girodet'', catalogue de l'exposition du même nom organisée par les musées de Montargis, Montargis, Musée Girodet, 1988.
*Gluck, Denise, ''Ossian et l'ossianisme'', dans ''Hier pour demain, Arts, Tradition et Patrimoine'', catalogue de l'exposition du Grand Palais, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1980.
*Hanselaar, Saskia, ''Ossian ou l'Esthétique des Ombres : une génération d'artistes français à la veille du Romantisme (1793–1833),'' PhD, dir. S. Le Men, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense, 2008.
*Porter, James. ''Beyond Fingal's Cave: Ossian in the Musical Imagination.'' Vol. 158. Eastman Studies in Music, 2019.
*Soubigou, Gilles, ''Ossian et les Barbus: primitivisme et retirement du monde sous le Directoire'', in ''Renoncer à l'art. Figures du romantisme et des années 1970'' (Julie Ramos, ed.), Paris, Roven, 2014, pp. 85–105.
*Van Thieghem, Paul, ''Ossian en France'', Paris, Rieder, 1917.
External links
* Digitised version o
Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Galic or Erse language
published 1760 at National Library of Scotland
The Poetical Works of Ossian
Full text at Ex-Classics
Excellent online bibliography; compiled by designated experts in the field; covering the most important scholarly monographs and articles on Ossian and Macpherson up to March 2004.
Literary Encyclopedia: Ossian
*[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/contents_page.jsp?t_id=Boswell A Vision of Britain Through Time] James Boswell, ''The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson'', discussion in entries for 22 and 23 September 1773.
Calum Colvin: "Ossian: Fragments of Ancient Poetry"
Reproduction of the cycle of paintings "Ossian: Fragments of Ancient Poetry" (2002) by one of Scotland's most renowned contemporary artists
"Le mythe d'Ossian" (in French)
in art in French public collections
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