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The Celtic Library
The Poems of Ossian, Tr. by J. Macpherson. to Which Are Prefixed Dissertations On the Æra and Poems of Ossian
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
396 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1772
65 people are currently reading
838 people want to read
About the author
James MacPherson
674 books44 followersJames Macpherson (Gaelic: Seumas Mac a' Phearsain) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of epic poems.
It was in 1761 that Macpherson claimed to have found an epic on the subject of the hero Fingal, written by Ossian. The name Fingal or Fionnghall means "white stranger". His publisher, claiming that there was no market for these works except in English, required that they be translated. He published translations of it during the next few years, culminating in a collected edition, The Works of Ossian, in 1765. The most famous of these poems was Fingal.
The poems achieved international success (Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson were great fans) and were proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical writers such as Homer. Many writers were influenced by the works, including the young Walter Scott. In the German-speaking states Michael Denis made the first full translation in 1768, inspiring the proto-nationalist poets Klopstock and Goethe, whose own German translation of a portion of Macpherson's work figures prominently in a climactic scene of The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774).
The poem was as much admired in Hungary as in France and Germany; Hungarian János Arany wrote Homer and Ossian in response, and several other Hungarian writers Baróti Szabó, Csokonai, Sándor Kisfaludy, Kazinczy, Kölcsey, Ferenc Toldy, and Ágost Greguss, were also influenced by it.
It was in 1761 that Macpherson claimed to have found an epic on the subject of the hero Fingal, written by Ossian. The name Fingal or Fionnghall means "white stranger". His publisher, claiming that there was no market for these works except in English, required that they be translated. He published translations of it during the next few years, culminating in a collected edition, The Works of Ossian, in 1765. The most famous of these poems was Fingal.
The poems achieved international success (Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson were great fans) and were proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical writers such as Homer. Many writers were influenced by the works, including the young Walter Scott. In the German-speaking states Michael Denis made the first full translation in 1768, inspiring the proto-nationalist poets Klopstock and Goethe, whose own German translation of a portion of Macpherson's work figures prominently in a climactic scene of The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774).
The poem was as much admired in Hungary as in France and Germany; Hungarian János Arany wrote Homer and Ossian in response, and several other Hungarian writers Baróti Szabó, Csokonai, Sándor Kisfaludy, Kazinczy, Kölcsey, Ferenc Toldy, and Ágost Greguss, were also influenced by it.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 18, 2011
I did my master's thesis on James Macpherson, who is the author of the Ossian prose-poems, supposedly the work of an ancient Gaelic bard. Macpherson claimed to have translated them, but that was a hoax. Interestingly, though, the language of the poetry (the principal nouns, verbs, and adjectives) prefigure the language of Romantic poetry by 50 years (the subject of my thesis).
February 19, 2018
This collection has been called second only to Shakespeare in its influence on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and so it is of obvious historical importance. But is it more than that? Is the poetic voice many of our predecessors ranked with Homer and Virgil, the voice that inspired the visual moods of Caspar David Friedrich, the exilic fantasies of Napoleon, the poetry of Walt Whitman, and the overtures of Schubert and Mendelssohn, still potent? Even as the invention of James MacPherson, does it achieve a Kalevala-like status as an authentic expression of Celtic culture's spiritual roots?
Its present obscurity would seem to testify otherwise. Its flowery language and unrelenting melodrama will bring most modern readers to saturation point within pages. Viewed on this side of the Romantic movement, it seems full of worn and discarded tropes. Part of it may have been reading online, but I found it difficult to maintain focus and interest, though folk poetry is a familiar study; I felt engaged only when my eye lit on an phrase or simile that struck me as lovely or affecting, which was less frequently than I would prefer. Still, it is not hard to imagine, even today, someone of the right taste and temperament falling for Ossian. The charm of these songs of mossy rocks and meteor-like spears and dreaming warriors has faded, but it is undeniably there, springing out sometimes as in the last couple pages of the volume:
Its present obscurity would seem to testify otherwise. Its flowery language and unrelenting melodrama will bring most modern readers to saturation point within pages. Viewed on this side of the Romantic movement, it seems full of worn and discarded tropes. Part of it may have been reading online, but I found it difficult to maintain focus and interest, though folk poetry is a familiar study; I felt engaged only when my eye lit on an phrase or simile that struck me as lovely or affecting, which was less frequently than I would prefer. Still, it is not hard to imagine, even today, someone of the right taste and temperament falling for Ossian. The charm of these songs of mossy rocks and meteor-like spears and dreaming warriors has faded, but it is undeniably there, springing out sometimes as in the last couple pages of the volume:
My voice is like the last sound of the wind, when it forsakes the woods. But Ossian shall not be long alone. He sees the mist that shall receive his ghost. He beholds the mist that shall form his robe, when he appears on his hills. The Sons of feeble men shall behold me, and admire the stature of the chiefs of old. They shall creep to their caves. They shall look to the sky with fear: for my steps shall be in the clouds. Darkness shall roll on my side. Lead, son of Alpin, lead the aged to his woods. The winds begin to rise. The dark wave of the lake resounds. Bends there not a tree from Mora with its branches bare? It bends, son of Alpin, in the rustling blast. My harp hangs on a blasted branch. The sound of its strings is mournful. Does the wind touch thee, O harp, or is it some passing ghost? It is the hand of Malvina! Bring me the harp, son of Alpin. Another song shall rise. My soul shall depart in the sound. My fathers shall hear it in their airy hail. Their dim faces shall hang, with joy, from their clouds; and their hands receive their son. The aged oak bends over the stream. It sighs with all its moss. The withered fern whistles near, and mixes, as it waves, with Ossian's hair.
Strike the harp, and raise the song: be near, with all your wings, ye winds. Bear the mournful sound away to Fingal's airy hail. Bear it to Fingal's hall, that he may hear the voice of his son: the voice of him that praised the mighty!
The blast of north opens thy gates, O king! I behold thee sitting on mist dimly gleaming in all thine arms. Thy form now is not the terror of the valiant. It is like a watery cloud, when we see the stars behind it with their weeping eyes. Thy shield is the aged moon: thy sword a vapor half kindled with fire. Dim and feeble is the chief who travelled in brightness be fore! But thy steps are on the winds of the desert. The storms are darkening in thy hand. Thou takest the sun in thy wrath, and hidest him in thy clouds. The sons of little men are afraid. A thousand showers descend. But when thou comest forth in thy mildness, the gale of the morning is near thy course. The sun laughs in his blue fields. The gray stream winds in its vale. The bushes shake their green heads in the wind. The roes bound towards the desert.
There is a murmur in the heath! the stormy winds abate! I hear the voice of Fingal. Long has it been absent from mine ear! Come, Ossian, come away, he says. Fingal has received his fame. We passed away, like flames that have shone for a season. Our departure was in renown. Though the plains of our battles are dark and silent; our fame is in the four gray stones.
October 15, 2019
Największy plus tej książki jest taki, że zasnęłam nad nią o normalnej porze, a nie za późno jak zwykle XD
for-collection
August 1, 2021genç werther'in acıları'nfda geçen pasajın kitabı.
bu da okuma linkim
ya da bu
üstelik Ireland & Romantics bebeyim :3
ve bu niye hiç çevrilmemiş NEDEN! KELTLERİN CEZBETMEYEN YANI NEDİR?
bu da okuma linkim
ya da bu
üstelik Ireland & Romantics bebeyim :3
ve bu niye hiç çevrilmemiş NEDEN! KELTLERİN CEZBETMEYEN YANI NEDİR?
February 19, 2023
Dawno się tak nie wymęczyłam z książką. Pod koniec już tylko leciałam bez skupienia po stornach tekstu. W tym starciu poległam, ale naprawdę nie byłam w stanie znaleźć w tej książce ani jednej rzeczy, która jakoś by mnie zaciekawiła i utrzymała moją uwagę. Mogę się tylko cieszyć, że jakoś to skończyłam.
December 26, 2015
Of course these prose poems are the fraudulent invention of an impostor. But they are worth reading, not only for the remarkable grip they had on the 19th century literary imagination, but also for the intrinsic artistry of their composition.
April 5, 2021
"Ma voi del muto Cromla ombre romite,
spirti d'eroi che più non son, voi soli
siate oggimai di Cucullin compagni;
voi venitene a lui dentro la grotta
del suo dolor: più tra' possenti in terra
nomato io non sarò; brillai qual raggio,
e qual raggio passai; nebbia son io,
che dileguossi all'apparir del vento
rischiarator dell'offuscato colle.
Conàl, Conàl, non mi parlar più d'armi;
già svanì la mia gloria: i miei sospiri
di Cromla i venti accresceran, sintanto
che i miei vestigi solitari e muti
cessino d'esser visti. E tu, Bragela,
piangi la fama mia, piangi me stesso:
tu più non mi vedrai; raggio amoroso,
non mi vedrai, non ti vedrò; son vinto." (Fingal, c. IV, vv. 466-482)
"Tal fu la doglia tua, signor dei colli,
quando giacque il tuo Rino. E qual fia dunque
d'Ossian la doglia, or che tu giaci, o padre?
Ah ch'io non odo la tua voce in Cona,
ah che più non ti veggo! Oscuro e mesto
talor m'assido alla tua tomba accanto,
e vi brancolo sopra. Udir talvolta
parmi la voce tua, lasso! e m'inganna
il vento del deserto. E' lungo tempo
che dormi, o padre; e ti sospira il campo,
alto Fingàl, correggitor di guerra." (Fingal, c. V, vv. 341-351)
spirti d'eroi che più non son, voi soli
siate oggimai di Cucullin compagni;
voi venitene a lui dentro la grotta
del suo dolor: più tra' possenti in terra
nomato io non sarò; brillai qual raggio,
e qual raggio passai; nebbia son io,
che dileguossi all'apparir del vento
rischiarator dell'offuscato colle.
Conàl, Conàl, non mi parlar più d'armi;
già svanì la mia gloria: i miei sospiri
di Cromla i venti accresceran, sintanto
che i miei vestigi solitari e muti
cessino d'esser visti. E tu, Bragela,
piangi la fama mia, piangi me stesso:
tu più non mi vedrai; raggio amoroso,
non mi vedrai, non ti vedrò; son vinto." (Fingal, c. IV, vv. 466-482)
"Tal fu la doglia tua, signor dei colli,
quando giacque il tuo Rino. E qual fia dunque
d'Ossian la doglia, or che tu giaci, o padre?
Ah ch'io non odo la tua voce in Cona,
ah che più non ti veggo! Oscuro e mesto
talor m'assido alla tua tomba accanto,
e vi brancolo sopra. Udir talvolta
parmi la voce tua, lasso! e m'inganna
il vento del deserto. E' lungo tempo
che dormi, o padre; e ti sospira il campo,
alto Fingàl, correggitor di guerra." (Fingal, c. V, vv. 341-351)
October 28, 2010
Interesting old book with engravings by Charles Heath.
January 31, 2025
My partner and I had a son nearly 8 weeks ago and my partner liked the name Osian. I gave it a tweak and said we should call him Ossian, because I was aware of the story of the poet Ossian being a huge cult phenomenon in the late 18th Century, and that it was actually not the ancient Gaelic poetry that James MacPherson claimed it was, but in fact a hoax.
Ossian was beloved by the likes of Napoleon, Diderot, Walter Scott, Goethe and Thoreau. The work was often compared to Homer. The name Fiona was coined in these poems. It had a massive influence in spreading interest in Celtic and Scottish culture throughout Europe. And it was a hoax.
Reading it today is a strange experience. Most of the book is introductory essays about the work. The poems themselves occupy a relatively small portion of the book. I thought that the poems were very unremarkable. Nothing striking about them, and nothing I will remember. Homer, on the other hand, speaks to us across the millennia and his work still strikes the modern reader as literary genius.
I found the essays and the idea of the hoax more interesting than the poetry. The false erudition reminded me of the blurring of boundaries you get with Borges, in which stories, literary criticism, history and essays all merge into each other. My feeling is that the achievement of the hoax and the invented scholarship is more interesting than the poetry in this book. But, it's still really hard to understand how thinkers and critics as brilliant as Napoleon, Diderot or Goethe were so enamoured of this dull poetry.
Ossian was beloved by the likes of Napoleon, Diderot, Walter Scott, Goethe and Thoreau. The work was often compared to Homer. The name Fiona was coined in these poems. It had a massive influence in spreading interest in Celtic and Scottish culture throughout Europe. And it was a hoax.
Reading it today is a strange experience. Most of the book is introductory essays about the work. The poems themselves occupy a relatively small portion of the book. I thought that the poems were very unremarkable. Nothing striking about them, and nothing I will remember. Homer, on the other hand, speaks to us across the millennia and his work still strikes the modern reader as literary genius.
I found the essays and the idea of the hoax more interesting than the poetry. The false erudition reminded me of the blurring of boundaries you get with Borges, in which stories, literary criticism, history and essays all merge into each other. My feeling is that the achievement of the hoax and the invented scholarship is more interesting than the poetry in this book. But, it's still really hard to understand how thinkers and critics as brilliant as Napoleon, Diderot or Goethe were so enamoured of this dull poetry.
August 13, 2021
“The music was like the memory of joys that are past, pleasant and mournful to the soul.”
“The Poems of Ossian” were published by James Macpherson in the 1760s. Macpherson claimed that he only translated the poems but he was accused of writing the poems himself.
The poems are based on Irish mythology. They are sung by blind bard Ossian. He sings about days of his youth when he was a warrior (but he has always preferred playing harp than fighting).
The themes of the poems are death, battles and wild nature. We can learn something about Gaelic culture, for example they believed that their deceased ancestors live on the clouds. Very often thistle is mentioned (symbol of Scotland and Ireland). In the book there are many characteristic sayings, like
- “feast of the shells” - probably symbol of joy,
- “narrow house” - that it coffin,
- “a tale of the times of old”, or
- “dark rolling clouds”.
Ossian relates his story to Malvina, his late grandson’s lover. He often mentions his father Fingal who was a commander in battles. More important than plot is the way in which the world is represented. The greatest advantage of the poems the gloomy and mysterious atmosphere.
The book is recommendable to those who like descriptions of wild nature, melancholy atmosphere, and mythological motifs. I enjoyed the poems very much!
“The Poems of Ossian” were published by James Macpherson in the 1760s. Macpherson claimed that he only translated the poems but he was accused of writing the poems himself.
The poems are based on Irish mythology. They are sung by blind bard Ossian. He sings about days of his youth when he was a warrior (but he has always preferred playing harp than fighting).
The themes of the poems are death, battles and wild nature. We can learn something about Gaelic culture, for example they believed that their deceased ancestors live on the clouds. Very often thistle is mentioned (symbol of Scotland and Ireland). In the book there are many characteristic sayings, like
- “feast of the shells” - probably symbol of joy,
- “narrow house” - that it coffin,
- “a tale of the times of old”, or
- “dark rolling clouds”.
Ossian relates his story to Malvina, his late grandson’s lover. He often mentions his father Fingal who was a commander in battles. More important than plot is the way in which the world is represented. The greatest advantage of the poems the gloomy and mysterious atmosphere.
The book is recommendable to those who like descriptions of wild nature, melancholy atmosphere, and mythological motifs. I enjoyed the poems very much!
October 24, 2023
Quiero adivinar que la monumental aventura de compilar el Kalevala nació aquí, de igual forma que las sagas artúricas; lo maravilloso es que también ha sido fuente recurrente de inspiración para obras más contemporáneas como The Lord of The Rings o Game of Thrones, e incluso de otras no literarias, como The Legend of Zelda.
Fue una gratísima sorpresa, cuya lectura tuve que dosificar para poder deleitarme en ella el mayor tiempo posible. La poesía es de primer orden y contiene pasajes cargados de una belleza y pureza difíciles de emular. El asunto sobre la autoría de la obra, y la obsesión con que se aborda en el prólogo, me pareció ridículo: ¿qué más da si fue escrita por Ossian o Macpherson? La poesía está ahí, innegable y sublime. ¿A alguien le preocupa la autoría e historicidad del Rubaiyat, sea de Omar Jayam o de Edward FitzGerald? ¿Y qué podremos decir de Las Mil y Una Noches? Retrocedamos un par de milenios y encontraremos el mismo paradigma en Homero: ¿autor o compilador?
El único pero que le doy es a la edición, ya que los párrafos son excesivamente largos y la letra relativamente pequeña, lo que vuelve (muy) cansada la lectura. También hizo falta, antes de comenzar, el apartado de dramatis personæ, pues entre tantos nombres, tan similares (y peculiares), a veces la trama se torna un tanto confusa.
Altamente recomendable y más: imperdible.
Fue una gratísima sorpresa, cuya lectura tuve que dosificar para poder deleitarme en ella el mayor tiempo posible. La poesía es de primer orden y contiene pasajes cargados de una belleza y pureza difíciles de emular. El asunto sobre la autoría de la obra, y la obsesión con que se aborda en el prólogo, me pareció ridículo: ¿qué más da si fue escrita por Ossian o Macpherson? La poesía está ahí, innegable y sublime. ¿A alguien le preocupa la autoría e historicidad del Rubaiyat, sea de Omar Jayam o de Edward FitzGerald? ¿Y qué podremos decir de Las Mil y Una Noches? Retrocedamos un par de milenios y encontraremos el mismo paradigma en Homero: ¿autor o compilador?
El único pero que le doy es a la edición, ya que los párrafos son excesivamente largos y la letra relativamente pequeña, lo que vuelve (muy) cansada la lectura. También hizo falta, antes de comenzar, el apartado de dramatis personæ, pues entre tantos nombres, tan similares (y peculiares), a veces la trama se torna un tanto confusa.
Altamente recomendable y más: imperdible.
May 10, 2021
Fragments of the Ossianic Cycle, puportedly discovered by Scottish poet James MacPherson.
The Ossianic Myth is a scandal of epic proportions which, in a way, make the work more interesting to read. This edition comes complete with supporting contemporary essays lauding Ossian as the West's Homer. That the work may have been lifted wholesale from the earlier Ulster Cycle or even made up from whole cloth by MacPherson himself is beside the point. 'The Poems of Ossian' is an important work in the sense of a writer trying to instill and ignite a sense of Nationalistic fervour at one of Scotland's lowest points.
The Ossianic Myth is a scandal of epic proportions which, in a way, make the work more interesting to read. This edition comes complete with supporting contemporary essays lauding Ossian as the West's Homer. That the work may have been lifted wholesale from the earlier Ulster Cycle or even made up from whole cloth by MacPherson himself is beside the point. 'The Poems of Ossian' is an important work in the sense of a writer trying to instill and ignite a sense of Nationalistic fervour at one of Scotland's lowest points.
May 31, 2023
This book is a collection of ancient Scottish ballads, that were allegedly collected in the late 18th century. The poems resemble ancient Scandanavian poems, but I found them hard to follow, as the author didn't provide any background or introduction. The introduction that did exist in the book was entirely focused on explaining how we know that the poems are authentic, rather than giving much background about them.
October 21, 2024
Meteor this, meteor that, I found MacPherson’s metaphors so tedious that my eyes glazed over with dark-rolling clouds. It did not help that I could not get invested in any of his characters, who kept dying before they became interesting.
January 5, 2020
Interesting work probably best enjoyed by the scholar of Scotland during the “dark ages”.
February 6, 2020
Equisit Works of History. 🙏
May 31, 2023
Pieśni z Selmy
Fingal
Fingal
October 25, 2023
tragedia, nie polecam, wszystkie pieśni o tym samym, ale niektóre zaskakująco wciągały
Want to read
March 31, 2025USD19.68 on Biblio.com
April 18, 2016
These are odd poems. I like the idea of them more than I like the poems themselves. Of note, I saw several similarities between this book and the Book of Mormon: vague descriptions of characters, topography, chronology, et al. I liked the poems quite a bit—possibly from being a Scotophile—but why Napoleon would want to read this at bedtime when he could read Jeeves and Wooster is beyond me.
April 23, 2015
Diasppointed - I tend to agree with those critics who think it a construction, a mix of this and that. Not at all interesting compared to Islandic Sagas. Linguistically uninteristing as well.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews