Influence of Ossian on English Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth CenturiesUniversity of California. May, 1916 - 290 pages |
Common terms and phrases
admired AElla ancient antiquity Authenticity Balclutha ballad bard Beattie Berrathon Blair Blake brow Burns Byron Carric-Thura Carthon Celt Celtic Chatterton clouds Compare controversy critical dark diction Dissertation echoes Edinb edition eighteenth century English epic Erse essay Fing Fingal Fragments ghosts Goethe Gray grey heroes heroic Highland Society hills Homer Hugh Blair imitation influence of Ossian iniluence interest Irish James Macpherson Johnson king language light literary literature Lond London Macpherson's Ossian Magazine Malcolm Laing melancholy mentioned mist mountain Mysteries of Udolpho nature night Norse Norse Sagas o'er Ossian's influence Ossianic poems pherson Poems of Ossian poet poetic Prophetic Books prose pieces published rhythmic prose roaring rock roll romantic romanticism Scotch Scotland Scott sentiment Songs of Selma spear Spirit of Loda stanza stars storm streams style suggested Temora thou thousand thunder Tiriel translated urope verse voice vols waves Werther wind Wordsworth wrote
Popular passages
Page 54 - I make this inquiry in quality of an antiquary, and am not otherwise concerned about it ; for if I were sure that any one now living in Scotland had written them, to divert himself and laugh at the credulity of the world, I would undertake a journey into the Highlands only for the pleasure of seeing him.
Page 82 - Liberty shall stand upon the cliffs of Albion, Casting her blue eyes over the green ocean ; Or towering stand upon the roaring waves, Stretching her mighty spear o'er distant lands ; While with her eagle wings she covereth Fair Albion's shore, and all her families.
Page 101 - Yet, much as these pretended treasures of antiquity have been admired, they have been wholly uninfluential upon the literature of the Country. No succeeding Writer appears to have caught from them a ray of inspiration; no Author in the least distinguished, has ventured formally to imitate them - except the Boy, Chatterton, on their first appearance.
Page 33 - I believe they never existed in any other form than that which we have seen. The editor, or author, never could show the original ; nor can it be shown by any other; to revenge reasonable incredulity, by refusing evidence, is a degree of insolence, with which the world is not yet acquainted ; and stubborn audacity is the last refuge of guilt.
Page 55 - If you have seen Stonehewer he has probably told you of my old Scotch (or rather Irish) poetry. I am gone mad about them. They are said to be translations (literal and in prose) from the Erse tongue, done by one Macpherson, a young clergyman in the Highlands. He means to publish a collection he has of these specimens of antiquity, if it be antiquity : but what plagues me is, I cannot come at any certainty on that head. I was so struck, so extasie with their infinite beauty, that I writ into Scotland...
Page 54 - I am so charmed with the two specimens of Erse poetry, that I cannot help giving you the trouble to inquire a little farther about them, and should wish to see a few lines of the original, that I may form some slight idea of the language, the measures, and the rhythm.
Page 64 - Autumn is dark on the mountains ; grey mist rests on the hills. The whirlwind is heard on the heath. Dark rolls the river through the narrow plain. A tree stands alone on the hill, and marks the slumbering Connal. The leaves whirl round with the wind, and strew the grave of the dead.
Page 57 - Imagination dwelt many hundred years ago, in all her pomp, on the cold and barren mountains of Scotland. The truth (I believe) is, that, without any respect of climates, she reigns in all nascent societies of men, where the necessities of life force every one to think and act much for himself*.
Page 24 - The difference between genuine poetry and the poetry of Dryden, Pope, and all their school, is briefly this ; their poetry is conceived and composed in their wits, genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul.
Page 59 - ... night, when all my children fell; when Arindal the mighty fell; when Daura the lovely failed! Daura, my daughter! thou wert fair; fair as the moon on Fura; white as the driven snow; sweet as the breathing gale. Arindal, thy bow was strong. Thy spear was swift in the field. Thy look was like mist on the wave: thy shield, a red cloud in a storm.