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    Fragments of Ancient Poetry
    Fragments of Ancient Poetry
    Fragments of Ancient Poetry
    Ebook70 pages41 minutes

    Fragments of Ancient Poetry

    By James Macpherson

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    About this ebook

    Fragments of Ancient Poetry is a collection of ancient Gaelic poetry with analysis written by James Macpherson. Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician. Excerpt:
    "Evening is grey on the hills. The
    north wind resounds through the
    woods. White clouds rise on the sky: the
    trembling snow descends. The river howls
    afar, along its winding course. Sad,
    by a hollow rock, the grey-hair'd Carryl
    sat. Dry fern waves over his head; his
    seat is in an aged birch. Clear to the
    roaring winds he lifts his voice of woe."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Press
    Release dateNov 21, 2019
    ISBN4057664646248
    Fragments of Ancient Poetry

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      Book preview

      Fragments of Ancient Poetry - James Macpherson

      James Macpherson

      Fragments of Ancient Poetry

      Published by Good Press, 2022

      goodpress@okpublishing.info

      EAN 4057664646248

      Table of Contents

      INTRODUCTION

      FRAGMENTS OF ANCIENT POETRY

      Collected in the Highlands of Scotland,

      LUCAN

      PREFACE

      FRAGMENT

      INTRODUCTION

      Table of Contents

      Byron was actually the third Scotsman in about fifty years who awoke and found himself famous; the sudden rise from obscurity to international fame had been experienced earlier by two fellow countrymen, Sir Walter Scott and James Macpherson. Considering the greatness of the reputation of the two younger writers, it may seem strange to link their names with Macpherson's, but in the early nineteenth century it would not have seemed so odd. In fact, as young men both Scott and Byron would have probably have been flattered by such an association. Scott tells us that in his youth he devoured rather than perused Ossian and that he could repeat whole duans without remorse; and, as I shall discuss later, Byron paid Macpherson the high compliment of writing an imitation of Ossian, which he published in Hours of Idleness.

      The publication of the modest and anonymous pamphlet, Fragments of Ancient Poetry marks the beginning of Macpherson's rise to fame, and concomitantly the start of a controversy that is unique in literary history. For the half-century that followed, the body of poetry that was eventually collected as The Poems of Ossian provoked the comment of nearly every important man of letters. Extravagance and partisanship were characteristic of most of the remarks, but few literary men were indifferent.

      The intensity and duration of the controversy are indicative of how seriously Macpherson's work was taken, for it was to many readers of the day daring, original, and passionate. Even Malcolm Laing, whose ardor in exposing Macpherson's imposture exceeded that of Dr. Johnson, responded to the literary quality of the poems. In a note on the fourth and fifth Fragments the arch prosecutor of Macpherson commented,

      From a singular coincidence of circumstances, it was in this house, where I now write, that I first read the poems in my early youth, with an ardent credulity that remained unshaken for many years of my life; and with a pleasure to which even the triumphant satisfaction of detecting the imposture is comparatively nothing. The enthusiasm with which I read and studied the poems, enabled me afterwards, when my suspicions were once awakened, to trace and expose the deception with greater success. Yet, notwithstanding the severity of minute criticism, I can still peruse them as a wild and wonderful assemblage of imitation with which the fancy is often pleased and gratified, even when the judgment condemns them most.2

      II

      It was John Home, famous on both sides of the Tweed as the author of Douglas, who first encouraged Macpherson to undertake his translations. While taking the waters at Moffat in the fall of 1759, he was pleased to meet a young Highland tutor, who was not only familiar with ancient Gaelic poetry but who had in his possession several such poems. Home, like nearly all of the Edinburgh literati, knew no Gaelic and asked Macpherson to translate one of them. The younger man at first protested that a translation would give a very imperfect idea of the original, but Home with some difficulty persuaded him to try. In a day or two

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