Ossian’s frequent “melting of the soul” may be responsible for (p. 137):
Compare “Croma,” p. 178, ll. 14–5: “Thy song is lovely! ... but it melts the soul.”—Thusnelda sheds ‘tears of joy’ and embraces her father with “schneebeschämenden” (p. 139) arms. He strikes the shield (p. 141) to summon warriors, and Hermann feels “Die sanfte Wehmuth” (p. 147).—In the second canto we notice the following (p. 155):
‘Burning’ or ‘flaming wrath’ occurs frequently in Ossian, where rage is also occasionally compared to a fire. Notice also “They were consumed in the flames of thy wrath,”[297] “His rage was a fire that always burned,”[298] etc. Ossianic are the tone and atmosphere in the following passage (p. 159):
and again (p. 161):
The “Strahl von seinem Ruhme” (p. 173) in the third canto recalls Ossian’s “beam of fame.”[299]—Ossian’s warriors continually lean on their shields, and Kretschmann may have had this in mind when he wrote the line (p. 179): “Siegmund stand, gelehnt auf seinen Schild.” Certain it is that the comparisons in the line (p. 179) “Dein Schild der Mond, dein Schwert der Blitz”[300] are Ossianic.—In the fourth canto the stanza beginning (p. 196): “Ich lag, und schlief so süss” is decidedly Ossianic. As he slept ‘grey ghosts arose’ (p. 197):
It is the face of Irmgard, of which he says (p. 197): “Der Vollmond scheint so lieblich nicht!” Ossian also compares the face to a moon and speaks of a maiden “fair as the full moon.”[301] The spirit departs in good Ossianic style (p. 200):
A typical Ossianic picture is the following (p. 206), in which the form of comparison also savors of Ossian:
Likewise in Ossian we have an oak “clothed in mist”[303] and the comparison of a warrior to a “leafless oak.”[304] Compare also: “But now he is pale and withered like the oak.”[305] Ossian again and again arranges comparisons in exactly the manner we have here, i. e., the first member is followed by an independent sentence in the indicative mode. Take, e. g., such a passage as the following: “As rushes a stream of foam from the dark shady deep of Cromla ... Through the breaches of the tempest look forth the dim faces of ghosts. So fierce,” etc.[306] Likewise Ossianic is this scene (pp. 207–8):
as are also the following comparisons (p. 210):
Compare such expressions as “Ryno as lightning gleamed along,”[307] “brightened, like the full moon of heaven; when the clouds vanish away,”[308] “risen ... from battle, like a meteor from a stormy cloud,”[309] and the like.—The poem that follows, “Die Jägerin,” includes anacreontic as well as bardic elements, without containing anything specifically Ossianic. It has the ‘grove of oaks’ (p. 224), the ‘snowy breast’ (p. 232), the ‘Geist der Lieder’ (p. 229), the unavoidable echo (p. 227), and other bardic phrases that had by this time become quite common.
The last poem of the first volume is “Kleist,” in three cantos, which cannot be said to have been strongly influenced by Ossian, although the same old bardic paraphernalia of harps and spirits and the like are employed and occasional Ossianic reminders occur e. g., the expression (p. 259): “Ihrer Waffen Schein War furchtbar,” reminds us of Ossian’s “Terrible was the gleam of the steel,”[310] etc. We must again point out that although similar expressions occur also in Homer and elsewhere, Ossian served to intensify the impression. Kretschmann and most of the other bardic poets certainly knew their Ossian better than they did their Homer, and I think we can give Ossian the benefit of the doubt in most instances.—The figure of the stars trembling: “Da bebten die Sterne” (p. 259), also probably goes back to Ossian, as does the line “Thauvoll war sein Haar” (p. 259), with which compare, e. g., “Filled with dew are my locks.”[311]
In the second volume of Kretschmann’s works, which contains “Hymnen,” “Scherzhafte Lieder,” “Sinngedichte,” and a few other poems, there are but scattered signs of Ossian’s influence scarcely worthy of mention. Only in the “Anhang einiger kleinen Bardenlieder” do we find the bardic tendency more strongly pronounced and in consequence more frequent traces of Ossian. In the first of these bardic poems, “Die teutsche Schamhaftigkeit,” we have a “Mädchen, rabenschwarz von Haaren,”[312] but the comparison was a common one by this time and need not be referred to Ossian. In the one “An den ersten Weinstock” we have the echo once more (p. 230); likewise in “Das Traumgesicht” (p. 236). In the “Frühlingslied” the nightingale is called the bardic bird, “Du Bardenvogel Nachtigall” (p. 232), the expression no doubt going back to Klopstock’s Bardale.[313] In the same poem the bard lies on the moss in the cave of the rock (pp. 232–3), and we have the following Ossianic lines (p. 233):
Compare Ossian’s “the sun looks through mist.”[314] In the last poem of the Anhang, “Das Traumgesicht,” the bardic character stands out more prominently than in any of the preceding ones. The very first line gives us “Zukunftspähende Druiden” (p. 236), and soon the ghost of the dreamer’s father hovers from the dark oaks (p. 237).—In all these bardic songs Gleim’s influence is distinctly noticeable. In the second stanza of the “Friedenslied” (p. 147), we have “tiefgestimmte Saiten,” whereas the original version in the Leipziger Musen Almanach for 1780 (p. 40) had “Distelumkränzte Saiten.”
Volumes 3 and 4 of the works contain comedies. In the fifth volume we have first some “Vermischte Gedichte und Fragmente,” one of which is addressed to Denis: “An Sined den Harfen–Druiden.” It is written in the bardic spirit with here and there an Ossianic touch. At the beginning we have an imitation of the Ossianic mood of forsakenness and wildness.[315] The spirit of song again appears[316] and also the echo (p. 14). The poet hears the call of the harp, he follows the sound, until he sees “den Sänger am Eichenbaum” (p. 14).—On pp. 15–6 we read:
Another bardic song is that “An Telynhardt,”[317] addressed to Hartmann,[318] and containing the lines (p. 50):
The following poem “An den Herrn B. von F. * * *” sets up Ossian as a model and ends with the exclamation (p. 53):
The following passage is worthy of note (p. 52):
We see from the above lines that Kretschmann also was not inclined to set Ossian below Homer or Vergil, and that it was Ossian’s naturalness that appealed to him, his freedom from rules and conventions.[319]
The remainder of the fifth volume does not offer anything for our purpose. The sixth and last volume, which was not published until 1799, is made up of “Fabeln,” and of “Lyrische, Vermischte und Epigrammatische Nachlesen.” In these later poems no traces of Ossian’s influence are discernible, except in the cycle of the Seasons, where we encounter an Ossianic description now and then, although no distinct imitation is traceable.
I believe that the examples given have borne out the statement made in the introduction. Kretschmann was really never saturated with Ossian as Denis was. That he admired the Gaelic bard, he does not hesitate to admit, but aside from his fondness for the poems that were in everybody’s mouth in his day, he felt no scientific curiosity to enter more deeply into the question of their authenticity. The fact that Klopstock and Herder regarded the poems as genuine, satisfied him completely. And when the bardic ghost stalked through the land, he willingly paid his tribute—wrote a number of bardic songs—and then retired on his laurels to seek new fields of poetical activity distinctly hostile to a continuation of Ossianic influence. Even his later lyric poems, where we might look for lingering tokens of its presence, reveal nothing of the sort. The bard and the grove and the oak of course still make their bow upon occasion, but these were so firmly engrafted in the lyric poetry of Germany by this time, that Ossian can no longer be called to account for each individual occurrence. More of this when we reach the Göttinger Hain.
The paragraphs on Denis and Kretschmann have amply demonstrated just how the so–called bards were dependent upon Ossian. There is little difference between the bardic work of these two and that of the remaining bards, the names of many of whom have been consigned to oblivion, and it would serve little purpose to take up the entire work of each separately. I shall therefore content myself with pointing out some of the more striking Ossianic characteristics in a number of selections of bardic poetry taken at random.
Lorenz Leopold Haschka (1749–1827), in whose lyric poetry the influence of Klopstock and Denis is visible, has a bardic poem in the Litterarische Monate,[320] “Cronnan und Minona[321] an Annas Hügel” (pp. 8–14), the very title of which proclaims Ossian’s presence. The first two names are taken from “Carric–Thura.” The hill we have encountered before, and in the poem we even have the four stones at the corners of the grave.[322] Then we read (pp. 11–2):
The sound emitted by the harp to herald a person’s approaching death,[323] the desire of the ghost to hear the voice of fame are both taken from Ossian. Then we have ‘Disteln’ (p. 10) and a “Tochter der Schattenharfe” (p. 12), Ossian’s shadowy harp again.[324] Anna’s ghost hovers over Tonthena (p. 13), the star mentioned several times in Ossian.[325]
In the same magazine we have several other bardic songs by Haschka. In the one “Bei Annas von Gluck Hügel,” we have the echo called the “Sohn des Felsen” (p. 14) as in Ossian;[326] likewise in “Auf Elisabeth von H.” (p. 307) the echo is the “Bergsohn.”—“An den Gespielen meiner Harfe” contains the image of the youth standing tall “der luftigsten Eiche gleich” (p. 18), with which compare “He stands tall, ... as an oak.”[327] After his death, the youth lies “unter den graulichten Vier Steinen” (p. 19), Ossian’s “four grey stones.”[328] Note also the following (p. 19):
As for the first stanza, see supra, pp. 93–4. When we strike an imitator of one of the leading bards, the chances of a direct influence on the part of Ossian are naturally lessened. More than likely Haschka was in this instance indebted to Klopstock more than to Ossian directly, or to Homer or the Bible, for that matter. The situation in the second stanza is thoroughly Ossianic and calls for no further comment.
In “Die Kraft der Tonkunst” we encounter the bardic machinery again as well as Ossianic rhetorical figures. The moon, e. g., is called the “Nachtschild” (p. 210). Then we have the ‘sending round the shell’ (p. 212),[329] “der Wehmut ... Wonne” (p. 215),[330] and the following noteworthy passage (p. 215):
In the poem “Auf Elizabeth von H.,” Elizabeth is said to resemble the morning–sun (p. 307). In the same poem we have the ‘snow of the bosom’ (p. 308) and in the “Geburtslied” the ‘hand of snow’ (p. 310).[331]
In Karl Mastalier’s (1731–95) “Ode auf den Freyherrn von Laudon,” we have Ossian’s ‘trembling harp’ several times.[332] “Das Nationaltheater” shows traces of Ossian’s influence in the bardic paraphernalia and the imagery. The moon is termed the ‘daughter of the silent night.’[333] On the whole, Mastalier’s poems were but little influenced by Ossian, and there is nothing that distinguishes his poetry particularly from the usual run of bardic productions.
Knorr’s[334] “Der Barde an seinen Freund K * * *,” which appeared in the Leipziger Musenalmanach for 1776, is written in the Ossianic vein. The bard sits by the grey oak and asks the breeze to lift his black locks. “Wie Sänger Ossian Hebt er sich vom heiligen Eichbaum,” we read on p. 95.
In the same number of the almanac we have a bardic song by Brown, entitled “Die Nacht,” in which we find Ossianic description and Norse mythology side by side. In the opening lines of the poem, the Ossianic Stimmung is imitated to prepare for the appearance of the ghost.[335] A few quotations from the poem may not be amiss:
The mossy hill, the wings of the storm, the lonely wanderer are all Ossianic, as is the lament (p. 216):
In “Das Gesicht,” a bardic poem that appeared anonymously in the Almanach der deutschen Musen for 1773 (pp. 23–5), we have a splendid illustration of how far the imitation of Ossianic apparitions was carried.—The situation of a ghost appearing upon a stream of light and the beholder trembling in terror, as presented in “Die Erscheinung” by N——ch,[337] is Ossianic.
The Barden–Almanach der Teutschen for 1802 contains a bardic poem, “Wodan und Braga,” with Ossianic nature touches, as the following extract will show (pp. 174–6):
Sufficient examples have been given to show the nature of Ossianic imitation as practiced by the minor bardic poets. Among the features they admired in Ossian was his independence of all rules and conventions, and here they approach the writers of the Storm and Stress. Nor did they hesitate to place him on a level with Homer. Interesting in this connection is the following statement by Bernold: “Und wo nahm denn Ossian seine Regeln her? aus der Natur—und doch übertrifft dieser Dichter in meinen Augen noch einigermassen den Homer selbst und taugt wenigstens für einen Schweizer besser zu einem Vorbild als jener, indem seine besungenen Gegenstände, sowohl in als ausser der Natur, den unsrigen näher kommen und ungleich ähnlicher sind, als jene der Griechen und Römer oder anderer Nationen.”[338] What Ossian meant to them is laid down in a poem “An Heyder,” by J. G. Schulz, published in the Leipziger Musenalmanach for 1783, with a striking quotation from which (pp. 152–3) we shall leave this portion of our subject.—Grim sickness has chased the joyous muses away from the poet’s side; no friend can aid, no book console him: