OSSIAN’S INFLUENCE UPON KLOPSTOCK AND THE SO–CALLED BARDS.
§1. Klopstock.
“Klopstock verliert alles, wenn man ihn in der Nähe und im Einzelnen
betrachtet. Man muss ihn in einer gewissen Ferne und im Ganzen
erfassen. Wenn man ihn liest, scheint er pedantisch und langweilig;
wenn man ihn aber gelesen hat, und sich wieder an ihn erinnert, wird
er gross und majestätisch. Dann glauben wir einen riesenhaften Geist
Ossians zu sehen.”—W. Menzel.
The subject of Ossian’s influence upon Klopstock, were it to receive
exhaustive treatment, would greatly exceed the space we can allot to it
in a general discussion of the effect that Ossian produced in Germany,
and we shall therefore confine ourselves here largely to generalities
and attempt only a broad sketch of Klopstock’s attitude toward the
Gaelic bard. If we are to accept literally the statement made by
Klopstock in a letter to Gerstenberg,[48] to the effect that he did not
adopt the mythology of his forefathers until after the appearance of the
“Lied eines Skalden” (1766), we ought to begin our discussion with
Gerstenberg. It appears, however, that Klopstock gave some attention to
old Germanic history and mythology previous to 1766.[49] At any rate, he
fell under Ossian’s influence two years before, and set the example to a
number of others. It is doubtful whether Ossian of himself would have
had as strong an influence upon the so–called bards, had not Klopstock
given the necessary encouragement; Gerstenberg’s example alone could not
have been expected to produce the same results as that of the author of
the _Messiah_.[50] Indeed, the influences that Ossian and Klopstock
exercised upon the bards are in many cases so closely interwoven, that a
discussion of Ossian’s influence upon the bards without a previous
study of Klopstock would be impracticable.
Two streams of poesy, proceeding from Hagedorn and Haller, respectively,
ran side by side in the middle of the 18th century, the former bearing
upon its surface the light, fantastic, Frenchified, anacreontic poetry,
the latter the more somber verse of Klopstock and his pupils—this
latter in the strain of Young’s _Night Thoughts_.[51] The melancholy
Ossian could be assured a cordial reception by a poet like Klopstock, at
the bottom of whose really healthy nature there lurked something that
had a little earlier responded to the elegiac mood of Young—feelings
that had been intensified by the death of his dearly–beloved wife Meta
(1758). This bereavement cast a deep shadow over Klopstock, so much so
that for several years he wrote little poetry. Much of this time was
spent in Germany—he had been living at Copenhagen since 1753—and it
was undoubtedly upon one of these visits to his fatherland that he
became acquainted with Ossian. Here was sustenance, indeed, for the
sentimental side of his nature, for his _Gefühlsschwärmerei_. The dim
forms of Ossian’s heroes, the misty atmosphere of the Highlands in which
they lived, were well calculated to cast a spell over the author of the
_Messiah_, whose own genius was not fitted to delineate his characters
with sharp, clear–cut lines. There is a certain mistiness in Klopstock’s
great epic that reminds one of the shadowy atmosphere in which the
heroes of the Ossianic epics are enveloped. More than one passage in the
_Messiah_ conveys the impression of representing little more than
rhetorical bombast. Macpherson was a kindred spirit.
This was, however, by no means all that Ossian held out to him. He saw
something in Ossian that he seized upon even more eagerly—too eagerly,
in fact—namely, he regarded Ossian as a German. By this time
Klopstock’s activity in the patriotic field had begun; religion no
longer engrossed his entire attention. Barring Frederick the Great,
there were no glorious figures upon the political stage, and Frederick’s
fondness for the literature of France was not calculated to attract
Klopstock, who hated the rationalistic poetry of the French. Nor was the
empire of the 18th century a political organism to inspire the poet to
patriotic effusions. A united fatherland lay, however, in the dim and
distant past, almost buried in oblivion, in the days of old, when
Arminius and his mighty warriors defied the power of Rome itself. And
thither Klopstock turned for inspiration. Tacitus was a good source for
historical data and in the famous work of the old Roman historian
mention was made of the shouting of a battle–song by the Germani, a
_baritus_ (written _barditus_ in some of the manuscripts).[52] Hence the
term “bard” was applied to those whose duty it was to incite the
warriors to battle by means of songs, and the songs themselves were
called by Klopstock _Bardiete_, a word he applied also to his last
historical dramas.[53] Unfortunately these songs of the days of yore,
for the existence of which Eginhard’s statement was cited as authority,
were apparently lost:
Doch ach, verstummt in ewiger Nacht
Ist Bardiet und Skofliod, und verhallt
Euer Schall, Telyn, Triomb! Hochgesang,
Deinem sogar klagen wir nach.[54]
And now Ossian appeared upon the scene, the bard of bards, who sang of
the deeds of days gone by. Here was a source of consolation, indeed. If
Ossian had only sung the deeds of Arminius! Although Fingal was no hero
to be despised, Klopstock laments:
Und in öden dunkeln Trümmern
Der alten Celtensprache,
Seufzen nur einige seiner leisen Laute.[55]
And this regret that only a few notes have been handed down he could not
shake off. We meet with it again and again, not only in his odes, _e.
g._, “Unsre Sprache,” but also in his letters, _e. g._, in an epistle to
Denis, dated Copenhagen, Jan. 6, 1767, where he says: “Ich bitte Sie,
mich nicht lange auf Ihre Uebersetzung des Ossian warten zu lassen.
Ossian ist ein vortrefflicher Barde. Wenn wir doch auch von unsern
Barden irgend in einem Kloster etwas fänden!”[56] And in another letter
to the same, dated Bernstorff, Sept. 8, 1767, he writes: “Ossians Werke
sind wahre Meisterstücke. Wenn wir einen solchen Barden fänden! Es wird
mir ganz warm bey diesem Wunsche.”[57] And when Denis informs him of the
discovery of the songs of the so–called Illyrian bards,[58] he can not
conceal his delight, and writes from Bernstorff under date of July 22,
1768: “Sie haben mir durch Ihre Nachricht, dass noch illyrische Barden
durch die Ueberlieferung existiren, eine solche Freude gemacht, dass ich
ordentlich gewünscht hätte, dass mir Ihr Ossian weniger gefallen hätte,
um Sie bitten zu können, ihn liegen zu lassen und diese Barden zu
übersetzen.”[59] Though the Poems of Ossian could not, then, fully
compensate for the German treasures that were lost, they offered a
standard by which to judge the character of the songs of the old
Germani, and threw light upon many old institutions. There was much
false material in Macpherson’s various preliminary dissertations, which,
unfortunately, was accepted as gospel truth, even by men who might have
been credited with more critical acumen. And so when Klopstock was in
search of dress and historical material for his _Bardiete_, what more
natural than that in painting the character and customs of the followers
of Arminius, he should borrow here and there from the picture of the
ancient Celts as presented by Macpherson?[60] That Klopstock interested
himself in the history and manners of the ancient Caledonians, we see
from a passage in the letter to Denis, dated July 22, 1768, where he
refers Denis to John Macpherson’s _Critical Dissertations_:[61] “Ich
vermuthe, dass Sie einige Kleinigkeiten in Ihrer [Vorrede] zum Ossian
ändern werden,” he writes, “wenn Sie Macpherson von den Alterthümern der
Hochländer gelesen haben werden.”[62]
But what had Ossian to do with the old Germani? We shall let Klopstock
answer in his own words: “Und nun eine kleine nicht üble Nachricht von
meinen weidmännischen Lustwandlungen in den Wäldern unsrer alten
Sprachen, nach gethaner Arbeit nämlich.—Makpherson, der Retter des
Barden Ossian (_Ossian war deutscher Abkunft, weil er ein Kaledonier
war_)[63] wird mir, und wie ich hoffe nun bald, die eisgrauen
Melodien zu einigen lyrischen Stellen des grossen Dichters schicken.
Mit Hülfe dieser Melodien denk’ ich das Sylbenmaass der Barden
herauszubringen.”[64] An epigram in the same tone appeared in the
_Hamburgische Neue Zeitung_, 1771, No. 183, and was reprinted in the
first edition of the _Gelehrtenrepublik_, although omitted in the
second. It was entitled “Gerechter Anspruch,” and ran as follows:
Sie, deren Enkel jetzt auf Schottlands Bergen wohnen,
Die von den Römern nicht provinzten Kaledonen,
Sind deutschen Stamms. Daher gehört auch uns mit an
Der Bard und Krieger Ossian,
Und mehr noch als den Engelländern an.
We see, therefore, that Ossian was unceremoniously annexed by
Klopstock; Celts and Germani were all one to him,[65] he drew no narrow
distinctions, and not until late in life were his ideas on this point
clarified. We are not to suppose, however, that Klopstock alone occupied
this position. Far from it. The conceptions that existed at the time as
to the genetic relation of peoples and languages were rather hazy, to
say the least. Klopstock’s intense patriotism was a factor in preventing
him from penetrating more to the root of the matter. “Die allgemein
anerkannte und empfundene Vortrefflichkeit dieser Gesänge war es,” says
a writer in the periodical _Bragur_,[66] “welche ... die zärtliche
Vaterlandsliebe einiger teutschen Worthies so weit entflammte, dass sie
nicht nur den Barden Ossian, weil man bisher die Celten für die
Stammväter der Teutschen hielt und die ältesten teutschen Dichter aus
der Heidenzeit nicht anders als mit dem Bardennamen zu beschenken
gewohnt war, zu einem Landsmanne von uns zu machen suchten, sondern ihn
auch wirklich machten. Unsere Väter waren also Celten, unsere ältesten
teutonischen Dichter Barden.”
But still another element of confusion made its appearance with the
introduction of Norse mythology. The warriors of Arminius were not
Christians, nor was their religion based upon the mythology of the
Greeks. They had a mythology of their own, of which little was known.
Fortunately, the Old Norse _Edda_ had preserved a complete system of
divinities, and so Arminius and his followers were constrained to pray
to the Old Norse gods. Ferven patriots, who did not hesitate to adopt
Ossian as a countryman, could scarcely be expected to distinguish
between Old Norse mythology and the mythology of the ancient Cherusci
and Catti. Now Ossian having once been stamped as of German descent, it
required no great stretch of imagination to make Fingal and his warriors
forswear their allegiance to the Spirit of Loda and pray to Wodan and
his band, and _vice versa_ to make Norse bards—skalds—assume various
characteristics of Ossian’s heroes. Ossian and the characters of Norse
mythology went hand in hand, and making their appearance, as they did,
about the same time,[67] confusion was bound to arise. This confusion
was particularly noticeable in the writings of the first group of German
poets that were influenced by Ossian—of Klopstock and the bards—and
played much mischief in German literature for several years. Klopstock,
not content with introducing the Norse gods into his new poems,
proceeded to drive the residents of Olympus out of old ones and to
replace them by the dwellers in Walhalla. By the end of the year 1767
this process was completed. It is nowhere better illustrated than in the
ode now called “Wingolf,” which was written in 1747 under the title “An
des Dichters Freunde.” In the first verse, _e. g._, Hebe has had to make
way for Gna and so on throughout the poem.[68] It will be interesting to
mention a few of the changes occasioned by the appearance of Ossian. L.
4: “Feyernd in mächtigen Dithyramben,” now reads: “Feyrend in kühnerem
Bardenliede.” Ll. 5–7 which originally read:
Wilst du zu Strophen werden, o Lied, oder
Ununterwürfig Pindars Gesängen gleich,
Gleich Zevs erhabenen trunkenen Sohne, ...[69]
have been changed to:
Willst du zu Strophen werden, O Haingesang?
Willst du gesetzlos, Ossians Schwunge gleich,
Gleich Ullers Tanz auf Meerkrystalle, ...
It is evident that these changes are confined to externals, as is also
the case when l. 10, “Mit Orpheus Leyer,” becomes “Des Zelten Leyer,”
or l. 25, “Dein Priester wartet,” is changed to “Dein Barde wartet,” and
so on. As for Orpheus, the Thracians were regarded by Klopstock as a
tribe of the Celts, and so Orpheus becomes as much of a German bard as
Ossian.[70] Before we leave this ode, let us glance at an example or
two, showing how the machinery of Ossian is thrown together with Norse
mythology. Ll. 45–9, which originally read:
Aber geliebter, trunken und weisheitsvoll
Von Weingebürgen, wo die Unsterblichen
Taumelnd herumgehn, wo die Menschen
Unter Unsterblichen Götter werden.
were changed to:
Allein geliebter, wenn du voll Vaterlands
Aus jenen Hainen kömst, wo der Barden Chor[71]
Mit Braga singet, wo die Telyn
Tönt zu dem Fluge des deutschen Liedes.
or ll. 209–12:
Oder, wie aus den Götterversammlungen
Mit Agyieus Leyerton, himmelab,
Und taumelnd, hin auf Weingebürgen,
Sazungenlos Dithyramben donnern!
which have become:
Wie aus der hohen Drüden Versammlungen,
Nach Braga’s Telyn, nieder vom Opferfels,
Ins lange tiefe Thal der Waldschlacht,
Satzungenlos sich der Barden Lied stürzt!
Klopstock notes with reference to the word _Telyn_: “Die Leyer der
Barden. Sie heisset noch jetzt in der neueren celtischen Sprache so, die
am Meisten von der älteren behalten hat.” The term has replaced _Leier_
also in the odes “Thuiskon,” l. 13, “Die Barden,” l. 2; it occurs in ll.
62 and 123 of the ode “Der Hügel, und der Hain,” l. 14 of “Die Barden,”
in the _Hermannsschlacht_, in _Hermann und die Fürsten_, etc. The
introduction of this Celtic word goes back directly to the study of
Celtic to which Klopstock was incited by the poems of Ossian. Moreover,
it is not the only word he borrowed in this way. In “Die Barden,” l. 14,
he speaks of the _Telyn_ of our _Filea_, and explains the latter term
in a note as “Die vortrefflichsten unter den Barden, welche die jüngeren
unterrichteten.”[72] Another Celtic word that he introduced is
_Bardale_, which he defines as follows: “Von Barde. So hiess in unsrer
älteren Sprache die Lerche. Die Nachtigall verdient’s noch mehr, so zu
heissen.” Klopstock applied the word also to the nightingale, but in the
ode “Die Lerche und die Nachtigall” he uses it for the lark, a symbol of
the song of nature, in contradistinction to the nightingale, whose song
is more artificial. The ode “Bardale,” written in 1748, was originally
entitled “Aëdone”; it was first published under the simple title “Ode”
in the _Vermischte Schriften von den Verfassern der Bremischen
Beiträge_, i, p. 378 (1749). Although these terms are employed
occasionally by Klopstock’s imitators and others,[73] they never became
popular and soon died out altogether.
Klopstock was an earnest student of versification and nothing could have
given him more pleasure at one time of his career than the discovery of
the poetical measures of the ancient Germani. The appearance of
Macpherson’s Ossian in a prose garb, welcome as it was to some, must
have come as a cruel disappointment to one who was so anxious to be
enlightened as to the nature and structure of the meter of the
Ur–Germanic bardic songs. This disappointment finds expression in the
ode “Der Bach,” where he sings:
Der grosse Sänger Ossian folgt
Der Musik des vollen Baches nicht stets.
If Klopstock had only lived to see Ahlwardt’s translation from the
so–called Celtic originals, he would have had at least a partial
recompense. As it was, all he had to go by was the original (?) of the
sixth book of “Temora” and that did not give him much information as to
the exact structure of the verse he sought. He therefore entered into
correspondence with Macpherson, as we saw above[74] in the letter to
Gleim. The intensity of his interest is well illustrated by a few
epistolary passages. He writes to Denis under date of July 22, 1768: “In
dem Celtischen war ich auch schon ziemlich weit, aber es erklärt ~uns~
nichts; und da liess ichs. Ihnen ins Ohr. ~Macpherson~ (mit dem ich
correspondire), versteht entweder Ossians Quantität, oder das Sylbenmass
überhaupt nicht genug. Wenn Sie mir wahrscheinlich machen können, dass
die illyrischen Barden wenigstens halbe Deutsche waren, so bekömmt der
Uebersetzer einen schweren Stand mit mir, wenn er falsch, nur ein wenig
falsch übersetzt.”[75] Again, he writes to Ebert on May 5, 1769: “Wenn
mir ~Macpherson~ Wort hält; so bekomme ich einige alte Melodien nach
Ossian, in unsre Noten gesezt; und so kann ich auch vielleicht etwas
nicht unwahrscheinliches von dem Rhythmus der Barden sagen.”[76] It
appears, however, that he got but little help from the material
that Macpherson sent him, and so he takes his request to Angelica
Kauffmann,[77] who resided in London at the time. He writes to Gleim
from Bernstorff, Sept. 2, 1769: “Ich bin seit Kurzem in eine deutsche
Malerin in London, Angelika Kaufmann, beinahe verliebt. Sie hat einen
Briefwechsel mit mir angefangen, und will mir schicken: einen Kopf
Ossians nach ihrer Phantasie, ihr Portrait und ein Gemälde aus dem
Messias.”[78] Their common admiration for Ossian was no small factor in
cementing the friendship between the poet and the artist. Unfortunately
nothing came of the portrait of Ossian,[79] and hence we are left in the
dark as to the artist’s conception of the Voice of Cona and as to how
her conception would have coincided with Klopstock’s. On March 3, 1770,
Klopstock wrote to Angelica from Copenhagen: “Könnten Sie nicht in
Edingburgh, oder auch weiter hinauf gegen Norden, durch Hülfe Ihrer
Freunde, einen Musikus auftreiben, der mir die Melodien solcher Stellen
im Ossian, die vorzüglich lyrisch sind, in unsere Noten setzte,”
etc.[80] Nothing could better illustrate Klopstock’s profound interest
in the subject than the passages just quoted. After this we hear nothing
further of the matter, and must conclude that Klopstock’s hoped–for
assistance from this quarter proved illusory. What were Klopstock’s
conclusions with reference to Ossian’s meter, we are told in one of his
essays on the German hexameter, viz., he thought that Ossian’s meter
consisted of a mixture of narrative verses of his own invention and
other lyrical verses answering to the sense.[81] Of course Ossian’s
value for Klopstock lay in the fact that he supposedly sang in natural
melodies and was not hampered by artificial measures.
At the height of his enthusiasm for Ossian, Klopstock deemed it no
sacrilege to place the Celtic bard alongside of Homer, in accordance
with the popular practice of the day.[82] In a letter to Denis,
Klopstock writes from Copenhagen under date of August 4, 1767: “Ich
liebe Ossian so sehr, dass ich seine Werke über einige Griechische der
besten Zeit setze.”[83] In the first edition of the _Gelehrtenrepublik_
(1774) appeared the following epigram, which is a striking illustration
of Klopstock’s _quondam_ supreme admiration for Ossian:
Du gingst der Schönheit Bahn,
Sohn Fingals, Ossian;
Sie ging Mäonides Homer:
Wer that der Schritte mehr?[84]
Similarly he sings in the ode “Unsre Sprache” (ll. 53–60):
Die Vergessenheit umhüllt’, o Ossian, auch dich!
Dich huben sie hervor, und du stehest nun da!
Gleichest dich dem Griechen! trotzest ihm!
Und fragst, ob wie du er entflamme den Gesang?
Voll Gedanken auf der Stirne höret’ ihn Apoll,
Und sprach nicht! und gelehnt auf die Harfe Walhalls
Stellt sich vor Apollo Bragor hin,
Und lächelt, und schweiget, und zürnet nicht auf ihn.
The first four verses of this eulogy became very popular among Ossian’s
numerous admirers, and we find them occasionally prefixed to German
translations. They are also quoted by Denis in his Vorbericht[85] to the
_Lieder Sineds_ (1772).
Let us now briefly consider Ossian’s influence upon Klopstock as it
appears in some of his works. Dr. Julius Köster in his _Programm Ueber
Klopstocks Gleichnisse_ (Iserlohn, 1878), fixes the beginning of this
influence altogether too late. He says: “Ossian hat erst Ende der
sechziger Jahre auf Klopstock wirken können, weil er in Deutschland erst
um jene Zeit durch die Uebersetzung von Denis bekannt wurde.” We have
seen, however, that notices of Ossian had appeared in Germany as early
as 1762 and that several translations were published before that of
Denis, although to be sure, Denis’s was the first that attracted
widespread attention. Klopstock, who of course had become acquainted
with Ossian long before the appearance of Denis’s translation, took a
warm interest in the translator’s work, as is evidenced by the
correspondence that passed between the two. Klopstock had seen bits of
the translation before it was published; under date of Sept. 8, 1767, he
writes to Denis from Bernstorff: “Sie werden am Ende dieses Briefs
einige Ausdrücke finden, mit denen ich in Ihrer Uebersetzung des Ossian
und in Ihrer Ode weniger als mit den andern zufrieden bin.”[86] It has
been pointed out,[87] that the earliest translations all emanated from
North Germany, from Bremen, Hamburg, and Hannover, and they were
consequently very liable to fall into Klopstock’s hands. Besides, there
is no reason why he should not have read Macpherson’s poems in English,
a copy of which he would have had no difficulty in procuring on one of
the frequent visits made to Germany between the summer of 1762 and July,
1764. Klopstock had begun the study of English as a youngster at school,
and although he, like so many other German literati of the day, like
Lenz, for example, never obtained a complete scientific mastery of the
language, he would have experienced little difficulty in construing
Macpherson’s short, simple periods. Be that as it may, there can be no
doubt of the fact that Klopstock became acquainted with Ossian as early
as 1764, for the simple reason that some of the odes written in that
year show plain traces of Ossian’s influence.
In all attempts to arrive at an exact estimate of Ossian’s influence
upon Klopstock, one difficulty will always be encountered, a difficulty
based upon the fact that both the language of Macpherson and that of
Klopstock rest in large measure upon the same foundations: the Bible,
Homer, Milton, Latin poets. Malcolm Laing in his “Dissertation”[88] gave
innumerable examples of Macpherson’s borrowings, and although he
undoubtedly went a little too far, it can not be denied that many of
his conclusions are true. The greatest care has, therefore, to be
exercised in attributing anything in Klopstock to Ossian, for the
chances are that the Bible, or Milton, or Homer, or Horace, or some
other classical poet, is the common source from which both drew.[89] For
instance, Macpherson is fond of comparing the voice or song to a stream,
but were we to attribute Klopstock’s lines:
So floss der Waldstrom hin nach dem Ozean:
So fliesst mein Lied auch, stark und gedankenvoll.
to Ossian, we should be led astray, for Klopstock’s source was
undoubtedly Horace, _Odes_, iv, 2, ll. 5–8, where he speaks of the songs
of Pindar:
Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres
Quem super notas aluere ripas,
Fervet immensusque suit profundo
Pindarus ore.
The large majority of Klopstock’s comparisons are taken from nature and
so are Ossian’s: comparisons with the moon and the stars, dusk and
night, clouds and mist, wind and storm, etc., etc., all are found in
Klopstock even before Ossian appeared; indeed, the resemblance of the
language of Klopstock to that of Ossian, even in the early songs of the
_Messiah_, especially as far as the imagery is concerned, is striking.
The same accumulation of comparisons is of course found in Homer.
Köster[90] again and again notes passages from Ossian where an influence
proceeding from him is absolutely out of the question, not only in
connection with the early songs of the _Messiah_, but also with
reference to odes written before 1764, _e. g._, he refers to Ossian in
connection with the line “Laura war ... Schön wie ein festlicher Tag,”
in the ode “Petrarka und Laura” (l. 61). But this ode was written as
early as 1748 and consequently Ossian can not be held responsible. When
Klopstock in the “Klagode” sings (ll. 10–11):
Wie Gras auf dem Felde sind Menschen
Dahin, wie Blätter; ...
we can of course point to a resemblance in Ossian, “Lathmon,” p. 271, l.
20: “We decay like the grass of the hill,” or “Berrathon,” p. 382, l.
3: “Like the leaves of woody Morven, they pass away,” but at the same
time we must not forget that similar comparisons occur in the Psalms and
in Homer (_e. g._, _Iliad_, vi, ll. 146–8). Likewise we have the
comparison of man’s perishableness to the short life of a flower in
_Hermann und die Fürsten_, Sc. 14: “Vor dem Triumphwagen werd’ ich wie
eine Blume hindorren,” and also in Ossian, “Croma,” p. 178, l. 18: “They
fall away, like the flower,” etc., but compare _Job_, 14, 2, _Psalms_,
103, 15–6, etc. Enough examples have been cited to convince one of the
fruitlessness of attempting to draw sharp lines in the treatment of our
subject. Of this we may be certain: One reason why Ossian appealed so
strongly to Klopstock was, that he found here so much that was familiar
to him from his own reading and writing.
Having thus far regarded the question mainly from a negative standpoint,
it now remains for us to give some examples of a positive influence.
Ossian’s influence upon Klopstock is visible particularly in the odes
written in 1764, 1766 and 1767, and in the first _Bardiet_, _Die
Hermannsschlacht_, although traces appear in the later odes and
_Bardiete_. Doubtless a closer examination of the language of the later
books of the _Messiah_ would also reveal the influence of Ossian.
_Salomo_ contains an Ossianic reminiscence or two, but nothing that can
be distinctly localized. Klopstock’s unbounded admiration for Ossian
really did not last much over a decade and the old bard’s influence
gradually diminished, just as Klopstock’s fondness for Norse mythology
grew less and less pronounced. By the time he began to turn his
attention to the French Revolution, both Ossian and the Norse divinities
appear more like a memory of the days of old. The year 1764, in which
Klopstock probably first became acquainted with Ossian, marks the
beginning of a period of renewed activity in the field of the ode, and I
am inclined to conclude that Ossian’s appearance helped to further that
activity. The influence of Norse mythology upon the works of Klopstock
manifests itself largely in externals; similarly does that of Ossian.
Klopstock borrowed much from the bardic machinery, just as he did from
that of the Norse gods, without at the same time entering very deeply
into the spirit of Ossian. In fact, he did not need to, for much of what
he found in Ossian was not foreign to his nature. That we are justified
in placing Klopstock’s acquaintance with Ossian as far back as 1764
needs no further proof than a reference to the ode “Der Jüngling”
written in that year, in which the poet treats the theme of the
perishableness of youth, a subject upon which Ossian loved to harp.
Indeed, Klopstock’s poem is directly based upon Ossian’s reflections on
youth in “The War of Inis–Thona,” p. 203, ll. 1–5.[91] The entire dress
of the poem is Ossianic.
It strikes us as rather savoring of Ossian, when nature is allowed to
take on a dimmer, mistier aspect in the new form of the ode “Wingolf,”
_e. g._, in l. 196 “wallenden Opferrauche” is changed to “schweigenden
Dämmerungen;”
ll. 269–71:
Er sprach’s. Izt seh ich über den Altar her,
Auf Opferwolken, Schlegeln mit dicht’rischen
Geweihten Lorbeerschatten kommen, ...
become:
Er sang’s. Jetzt sah ich fern in der Dämmerung
Des Hains am Wingolf Schlegeln aus dichtrischen
Geweihten Eichenschatten schweben, ...
Dark, dim, distant, dusky, far, misty, silent are epithets that
continually occur in Ossian, over whose distant groves of oaks pours the
mist in which ghosts hover. The last three lines quoted certainly
present a much more Ossianic picture as they now stand than they did in
the original version.
In the ode “Hermann” (1767), three bards are introduced lamenting the
death of Arminius. An Ossianic chord is struck at the very beginning,
when Werdomar, the chief of the bards, sings, ll. 1–2:
Auf diesem Steine der alternden Moose,
Wollen wir sitzen, o Barden, und ihn singen.
The peculiar expression “Steine der alternden Moose” reminds us of the
moss of years that covers most of Ossian’s stones.[92] Other slight
reminders of Ossianic description occur throughout the ode.
The bards in Ossian occasionally exercise the power of looking into the
mirror of the future. So in the ode “Weissagung” (1773), the poet seizes
the _Telyn_ and prophesies; likewise in the ode “Die Rosstrappe”
(1771);[93] in both, however, the sacred white horses mentioned by
Tacitus, but not found in Ossian, play a part.
A frequent device that we find in Klopstock, especially at the height
of his enthusiasm for Ossian, is the conjuring up of the spirits of the
departed. Doubtless the songs of Ossian, in which the ghosts of the
fallen play such an important rôle, inspired Klopstock with a fondness
for this device. We must hold Ossian accountable, for example, when in
the ode “Thuiskon” (1764) the hoary ancestor of the German people is
made to appear in the grove of the modern German bards. Similarly an old
bard is conjured up in the ode “Der Hügel, und der Hain” (1767); in the
ode “Rothschilds Gräber” (1766) the souls of the departed appear to the
poet, and spirits that hover around Braga or the goddess of the German
language occur frequently in the odes of the period that coincides with
Klopstock’s most intense interest in Ossian.[94]
The influence of Ossian is particularly manifest in the first of the
odes mentioned in the previous paragraph, in “Thuiskon.” We have but to
read the ode and for comparison the “Address to the Evening Star” and
the “Apostrophe to Fingal and his Times” in “The Songs of Selma,”[95] to
notice the resemblance. The time of the ghosts’ appearance in both is at
the rising of the evening star, which in “Thuiskon” sends down
“entwölkte Schimmer,” while in Ossian it “lifts its head from its
clouds.” Compare also ll. 5–6:
So entsenket die Erscheinung des Thuiskon, wie Silber stäubt
Von fallendem Gewässer ...
with “Fingal comes like a watery column of mist.”[96]
Another ode of the same year, “Die frühen Gräber” (1764), shows
undoubted traces of Ossian’s influence. The entire _Stimmung_ is
Ossianic and Ossianic touches are not wanting, as when the poet says,
ll. 9–10:
Ihr Edleren, ach es bewächst
Eure Maale schon ernstes Moos!
The poems of Ossian teem with laments for the departed, whose graves are
marked by stones, grown over with moss. The danger of referring
everything in Klopstock that savors of the Gaelic bard to Ossian has
been pointed out, yet Ossian undoubtedly accentuated and brought into
stronger relief much that already existed.
Klopstock’s characterization of the songs of the bards given in ll.
33–40 and 77–84 of the ode “Der Hügel, und der Hain” is based largely
upon his knowledge of the poems of Ossian which were supposedly further
removed from the limitations of art and closer to nature than the poems
of the Greeks.
The description of natural scenery and the comparison at the beginning
of the ode “Aganippe und Phiala” (1764) reminds us strongly of Ossian,
who was very fond of permitting several _as’s_ and _so’s_ to follow one
another in his comparisons, a trick that was widely copied later in the
imitations of Ossian and carried to excess.
Ll. 1–10:
Wie der Rhein im höheren Thal fern herkommt,
Rauschend, als käm’ Wald und Felsen mit ihm,
Hochwogig erhebt sich sein Strom,
Wie das Weltmeer die Gestade
Mit gehobner Woge bestürmt! Als donnr’ er,
Rauschet der Strom, schäumt, fliegt, stürzt sich herab
Ins Blumengefild, und im Fall
Wird er Silber, das emporstäubt.
So ertönt, so strömt der Gesang, Thuiskon,
Deines Geschlechts ...
Compare, _e. g._, “Fingal,” Book i, p. 221, ll. 4–10:
“As rushes a stream of foam from the dark shady deep of Cromla, when
the thunder is travelling above, and dark–brown night sits on half
the hill; through the breaches of the tempest look forth the dim
faces of ghosts: So fierce, so vast, so terrible rushed on the sons
of Erin. The chief, like a whale of ocean, whom all his billows
pursue, poured valour forth as a stream, rolling his might along the
shore.”
Ossian is full of long comparisons, with several dependent clauses,[97]
and loves to heap up adjectives. Although the comparison of song to a
stream frequently occurs in Ossian, we have seen[98] that it would be
unsafe to attribute Klopstock’s use of the comparison to Ossian, in
fact, we find comparisons of the voice to a storm pouring down from the
hills in the early books of the _Messiah_, and of course in classical
poetry.
Another example of the nature of Ossian’s influence upon Klopstock, its
power to strengthen existing conceptions, is offered by his use of the
oak in comparisons. Köster[99] remarks, that Klopstock’s numerous
comparisons to the oak are all found in his later dramas, none in the
_Messiah_. The oak, which Klopstock was so fond of regarding as the
national tree—_die deutsche Eiche_—was as much at home in the
highlands of Scotland as in the primeval forests of Germany, and
according to Ossian occupied just as high a place in the minds of the
Caledonians as in those of the Germani. The grove of oaks, the _Hain_,
came to bear the same relation to bardic poetry that _Helicon_, the
_Hügel_, bore to Greek poetry. It must have pleased Klopstock to find
these groves of oaks so frequently mentioned in Ossian, in “The Songs of
Selma,” _e. g._,[100] and without a doubt Ossian’s numerous comparisons
to the oak had an influence upon Klopstock. In the _Hermannsschlacht_,
Sc. 6, _e. g._, he says: “... so stürzt’ er in sein Blut, wie die junge,
schlanke Eiche der Donnersturm bricht.” Compare “Temora,” Bk. iii, p.
328, ll. 25–6: “Like a young oak falls Tur–lathon;” “Carthon,” p. 163,
l. 20: “There he lies, a goodly oak, which sudden blasts overturned!”
etc., etc.
Klopstock borrowed a name from Ossian and employed it freely in his
odes, _Selma_, the name of the royal residence[101] of Fingal. He grew
quite fond of the euphonious name, used it to apply to a girl, coined a
corresponding masculine form _Selmar_, and out of the two made a pair of
ideal lovers. Vetterlein[102] many years ago suggested that the names
might have been taken from _Selim_ and _Selima_, names given by Prevod
to a pair of tender lovers in the _Memoires d’un homme de qualité_;[103]
but no one of the present day would subscribe to that opinion. Had he
kept the name of the maid in “The Songs of Selma,” _Colma_, he would
have been induced to call her lover, whose real name is _Salgar_,
_Colmar_, and that would have led to confusion with the Ossianic hero of
that name. The ode “Selmar und Selma,” written in 1748, was originally
entitled “Daphnis und Daphne.” About the same time that the change of
names took place, another ode was written with the title “Selma und
Selmar” (1766), in which the lovers promise that the first to die will
appear to the other. This is a fancy that we frequently meet in the
latter half of the 18th century, and it found nourishment in Ossian. The
name Selma occurs furthermore in the ode “Die Erscheinung” (1777), and
Selma and Selmar are the two ideal lovers in the ode “Das Bündniss,” as
late as 1789. The combination grew to be quite a popular one, and so we
find “Elegien von Selma und Selmar” in Kosegarten’s _Thränen und Wonnen_
(Stralsund, 1778), a poem “Selmar und Selma” by Friedrich Stolberg[104]
that shows the influence of Ossian, another Ossianic poem of the same
title dedicated to Christian Stolberg,[105] and many more. The
popularity of the name Selma was still further increased by the
translation of “The Songs of Selma” that appeared in _Werthers Leiden_.
The _Hermannsschlacht_ and the larger part of _Hermann und die Fürsten_
were written at the height of Klopstock’s enthusiasm for Ossian and we
shall not search in vain for signs of the bard’s influence in these
dramas, particularly in the former. One of the most important and
striking constituents of these dramas are the songs of the bards,
interspersed throughout, which are thoroughly Ossianic in tone and
spirit. Klopstock’s bards, like those of Ossian, encourage the warriors
to battle, proclaim the fame of the mighty; they tell of the deeds of
the past, and when they sing: “Höret Thaten der vorigen Zeit,” we recall
Ossian’s “tales of the times of old,” or his “deeds of other times.” The
three choruses in Sc. 3 of the _Hermannsschlacht_ beginning with this
exhortation are all decidedly Ossianic, _e. g._:
Höret Thaten der vorigen Zeit![106]
Zwar braucht ihr, euch zu entflammen, die Thaten der vorigen
Zeit nicht,
Doch tönen sie eurem horchenden Ohr
Wie das Säuseln im Laube, wenn die Mondennacht glänzt.[107]
Compare _Messiah_, xx, ll. 495–9:
Jetzo schwieg der Gesang; doch tönete fort der gehauchte Hall, und
die Saite. So tönet der Hain, wenn weit in der Ferne Ströme durch
Felsen stürzen; und nah von den Bächen es rieselt: Wenn es vom Winde
rauscht in den tausendblättrigen Ulmen.
Ossian has numerous comparisons to wind and storm, breeze and blast and
gale, in much the same tone, for instance the following, “Berrathon,”
p. 379, ll. 1–3: “As the noise of an aged grove beneath the roaring
wind, when a thousand ghosts break the trees by night.” After the bards
have finished in the second scene, first edition, Siegmar exclaims: “Das
war gut, Barden, dass Ihr von den Thaten unsrer Väter sangt!” Compare:
“... sing nun dem Heere von den Thaten seiner Väter.” “Lathmon,” p. 272,
ll. 7–8: “Their words were of the deeds of their fathers,” etc.
When the bards in Sc. 2 sing:
Die Räder an dem Kriegeswagen Wodans
Rauschen wie des Walds Ströme die Gebirg’ herab!
we are reminded of the car of Cuthullin in the first book of “Fingal”
and of Ossian’s roaring streams that pour down the hills. Compare
_Hermann und die Fürsten_, Sc. 1:
Hermann stritt.
So stürzt von dem Gebirg herab
Mit heulendem Sturme der Winterstrom
Und breitet ringsum aus in dem Thal die herrschenden Wogen.
To liken a host of warriors unto a ‘gathered cloud’ or a ‘ridge of mist’
is a favorite device of Ossian, and similarly in Sc. 2 of the
_Hermannsschlacht_,[108] two choruses sing:
... Da zogen wir Deutschen uns
Zusammen gleich einer Wolke.
And in the third scene a bard remarks: “Sie ziehn sich, wie ein dicker
Nebel, langsam in den Vorderbusch.” And when the bards sing in the
second scene:
Weit halle dein Schild! dein Schlachtruf töne,
Wie das Weltmeer an dem Felsengestade!
or in the first edition:
Wie ein Donnersturm in dem Felsengebirg!
we can point to Ossian’s shouts that are “louder than a storm” or like
“thunder on distant hills.”
“Die Flamme des gerechten Zorns,” _Hermannsschlacht_, chorus, Sc. 3,
calls up Ossian’s ‘flame of wrath,’ but undoubtedly the Bible is the
source of both.
In Sc. 6 we have the following lines:
Seht ihr nicht auf der Mondglanzwolke
An der Eiche Wipfel,
Eure Brüder schweben, und eure Väter?
. . . . .
Sie blicken auf euch herab.
Similarly in Ossian the ghosts of the fathers that float on clouds look
down upon the warriors.
In Sc. 11 two choruses sing:
Wie des Wiederhalls in der Sommernacht war seines Schildes Ton,
Wie des vollen Mondes der Glanz!
and so “Carric–Thura,” p. 151, l. 27, “That shield like the full–orbed
moon,” etc., and echoing shields without number.
One striking feature of the Highland scenery according to Ossian is the
fact that everything—forest and heath, bay and stream, grove and vale,
hill and isle, rocks and fields and banks and walls and numerous other
things—is very susceptible to the echo, “the son of the rock,” and the
fondness that Klopstock and the bards begin to exhibit for the echo
about this time must be traced back largely to Ossian. In addition to
the passage just quoted, we have in Sc. 2, _e. g._, “Wir haben ... den
Gesang in den Felsen des Wiederhalls gehört,” “Lasst die Namen ... in
allen Felsen des Wiederhalls laut tönen,” etc. In the same scene the
bards sing:
Ruf in des Wiederhalls Felsengebirg
Durch das Graun des nächtlichen Hains,
Dass . . . . . .
Es ertöne wie ein Donnersturm!
In Sc. 11: “Wiederhalls Kluft,” etc.
A few words as to the poet’s attitude towards Ossian in his old age may
complete our consideration of Klopstock. As he grew older, and other
affairs, above all else the French Revolution, began to engross his
attention, Ossian gradually lost interest for him, although he was never
entirely forgotten. As late as 1797, Klopstock writes to Böttiger under
date of November 9:[109] “Wissen Sie schon etwas von der Ausgabe von
Ossians Gesängen, die jetzt in England in seiner Sprache gemacht wird?
Ist die Übersezung getreu? Sind Anmerkungen über das Zeltische dabey?”
Unfortunately he died before the long–heralded edition was finally
published. When his enthusiastic admiration for Ossian subsided and took
on a saner aspect, when his views on the subject of the relation of the
Celts to the old German tribes assumed a more scientific character, he
could not allow Ossian to occupy the position assigned to him at first.
Although Klopstock’s fondness for the Celtic Homer diminished in the
course of years, it nevertheless possessed a more lasting character than
that of Goethe and of Schiller, to whom, as we shall see, it was merely
a passing inspiration. Klopstock’s sober second thought revealed to him
that he had occasionally gone too far in his blind adoration, and so we
find that in later revisions of his works Ossianic reminiscences are
occasionally expunged. The eulogistic verses that appeared in the first
edition of the _Gelehrtenrepublik_ (1774)[110] were omitted in the
second; the ode “Teutone” (1773) gives the first fifty–two lines of
“Unsre Sprache” (1767) almost literally, but substitutes sixteen new
lines for the eight lines of encomium found in the latter.[111] In the
first two _Bardiete_, the bards play an almost overwhelming rôle with
their numerous songs, whereas in _Hermanns Tod_ the bards appear in one
scene only, the fifteenth. Then two passages appeared in the first
edition of the _Hermannsschlacht_ that were omitted or revised in the
second, as _e. g._, the chorus beginning “Höret Thaten der vorigen
Zeit!” in Sc. 2.—Late in life Klopstock in his correspondence with
Böttiger occasionally refers to Ossian. One letter has been quoted from.
Under date of January 6, 1798, he writes to Böttiger: “Hierbey
Macd[onald] und einige Aufschr[iften]. Ich werde eher keinen bestimten
Begriff von Ossian bekommen, als bis man mir (könte es nicht Macd.
thun?) merklich verschiedene Stellen aus ihm völlig wörtlich
übersezt. Sie sehen, dass ich nur Stellen meinen kan, die Oss. gewiss
zugehören.”[112] If we read between the lines, we can see feelings of
doubt and if we are to place entire confidence in a letter of Sir James
Mackintosh to Malcolm Laing,[113] Klopstock at last lost his faith in
the authenticity of the songs of Ossian altogether—a strange ending to
his earlier unbounded enthusiasm. Sir James writes: “I consider your
Ossian and Farmer’s ‘Essay’ on Shakspeare’s pretended learning as the
two most complete demonstrations of literary positions that have ever
been produced ... You know how bitterly old Klopstock complained of you
for having dispelled his Ossianic illusions ...”
§2. The Bards.[114]—Gerstenberg.
The bardic poetry, the way for which had been prepared by Mallet’s
influential work, the _Introduction à l’histoire de Danemarc_ with its
_Supplément: Monumens de la Mythologie et de la Poësie des Celtes et
particulièrement des Anciens Scandinaves_, and which had received its
impulse from Macpherson’s Ossian, aided by the mistaken acceptation of
the _barditus_ mentioned by Tacitus, soon gained other supporters, among
whom the most prominent were Gerstenberg, Denis and Kretschmann. The
various other representatives of the poetry, which, carried to an
extreme, became ridiculous and was justly characterized as the
_Bardengebrüll_ or _Bardengeschrei_, were on the whole devoid of talent
and scarcely call for serious treatment.
Much of what has been said with reference to Klopstock’s reception
of Ossian applies also to the bards, only we see that the thing
deteriorated into a fad through imitation. It began to take on
the character of mere play; the poets styled themselves bards
and gave themselves bardic names, _e. g._, Klopstock—_Werdomar_,
Gerstenberg—_Thorlaug_, Denis—_Sined_,[115] Kretschmann—_Rhingulph_,
Hartmann—_Telynhard_, Dusch—_Ryno_, Haschka—_Cronnan_, etc.[116]
Just as Klopstock had sacrificed the lyre for the _telyn_, so his
followers. The harp of the bards replaced the Zionitic harp. The poet,
or rather bard,[117] was no longer crowned with the laurel–wreath but
with the leaf of the oak. To–day we smile at these vagaries, but these
men were very earnest in their play. Kretschmann, and not Klopstock, is
responsible for most of the nonsense. The most pleasing phase of the
movement is its patriotic character, and we must give the bards credit
for the earnestness with which they strove to inculcate a feeling for
national unity. Then they praise virtue and maidenly modesty, a cheerful
sign for that age.
If these bards had restricted themselves to singing the mighty deeds of
the past, it would not have been so bad, but when Arminius and the old
Germani had become exhausted, they came down to the present and
endeavored to surround it with an air of antiquity. As a result bardic
poetry became largely a matter of _vers d’occasion_. The unfavorable
critics seized upon the aberrations and made a laughing–stock of the
whole school, and so the few good illustrations had to suffer with the
large majority of those whose poverty of conception and general
inability have prevented their names from being handed down to
posterity. Thus long before Ossian’s influence in Germany had ceased,
bardic poetry was a thing of the past. Much of the machinery of Ossian’s
bards was borrowed by the German bardic poets and even the druids were
transferred to German soil. The old Norse mythology, which found such
ready acceptance by Klopstock and Gerstenberg, is not so important in
the poetry of Denis, Kretschmann, and the numerous minor bards. What the
bards copied then from Ossian were the general paraphernalia, the
characteristic motifs, the tone of the harp, the echoing grove, the
ghosts of the departed,[118] and the like. The love for the dismal
heath, the stormy sea, and other phases of Ossianic description of wild
and forlorn nature, can not be said to predominate in the bardic poetry,
although it is frequently noticeable, as _e. g._, in Maler Müller, who
in his bardic poetry loses himself absolutely in the Ossianic
descriptions of nature.[119] The importance of Ossian’s landscape
painting lay in the circumstance that it acted upon the mood of the
reader, and although the general tone of the nature depicted in Ossian
does not change much, it was a marked advance to have a description of
nature invested with some internal significance, to bring nature and the
feelings into interaction with each other. Ossian again and again
inserts a picture of nature at the opening of an episode and this device
was frequently copied in the bardic poetry, with this only difference:
in Macpherson the connection between the introductory description and
the following action is evident, whereas in the bardic imitations it
generally strikes the reader as something irrelevant. When Ossianic
comparisons are introduced, as they frequently are, they usually bear
the stamp of servile imitation, being cold and showing no trace of
intense personal feeling. At the same time, however, an attempt is
occasionally made to enter into the _Stimmung_ of Ossian, reflected at
first in mere imitation, but finally striking out for itself.[120] What
the bards did not copy were his peculiar delineations of character, his
management of the action,[121] although the noble qualities of Fingal
and his heroes are transferred to the princes who are being extolled.
All details will be left for the separate discussions to follow.
Heinrich Wilhelm Gerstenberg.
We have included Gerstenberg among the bards, but he was far from being
a bard as we apply that term to Denis and Kretschmann. Denis wrote
little poetry that was not in the bardic vein, whereas Gerstenberg moved
in many spheres. Gerstenberg was not a prolific writer, yet three
productions of his were quite influential in their day: The _Briefe über
Merkwürdigkeiten der Litteratur_, the _Gedicht eines Skalden_, and
_Ugolino_; and in all three the shades of Ossian are visible in one form
or another. His early productions, including the _Tändeleien_, written
in the Anacreontic manner, do not concern us here and we shall turn our
attention at once to the _Schleswigische Litteraturbriefe_.[122] An
account of the place that these letters occupy in the history of German
literature, of their tendency and their influence, would lead us too far
afield. We are interested here solely in the eighth letter and more
particularly in the first portion of the letter which discusses the
“Memoire eines Irrländers über die ossianischen Gedichte.”[123] Here for
the first time in a German journal we meet with serious doubts as to the
genuineness of the poems. Gerstenberg has occasionally been praised, and
deservedly so, for having had the sagacity to see through the forgery at
once; and he deserves particular credit also for having had the courage
to stand by his convictions and to publish personal opinions that were
almost certain to be received, if not with scorn, at least with
indifference. It was no doubt Gerstenberg to whom Herder referred in his
_Briefwechsel über Ossian_ as one who so “obstinately doubted the truth
and authenticity of the Scotch Ossian.” Gerstenberg realized that he
stood almost alone in his opinion and he refers to the unanimity of the
critics near the beginning of his letter. His doubts were not called
forth by the “Mémoire,” but had presented themselves to him upon his
first perusal of the songs. He says in the letter: “Dass entweder Hr.
Macpherson seinen Text ausserordentlich verfälscht, oder auch das
untergeschobne Werk einer neuern Hand allzu leichtgläubig für ein
genuines angenommen hätte, glaubten wir gleich aus den mancherley Spuren
des Modernen sowol, als aus den verschiednen kleinen _hints_,
die der Dichter sich aus dem Homer _x._ gemerkt zu haben schien,
wahrzunehmen.”[124] The more direct proofs he lacked at first were
furnished by the author of the “Mémoire,” a synopsis of whose arguments
he proceeds to give in a few lines, closing with the words: “... ich
enthalte mich aber eines weitern Details, da Sie diess alles in der
Urschrift selbst nicht ohne Vergnügen nachlesen werden.” It is
unfortunate that Gerstenberg did not pursue the subject further; his
views would no doubt have been exceedingly interesting and rather
refreshing. He then passes over to the _Reliques_, which he stamps as
more reliable than the songs of Ossian.
DER SKALDE (1766).—The same year in which the first two collections of
the _Schleswigische Litteraturbriefe_ were published also marks the
appearance of the _Gedicht eines Skalden_, or _Der Skalde_, as it was
called later, one of the best poems written in the bardic manner, and
one that exerted great influence upon the bardic poetry. Old Norse
mythology was here introduced and combined with a few Ossianic touches.
Knowing that Gerstenberg disbelieved in the authenticity of the poems,
we should scarcely expect traces of their influence at this time. _Der
Skalde_ actually contains but few Ossianic reminiscences, particularly
when compared with what we find in some of the poems of Denis. As Pfau
has pointed out,[125] Gerstenberg no doubt derived from Ossian the idea
of having the ghost of Thorlaug (Himintung) arise from his grave. There
is nothing in old Norse mythology corresponding to the ghost–world of
Ossian, and the only thing that distinguishes the appearance of
Thorlaug’s ghost from that of one in Ossian is that Gerstenberg has
breathed a Christian spirit into his resurrection, in contradistinction
to the dismal and sometimes terrible apparitions of Ossian. We are
reminded of Ossian’s ghosts when Gerstenberg sings:
(1. Canto.)
... Wo ruht
Mein schwebender Geist auf luftiger Höh?[126]
(2. Canto.)
Welch feierliches Graun
Steigt langsam über diese Hügel,
Wie im Nachtgewölk
Neugeschiedner Seelen, auf?
* * * * *
Mir schwindelt! durch Jahrhunderte
Blick’ ich, durch trübe ferne Nebel.[127]
Compare “Cath–Loda,” Duan iii, first four ll.[128] The tone is Ossianic
in the third canto when Thorlaug sings:
Einst, da ich einsam und verlassen,
. . . . . . . .
Am Ufer irrt’, und jeden Hauch
Der Luft, der nach der Küste blies,
Mit meinen Seufzern flügelte ...[129]
‘Lonely’ and ‘forlorn’ are standing epithets of Ossian, and “Fingal,”
Bk. iv, p. 252, last line, has: “My sighs shall be on Cromla’s wind;”
etc., etc. Pfau[130] has suggested that Ossian may be responsible for
the abrupt manner in which the strife between Thorlaug and his foe is
commenced, for Ossian’s heroes are always ready to draw the sword. I
think it very questionable that Ossian’s influence was at work here.
Pfau, however, has correctly observed that the epithet ‘red’ as applied
to the eye of Thorlaug’s foe (3. Canto) must be ascribed to Ossian:
Zur Wuth erhitzt und Funken sprühend
Aus rothem Auge, . . . .[131]
Occasional scenic resemblances to Ossian are also found, _e. g._, in
the second canto we have the “silent stone of the hills”[132] and:
Im Schatten dieses Eichenhains,
* * * * *
Die stolzesten der Wipfel rauschten,
Und leise Bäche murmelten.
* * * * *
Vom Hügel braust im Bogenschuss
Ein breiter Quell, schwillt auf zum breitern Fluss,
Springt donnernd über jähe Spitzen,
* * * * *
Der volle Busen wallt auf zarten Wogen.
Die sternenvolle Nacht umschwebet sie,
. . . . . . . . . .
Sieh den gelindern West ihr Haar umfliessen!
O sieh den hellern Mond zu ihren Füssen![133]
Compare “Dar–Thula,” p. 281, ll. 23–4: “The blast came rustling in the
tops of Seláma’s groves;” “Fingal,” Bk. i, p. 216, ll. 16–7: “murmuring
rivulets;” “Temora,” Bk. iii, p. 326, l. 36–p. 327, l. 1: “On Crona ...
there bursts a stream.... It swells in its ... course.... Then comes it
white from the hill;” “Temora,” Bk. iv, p. 338, l. 33: “Streams leap
down from the rocks,” etc. Ossianic in spirit is also the following
description: (4. Canto.)
... rauh und wüste,
In trübem Dunkel schauerte die Küste;
Kein Himmel leuchtete mild durch den Hain.
. . . . . . . . . .
In Höhlen lauschte Graun ...
Und was am Ufer scholl, war Kriegsgeschrei.[134]
IDUNA. ARIADNE AUF NAXOS.—Gerstenberg very soon turned his attention
completely away from the old Norse mythology and we have only one other
poem written under its spell, _Iduna_, which also contains several
traces of Ossian’s influence, _e. g._, the line: “So glitt ich auf
Dünsten dahin!”[135] “Am Busen des Windes”[136] recalls Ossian’s “on the
bosom of winds,”[137] as “Des Mädchens mit den weissen Armen”[138]
suggests Ossian’s “white armed maidens.” The influence is visible also
in occasional touches in the cantata _Ariadne auf Naxos_ (1765), for
example when Ariadne sings:
Wie weint’ ich heimlich Freudenthränen! ach,
Wie hob sich diese Brust!
Wie wallte sie, ...[139]
we involuntarily recall the secret tears of joy and the rising and
swelling of the breasts of Ossian’s maidens, and when she speeds “wie
ein Strahl vom Himmel seinen Armen zu”[140] we are reminded of Ossian’s
frequent comparisons of a hero or heroine to a beam of the sky or from
heaven, or to a stream of light, to a sun–beam or a moon–beam. The
entire atmosphere of the cantata is really Ossianic: the maiden
lamenting on a desert rock surrounded by the wild ocean:
Mit fliegendem Haare! wohin!
Irr’ ich am Ufer, und bin
Das Spiel der Winde![141]
What is more, the plot reminds us very much of a portion of “Berrathon,”
as will be seen by a look at the argument of the latter.
A number of Gerstenberg’s shorter poems make use of the grove with its
moss and the oak, the echo, the harp, and other bardic properties,
without, however, acquiring the real bardic character. Ossian’s
influence is here too inconsiderable to warrant a discussion of the
poems in detail.
UGOLINO.[142]—The influence that this drama, which was finished in
1767, exerted upon the _Storm and Stress_ movement, its important
bearing upon the popularization of Shakspere in Germany, and questions
of a similar tenor cannot be entered into here, yet we cannot pass by
the drama without pointing out at least some phases of Ossian’s
influence, which, while not comparable in importance to that of
Shakspere, is nevertheless not inconsiderable. The danger confronts us
of attributing Shaksperian characteristics to Ossian. The bard’s
influence is noticeable particularly in the figurative language, _e.
g._, when Ugolino in the first act says: “Dass ich nicht in dem
gerechten Zorne meiner Seele mich erheben ... konnte!”[143] Compare
Ossian’s “rage of his soul,” “rise in wrath,” and the like. In the same
act Anselmo says: “Dein Kommen ist mir erwünschter als der jugendliche
Morgen,”[144] to which compare “Comala,” p. 139, l. 22: “bright as the
coming forth of the morning.” Jacobs[145] suggests that Gerstenberg
probably had his Ossian in mind when he had Francesco say in the first
act: “Wenn er sich nur nicht ... herab stürzt, gleich dem erhabnen
Vogel, der sich ins Steinthal wirft.”[146] Compare “Temora,” Bk. ii, p.
321, ll. 31–2: “Descending like the eagle of heaven, ... the son of
Trenmor came;” Bk. viii, p. 369, ll. 11–2: “... the windy rocks, from
which I spread my eagle–wings,” etc., etc. In the second act, Anselmo
considers himself “flüchtiger als ein junges Reh,”[147] a comparison of
which Ossian is exceedingly fond.[148] Gaddo and Anselmo shed regular
Ossianic “tears of joy.” In the second act Anselmo refers to Francesco
having ridden off “auf dem Rücken des Windes”;[149] compare “The War of
Caros,” p. 193, l. 26: “The rustling winds have carried him far
away;”[150] “Temora,” Bk. viii, p. 366, l. 21: “From this I shall mount
the breeze.” Ossianic furthermore are Anselmo’s exclamations: “Lasst die
Hörner tönen am hallenden Fels!”[151] and “o du mit der finstern
Stirne!”[152] which call up Ossian’s ‘echoing rock’ and his ‘dark’ or
‘gloomy brow.’
When Gerstenberg has Ugolino say of his wife in the third act: “Kalt
[ist] der Schnee ihrer Brust,”[153] and when he speaks of the “Seufzer
ihres Busens,”[154] he was no doubt thinking of the snowy breasts of
Ossian’s maidens and of the sighs of their bosoms. In the same act
Francesco uses a comparison that is taken directly from Ossian:[155] “Du
wirst fallen,” he says, “wie der Stamm einer Eiche, alle deine Äste um
dich hergebreitet.”[156] Compare “Temora,”[157] Bk. iii, p. 328, ll.
25–6: “Like a young oak falls Tur–lathon, with his branches round him,”
etc. In the last act Ugolino, speaking of the death of his son, says:
“Wann ward dieser erste Ast vom Stamme gerissen?”[158] His opening
monolog in the fourth act shows a decided Ossianic influence; _e. g._,
“sein bleifarbigtes wässeriges Angesicht tobte vom Sturm seiner Seele;
er wälzte seine ... Augen weit hervor,”[159] etc. In Ossian we have a
“watery and dim face,” a “grey watery face,” and a soul “folded in a
storm,” and as for rolling eyes, that is a property that no Ossianic
warrior may be without, and one of the first that a _Storm and Stress_
poet would be led to adopt. Further along in the monolog, Ugolino says:
“Doch der grosse Morgen wird ja kommen! schrecklich, dunkelroth und
schwül von Gewittern wird er ja kommen! In seinem schwarzen Strahle will
ich erlöschen! In seiner gebärenden Wolke soll, wie Feuer vom Himmel,
mein Geist über Pisa stehn!”[160] This picture is as Ossianic as it can
be. The ghosts of Ossian sit upon their clouds; they ride on beams of
fire, and are compared to meteors of fire or to a terrible light.
Ossianic spirits appear again a little later in the act, when Francesco
says of Anselmo: “... seine Geister scheinen sich zu sammeln,”[161] and
in the last act, where we read of a “wandernden Geist,” which shall
remain near the beloved ones.[162] And then Francesco: “Ah! deine
Geister sind im Aufruhr! Sammle sie, geliebter theurer Anselmo.” All
this, however, is only a weak foretaste of the great importance that the
ghosts of Ossian assume in Gerstenberg’s later drama, in _Minona_, to
the discussion of which I shall proceed after a short reference to _Der
Waldjüngling_. The illustrations given are not intended to be
exhaustive, but to give a general idea of the character of Ossianic
traces as they are exhibited in the various works.
DER WALDJÜNGLING.—As an appendix to his treatise on _Ugolino_, Jacobs
published a fragment by Gerstenberg entitled _Der Waldjüngling_, which
in spirit shows a combination of Rousseau’s doctrine of the return to
nature _plus_ the leaning towards Norse antiquity, towards the poetry of
the bards. The combination is attempted by sketching the life of a
primitive man, _un homme sauvage_, transferred to the woods of
Scandinavia. The small portion of the drama that has been preserved to
us was written probably in 1770.[163]
As it incorporates the bardic spirit in its very essence, we shall not
search in vain for reminiscences of Ossian, which, as in _Ugolino_, are
met with in large part in the epithets and images. The Scandinavian
scenery partakes of the characteristics of the Scotch Highlands as
pictured by Ossian. The names of the characters, Hvanar, Cindiskraka
(cp. Ossian’s Craca), Svanhilde, Arnas, Flino, Heener, Mimur, have
Celtic as well as Germanic elements, and these characters talk much like
the characters of Ossian. Mimur, _e. g._, in l. 122 laments in the
strain of Ossian: “Ich bin alt und schwach,” etc. In l. 9, Cindiskraka
is addressed as “Du Bewohnerinn der Felshöhle mit dem krähschwarzen
Haar,” to which compare Ossian’s “dweller of the rock,”[164] and hair
“dark as the raven’s wing.”[165] Further along (l. 36) we have a flute
“Die des armen Mädchens verschwiegenen Kummer einsam seufzt.” This is a
typical line. Ossian’s maidens have a habit of sitting ‘alone,’ nursing
their ‘silent grief,’ giving vent to their sorrow in ‘secret
sighs.’—Mimur styles Hilde (l. 78) in true Ossianic language: “Der Ruhm
der Hirtinnen auf dem Gebirg,” and invests the forest youth in ll. 114–5
with the characteristic attributes of the ideal heroes of Ossian,
‘terrible’ in battle, but in peace ‘generous and mild’:[166]
... furchtbar an Kraft des Arms,
Doch sanft, doch freundlich, doch gut; ...
Ossianic is Hvanar’s characterization of himself (l. 152): “Ich bin ein
Sohn des Meeres, rauh, wie der Sturm, ...” and a few Ossianic images
from nature also occur.
MINONA.—We have no conclusive proof that Gerstenberg later in life
lost his early scruples in regard to Ossian’s authenticity, but if
circumstantial evidence carry any weight, there can be no doubt that he
came to regard Ossian as genuine, at least for a time. And this
evidence is furnished by the drama _Minona_, first published in 1785,
Gerstenberg’s favorite production and one that gave him the greatest
concern in the preparation of the edition of his works late in life. For
this edition (1815–6) he worked over the entire drama and increased it
from four acts to five, and by assigning to it the place of honor at the
head of the list, furnished testimony to his fondness for this
particular child of his muse. The action of the drama is laid in Britain
in the fifth century, at the time when the Low German continental tribes
were called over by the Britons to assist them against the incursions of
the Picts. The Romans, who had refused to aid the British province
against the Picts, also play an important part. Everything is mixed
together, and of course anachronisms abound: Norse gods, skalds, druids,
bards, Ossianic spirits, all are thrown together in one multi–colored
complex. The spirit of the play is Ossianic throughout, and external as
well as internal characters of Ossian’s influence are not lacking.
Several of the characters are taken directly from Ossian, others only in
name, _e. g._, Trenmor, King of Morven; Minona, his sister; Ryno, a bard
of Ossian; Swaran, Lord of Lochlin. Edelstan, the hero, lord of
Inisthona, is a son of Frothal and a grandson of Bosmina. During the
perusal of the drama we are continually reminded that the author has
made a thorough study of his Ossian. Selma is the name of the royal
residence in Morven, just as it is in Ossian. Minona is a typical Celtic
maiden as described by Ossian, just as Ryno is the Ossianic bard _comme
il faut_. Just as Ossian’s Minona was possessed of the gift of
song,[167] so Gerstenberg’s Minona has the reputation of being the
“gesangreichste der Harfen Selma’s.”[168] In the review of the drama
that appeared in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_,[169] Minona is
characterized as “grossmüthig und liebevoll, aber auch sittsam und
duldend, eine würdige Schülerin der Barden,” and Ryno as “ein
kraftvoller, biedrer Barde.” The Roman Äzia betrothed to Aurelius, a
Roman commander, in spite of her dazzling personal charms, suffers in
comparison with the modest Celtic maiden in much the same way as the
heroes of Homer were often put to shame by their Celtic rivals.
The Ossianic scene _par excellence_ is the third division of the first
scene of the second act, where Äzia and Edelstan are interrupted in a
_tête–à–tête_ by Ryno, the bard of Ossian. Nothing can convey a better
idea of the hold that Ossian had on Gerstenberg than to quote a passage
from this scene.[170] Ryno announces himself as:
“ehemals Ferchio’s Gefährt’ in jener berühmten Schlacht deines
Vaters Frothal zu Inisthona, ein Barde Ossians, heisse Ryno.”
_Edelstan._ Ryno?—ein Gefährte Ferchio’s?—ein Barde
Ossian’s?—Welche Thaten, welche andre Zeiten, ... rufst du in mein
Gedächtniss zurück?—Ryno?—... der mich jene unvergesslichen
Gesänge von den Schlachten Lochlin’s lehrte, wie Ossian, die Stimme
Selma’s, seinen geliebtern Oscar, den Mann aus andern Zeiten, nach
Angeley—in der Sprache Morvens wie tönender! nach Inisthona—zu
Hülfe sandte dem Vater meiner Väter, dem trauernden Annir—
_Ryno._ Wie der blutige Cormalo dem Arm des Starken aus Morven
erlag, ‘dass die Söhne der vergifteten Lano, wo die Wolke des Tages
rastet, gleich dunkelbraunen Hindinnen dahinflohen, unfähig den Gram
ihres Stolzes zu rächen;’ wie Fingals holde Tochter, Bosmina mit den
schwarzrollenden Augen, Runa’s tönende Halle betrat, ein
wiederkehrender Stern dem Abend der Tage Annirs:—Bosmina später
vermählt dem gewaltigen Ina, der einzigen übriggebliebenen Stütze
des jammernden Annir, da Ruro fiel! da Argon fiel! dem
hinterlassenen Säuglinge Ruro’s, die Mutter des königlichen Frothal,
der erhabne Stamm deines so herrlich wieder aufblühenden Geschlechts
...
_Edelstan._ ...
_Ryno._ ... Gesegneter, wenn ich mich dir ein Bote des Friedens
genaht hätte, würdig erfunden, den getrennten Stamm einer Eiche
wieder aufzurichten, dass er noch einmal umherschaue, wie er vormals
stand, sein tausendastiges Haupt weit umher verbreitend von Selma’s
Halle bis zur Halle Runa’s, von Inisthona’s wogigem Strande bis über
Morven’s fernher rauschende Thale!”[171]
How characteristically a bit of Ossianic history is told here and how
faithfully the language of the poems of Ossian is copied! We should have
to search long to find a passage in German literature that shows a more
complete immersion in the spirit of Ossian.
In the scene from which we have just quoted, Fingal is called “das
finstre Auge Morvens,” Trenmor “zog mit dem Winde seiner Küste luftig
daher,” Fingal draws his sword against Lochlin “da Cuchullin unter
Swaran’s Zehntausenden schwankte,” Ossian is referred to as “die Harfe
aus andern Zeiten,”[172] etc., etc. It is scarcely necessary to give
parallels from Ossian. Any one who has ever read a poem of Ossian will
be struck by the close resemblance of all that has been quoted above.
The historical allusions, the comparisons, the metaphorical expressions,
the standing epithets, are all taken directly from the songs of Ossian.
Before taking up the spirits of Ossian, and in that connection the
lyrical passages which are given much prominence throughout the
drama—especially in the third act—I shall quote a few more instances
of borrowings from Ossian. We have in the drama a hand “blendender als
Schnee”[173] and a “blendend weisse Hand;”[174] Minona has dark–black
hair, which “floss vermuthlich in niedlichen Ringelchen über ihren
blendend weissen Nacken herunter.”[175] Ryno and Edelstan “glaubten ...
ein Sausen in der Luft zu hören, als wenn der Wind sich erhebt.”[176]
The motif of Edelstan’s delivery from the cave is taken from Ossian,
“Calthon and Colmal,”[177] as is Minona’s imprisonment in a cave on the
isle of ghosts.[178] The scenic description of the cave in which Minona
is held captive is characteristic: “Scene eine dunkle Höhle; über der
Höhle der Mond im ersten Viertel, der ein schwaches Licht in das Innere
der Höhle wirft.”[179]
Nothing gave the critics so much concern upon the first appearance of
Minona as the machinery of the spirits. They begin their influential
incantations in the second act, and from that moment on occupy a
prominent position in the economy of the play to the very end. Some of
these lyrical passages are by no means of a mean order, but we are now
and again at a loss to grasp the poet’s meaning. The critic in the _Neue
Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_, speaking of the songs at the
close, says: “Diese Gesänge sind, uns wenigstens, verschlossene
Worte;”[180] and again, speaking of that of the spirits in the second
act: “Dass uns manche Stellen dieses Liedes ganz unerklärbar geblieben
sind, hat uns desto weniger befremdet, da, wie Ryno oben versicherte,
selbst nur wenigen Barden die ätherischen Ströme dieses Gesanges
verständlich sind.”[181] And in the same strain the critic in the
_Allgemeine Literaturzeitung_ writes: “In dem was die Geister zuletzt
singen ... sind schöne Verse: Aber manche so schwer zu verstehn, dass
der Leser, geschweige der Hörer ihren Sinn nicht fasst..”.[182] The
same reviewer refers to the unusually lofty, simple Ossianic tone of the
spirit scenes. The importance assigned to these spirits in the structure
of the drama can best be judged by reading Gerstenberg’s own view as
expressed in the second _Schreiben_ prefixed to his works: “Mit den
Ossianischen Geistern, über die mancher damalige Kunstrichter den Kopf
schüttelte bin ich weniger verlegen: sie sind die Unterlage des
Ganzen, und ich brauche der Anlage nach, ihnen nur mehr Spielraum zu
verschaffen; mein Drama von den Angelsachsen würde nicht zugleich meine
Oper von Minona und der Zukunft seyn, wenn ich die Geister aus dem
Spiele liesse.”[183] This is not the place to discuss the question
whether Gerstenberg was justified in the introduction of this mystic
spirit–world into his drama, and so I shall proceed to look at the songs
at once. The ghosts, or rather the voices of the ghosts, make their
first appearance, as has been observed, in the second act. Minona,
captive in the cave is singing a song to the accompaniment of the harp,
when enchanting spirit voices become audible and cause her to be filled
with rapture. This song, in which she is interrupted, as well as her
other airs and recitatives, are Ossianic in tone and motif, indeed,
wherever Gerstenberg falls into the lyric strain, Ossian’s influence
becomes apparent in one feature or another:
In deiner süssen Stimme will ich zittern,
Ein Seufzer der Liebe,
Süss wie ein Harfenton!
Wenn leisere Luft dich umweht,
Vernimm das Wehen meiner Liebe:
Minonens Geist schwebt über dir!
. . . . . . .
Hinweg du Wolke zwischen ihm und mir!
Horch! durch die Halle saust
Der Wind der Mitternacht.[184]
Minona gives expression to her rapture in ecstatic terms, of course in
Ossianic language, and what is more, in Macpherson’s rhythmic prose. A
paragraph or two may serve for illustration:
Diese Fluth von wunderbaren Tönen, die sich wie ein Meer über mich
ausgiesst, die durch den hohlen Abgrund der Felsen im Donner des
Wohllauts daher rollt, ist sie ein Spiel der Lüfte in den Wölbungen
der Tiefe? widerprallend an den jähen Wänden des innern
Gebirgs?[185]
[Ist’s] Vielleicht Fingal’s Schild aus der hängenden Wolke herab?
vielleicht Fingals geistige Hand, die an dem Schilde vorüberrauscht?
Vielleicht die tonvolle Harfe aus andern Lüften, Ossians Harfe aus
andern Zeiten?[186]
These voices have given Minona a foretaste of the delights beyond the
grave:
Wo, mich schwesterlich bewillkommend, Malvina, Bosmina, Comala,
Guthona, die holdseligen, von ihrem und meinem Ossian so edel
besungenen, Töchter der Vorzeit alle, in der Begeisterung seines
erhabenen Gesanges zu seinen Füssen hingelagert und horchend,
beisammen sässen, und ich, seine neu angelangte ... Zuhörerin, in
Wonnethränen der namenlosesten Gefühle überflösse![187]
The ghosts that chant these songs are endowed with all the qualities of
their Ossianic prototypes—especially with the gift of foretelling the
future—and why should they not, seeing that they are intended to
represent the incarnation of the songs of Ossian.[188] They are the
spirits of Ossian, and the spirits of Ossian “sind die veredelte
Menschlichkeit selbst.”[189] As for the songs of the ghosts, the solos,
duets, choruses, and what not, as they begin in this act and are
continued throughout the third and fifth acts, it would be impossible to
take up each verse in detail. Suffice it to say, that the songs bear the
ideal stamp of the influence of Ossian, which is expressed in more ways
than one. I quote one or two passages in illustration. Several voices
sing in the second act:
Stolzern Tritts erhebt vom Saum der Wolke sich
Fingal, den Arm auf seinen Schild gelehnt.[190]
Compare “Fingal,” Bk. vi, p. 261, l. 24: “Fingal leaned on the shield;”
also Ossian’s skirt, edge, or side of the cloud. So in the third act
Minona sings:
Schnell wie ein Blitz der Mitternacht,
Zerriss, aus seiner Wolke Saum,
Der Felsen aufgethürmte Last
Ein stärkrer unnennbarer Arm.[191]
Compare “The War of Inis–Thona,” p. 206, ll. 15–6: “Stormy clouds ...
their edges are tinged with lightning,” etc.—Minona is referred to by
the ghosts as the ‘daughter of Selma,’ and Edelstan as the ‘star of
Inis–Thona,’ and the ‘star of night.’ Towards the end of the third act
the voices sing:
Auf flügelschnellster der Stürme,
Gleit’ auf der Woge dahin
* * * * *
Rolle deine krausen Locken
Im Silberschaume der Fluth!
* * * * *
Fahr’ hin auf dem röthesten Strahle des Dampfs,[192]
Und hole vom Mond mir den Blitz herab![193]
In rebellious opposition to these spirits of Ossian are the druids, who
refer to the songs of the ghosts as “die verführerischen Gesänge
Ossians, des Tonangebers der ganzen harfnenden Bande,”[194] and again as
“die aufrührerischen Gesänge eines unserer Barden—Ossian hiess der
Erzketzer.”[195] The druids rely on the spirits of Brumo,[196] the god
of human sacrifice, and Brumo’s spirits, says the chief druid, “pflegen
nicht in dieser weibisch weichen ... Ossianssprache ... zu reden.”[197]
Brumo corresponds very closely to Ossian’s Loda, to his ‘terrible spirit
of the circle of stones.’ Ossian likewise furnished abundant material
for the rites of the druids as they are described in the last act.
In addition to the songs of the ghosts, we have two _Bardiete_ in the
drama, one in Act 4, 8, the other in Act 4, 9. Needless to say, Ossian’s
influence is plainly discernible. The first begins thus:
Aufdämmernd hinter Wolken schlief
Der junge Morgen im trüberen Roth!...
. . . . . . . .
Und warnend thürmte die Wolke sich auf;
Und aus der Wolke brach, verkündigt von Blitz,
Mit tausend Spiessen der Tag hervor.[198]
In the first edition the ending of the drama was somewhat differently
motivated, inasmuch as Äzia, clothed in the armor of a warrior, allows
herself to be captured by some of Edelstan’s soldiers and makes an
attempt to assassinate Minona, but is foiled in the effort by Ryno.
Undoubtedly this motif of the disguise was taken from Ossian, where we
find almost a dozen examples of maids taking on the disguise of a
youth.[199]
Many of the geographical and historical notes to the drama are based
upon Macpherson, “dessen historische Data noch Niemand angefochten
hat.”[200] From the notes to the first edition of _Minona_ we can get
some idea of Gerstenberg’s opinion of Ossian in the middle of the
eighties. He says in note 8: “Auch können wir uns aus dem Ossian, dessen
historische Data wenigstens itzt keinen Einwand mehr leiden, wenn gleich
die Ächtheit seiner gegenwärtigen epischen und dramatischen Gestalt noch
etwaz zweydeutig seyn möchte, ganz vernünftig überzeugen,” etc. And in
note 14 he writes: “Es wäre ein gut Theil gewagter gewesen, einer alten
Chronik, als der lautern Quelle Ossians nachzuspüren.” Another note (the
10th) gives evidence of the popularity that Ossian still enjoyed as late
as 1785: “Was übrigens die ossianische Urkunde von Inisthona betrifft,
... so hat sich der Verfasser berechtigt geglaubt, diese Geschichte als
aus einem der classischen Werke unsers Jahrhunderts allgemein bekannt
vorauszusetzen...”. These notes are omitted in the final version of
1815, a fact which leads me to believe that Gerstenberg’s early scruples
returned to him late in life. _Minona_ had served to dispel them
momentarily, but no doubt the unsatisfactory character of the _Report of
the Committee of the Highland Society_ and the aspersions cast upon
Macpherson’s translation by Ahlwardt served to reëstablish them in his
wavering mind.
§3. Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis.[201]
No one did more to increase the knowledge of Ossian in Germany and to
enlarge the sphere of his influence there, than did the Jesuit Michael
Denis, a native of Bavaria, who took up his residence in Vienna early in
life and there spent the remainder of his days. Although himself the
author of a considerable number of poetic productions, his contemporary
fame was based primarily upon his translation of Ossian, which created a
great stir at the time of its appearance, setting all the previous
efforts at translation in the shade for good and all. It remained for
many years the standard, the classical German translation of the works
of Ossian, in spite of the fact that the mold in which it is cast
aroused the most violent opposition from many quarters.
Denis had been led to the study of English by his admiration for
Klopstock’s _Messiah_, the prototype of which, _Paradise Lost_, he was
desirous of reading in the original. When he began his translation in
1767, he was well equipped for the task as far as a knowledge of the
language is concerned, and the true poetical genius that he lacked was
compensated for in large measure by the sincere enthusiasm with which he
set about his task. A serious obstacle presented itself at the very
outset: there was not a copy of Macpherson’s Ossianic poems to be had in
Vienna. Nothing daunted, Denis commenced by translating from Cesarotti’s
Italian translation—which had appeared at Padua in 1763[202]—a fact
that explains the presence of the notes from Cesarotti interspersed
throughout his translation. Fortunately he soon obtained a copy of the
English original from Prague, whereupon he destroyed all he had so far
done and started in afresh. His enthusiasm for the _Messiah_ led to the
choice of the hexameter for his translation. Denis was a very rapid
worker, a quality that stood him in good stead in the manufacture of the
many occasional poems that emanated from his pen. Once on the right
track, he worked at his translation with the utmost diligence and
persistence and pushed it rapidly to a conclusion, volumes 1 and 2
appearing in 1768, and volume 3 in the following year. The two editions
that appeared simultaneously apparently found a ready sale. In the
preface to the first volume, Denis confesses what an instantaneous
effect the songs of Ossian had upon him. “Kaum hatte ich ein paar
Gedichte durchgelesen,” he says, “als ich ihn in meinen Gedanken Homern
und Virgiln an die Seite setzte.” And when Ossian received Klopstock’s
stamp of approval, Denis was overjoyed. “Wie froh war ich! Ich fieng zu
übersetzen an.”[203] At the conclusion of the preface he expresses
doubts as to the gracious reception of the translation: “Ossian ist viel
zu sonderlich,” he thinks, “viel zu _unmodern_, viel zu unterschieden
von denen Dichtern, die man immer in den Händen hat. Allein, wenn man
nur einmal mit seinem Geiste bekannter wird, wenn seine Art sich
auszudrücken durch ein wiederholtes Lesen ihre Ungewöhnlichkeit
verlieret, dann, dächte ich, sollte er nach dem _Engländer_ am ersten
bei einem _Deutschen_ sein Glück machen.” It was only a few years later
that the real Ossian craze began in Germany, and then Denis was to
realize that these _unmodern_ poems with their sentimental coloring
appealed even more strongly to the German soul than they did to the
English.
Dr. Blair’s arguments were not needed to convince Denis of the
authenticity of the poems. He could not accept as spurious poems whose
author he had in his first enthusiasm placed by the side of Homer and
Vergil, unless irrefutable proof of forgery were given, and this was not
forthcoming. And so when Dr. Blair in the appendix to his “Dissertation”
in the edition of 1765 undertakes to defend the poems for external
reasons also, Denis is led to remark: “Alle diese Gründe dürften für
England und Irland, wo vielleicht Scheelsucht und Partheylichkeit
Zweifler erwecket haben mag, nöthiger seyn. Einen von Vorurtheilen
freyen deutschen Kenner wird immer der innere Gehalt genugsam
überzeugen, das[s] Ossians Gedichte nicht unterschoben, sondern wahrhaft
alte Gedichte sind.” Denis never took the trouble to institute any
original researches or to devote himself to a serious study of this
field, but accepted the genuineness of the poems as a matter of course.
The unanimity of the German critics allowed no scruples to arise in his
mind to vex him.
The reception granted the translation was most flattering indeed, and
Denis could not but feel completely satisfied with the result of his
labors. Nicolai, _e. g._, writes from Berlin, as early as Nov. 14, 1769:
“Ihre vortreffliche Übersetzung des Ossian, ist auch in unsern
Gegenden in den Händen aller Kenner; ich auch habe sie mit grossem
Vergnügen gelesen, und sie stets für eins der wichtigsten Neuen Werke
gehalten.”[204] Gleim sends Denis his ‘poetical trifles,’ “aus
Dankbarkeit vornehmlich für das Vergnügen, welches der deutsche Ossian
ihm machte.”[205] Denis writes in the preface to Vol. 3: “Seitdem der
erste Band dieser Uebersetzung in Deutschland bekannt geworden ist, sind
mir verschiedene Beweise zugekommen, dass sie dort ganz gut aufgenommen
worden sey, wo ich es am meisten wünschte.” The reviews in the _Neue
Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_, in the _Allgemeine Deutsche
Bibliothek_, in the _Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen_, and
elsewhere, all were extremely gratifying, and only one note of
disapproval insisted upon asserting itself, a note that found most
emphatic expression in the _Erfurtische gelehrte Zeitungen_: the form of
the translation met with pronounced opposition. The most important of
these reviews is that in the _Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek_. It was
written by Herder, who designates the departure as “neu und schön,” and
refers to the poems of Ossian as “diese kostbaren Ueberbleibsel aus der
alten celtischen oder gallischen Sprache.” But soon doubts arise: “So
sind also die Gedichte Ossians in Hexameter übersezt—aber würde Ossian,
wenn er in unsrer Sprache sie abgesungen, sie hexametrisch abgesungen
haben? oder wenn die Frage zu nah und andringend ist; mag er in seiner
Originalsprache den Hexameterbau begünstigt haben? ... Oder ...: thut
Ossian in seinem homerischen Gewande eben die Würkung, als Ossian der
Nordische Barde?”[206] Here was the rub: Denis had given Ossian, the
Gaelic bard, the ‘rough, sublime Scotchman’ in the measure of a Greek
rhapsodist. “Vielleicht aber wird er dadurch verschönert, und gleichsam
classisch? Er mag es werden: nur er verliert mehr, als er gewinnt, den
_Bardenton seines Gesangs_.”[207] The translation makes an epic, a
heroic impression, but does not reproduce its natural Scotch heroic
impression. Herder proceeds to show how Ossian and Homer are antitheses
in almost every respect, and holds that in consequence the difference in
expression should be emphasized by the choice of different meters.
Although Herder regards many of Denis’s hexameters as melodious and
euphonious, he opines that the free meters introduced by Klopstock in
his odes are better adapted to a translation of the bard. That the
translation made a favorable impression upon Herder in spite of its
metrical drawbacks is evidenced by the concluding lines of the
review: “Wir freuen uns überhaupt auf die ganze Fortsetzung der
Dennisschen Arbeit mehr, als auf manche neuere süsslallende Originale in
Deutschland, und wünschen, dass Ossian der Lieblingsdichter junger
epischer Genies werde!”[208] Herder here had in mind Vol. 1 only; his
review of Vols. 2 and 3 did not appear until three years later, in 1772,
being written at about the same time as the “Auszug aus einem
Briefwechsel über Ossian und die Lieder alter Völker,” which opened the
_Blätter von Deutscher Art und Kunst_.[209] His view–point and line of
argument are to all intents and purposes identical in the review and the
essay. In the review he laments: “Noch immer Ossian der Hexametrist, der
Klopstockianer, da man Ossian den kurztönenden, unregelmässigen
Celtischen Barden hören sollte.”[210] Again and again Herder returns to
the attack; he can not reconcile the smooth poetry of Denis with the
unpolished bard. The soft lyric cadence of Denis’s verses appeals to
Herder, to be sure, but “hier, so sanft, so vieltönig und schön sie sey,
hier passet sie Ossianen oft so an, als etwa einen Samojedischen
Gesandten bey der russischen Gesetzkommission das Ceremonienkleid des
Hofmarschalls.”[211] But not alone the hexameters aroused Herder’s
dissatisfaction; his displeasure increases when he views Denis’s attempt
to translate a poem in the measure employed by Gerstenberg in his
_Gedicht eines Skalden_. Here Denis employs rime with poor success, and
we must agree with Herder when he says: “Denis gelingen nicht
Reime!”[212]
There was still another side from which Herder attacked the translation;
he was not content with the language employed, which he did not consider
natural enough; too many words were not sufficiently indigenous. “War
Ossian nicht unser Bruder?” he asks, “und welch’ ein Glück, welch ewiges
Verdienst wäre es, ihn so zu verdeutschen, als ob er, ein Deutscher
gewesen wäre: das er doch, der Hälfte nach, gewesen ist.”[213]
I hinted above that Herder was not the only critic who was ill–pleased
with Denis’s choice of the hexameter. A similar chord is struck in other
reviews, in the introductions to several later translations, and
elsewhere.
The most appreciative notice of Denis’s translation was that in the
_Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften_. From beginning to end the
review teems with praise for the translator, as well as for old Ossian
himself. “Wir haben die Entdeckung der Gedichte Ossians,” begins the
critic, “immer für eine der wichtigsten Begebenheiten dieses
Jahrhunderts in der Geschichte des Witzes und Geschmacks unsers
Jahrhunderts gehalten. Ihre Avthenticität ist nunmehro eben so sehr
entschieden, als ihre Vortrefflichkeit.”[214] Not only does the critic
refrain from discountenancing the employment of the hexameter, but, like
the reviewer in the _Hamburgischer Correspondent_, he even expresses his
admiration for the verses. “In der That,” he says, “haben wir kaum
wohlklingendere deutsche Hexameter gesehen.”[215] In order to bring the
value of the poetical translation more vividly before the reader, an
extract from Denis’s translation is given[216] and compared with a
literal prose translation that follows.[217] The value of such long
extracts must not be underestimated. They occurred frequently and no
doubt aroused an interest in the original in many a reader. As an
illustration of the lyrical measure in which Denis translated the
distinctively lyrical passages of Ossian, Carril’s song on the death of
Crugal is given.[218] Besides we have an extract from the beginning of
“Comala” and a prose version of the extract for comparison. “Comala” is
one of the poems that Denis had clothed in rime, giving it the form of a
modern _Singspiel_, and with this raiment the reviewer is not quite
satisfied. Other voices were raised in opposition to the general form
Denis had given the dramatic poem. The latter, appreciating the justice
of the position of the critics, changed the structure for the edition of
1784,[219] but at the same time inserted the poem in its original form
in another volume,[220] in order to satisfy those who preferred it in
that shape. The objection to the first form of “Comala” we find also in
the review in the _Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen_, where the critic
writes: “Die Comala deucht uns nicht sehr glücklich ausgefallen zu
seyn.... Will man sagen: es sey Ossians Comala in ein Singspiel
verwandelt, so sind wir zufrieden. Aber Ossian ist es nicht.”[221]
Otherwise this review of the first volume of Denis’s translation is full
of compliments to the genius of the translator. The critic expresses the
opinion that the poems of Ossian have gained much by the new form.
Especially does the hexameter tend to give “Fingal” the character of a
true epic. On the whole, the reviewer is as much impressed with the
necessity of the translation on the one hand as with the beauty of the
original on the other, “Es kan diese Uebersetzung nach unserm deutschen
epischen Originaldichter [Klopstock] billig gesetzet werden, billig
einen nahen Platz erhalten; selbst in so fern der alte Barde mit unserm
Gefühl, und mit unsern National–Begriffen von den ersten Zeiten weit
mehr übereinstimmt, als ein Homer und Virgil.”[222]
I shall refrain from a detailed discussion of the character of the
translation and would refer the reader to Hofmann–Wellenhof’s biography,
pp. 163–91. Denis’s was the first translation to give the works of
Ossian in full, and attracted attention by reason of that fact alone. He
adhered as closely as possible to the original, but from the very nature
of the case, he had often to expand.[223] Provincialisms abound. It
cannot be denied that he failed to reproduce the spirit as given to the
original by Macpherson, yet when all is said, Denis’s translation is
_facile princeps_ among the complete German translations. The hexameters
lend an air of stateliness and dignity to the poems and give them more
the air of a classic. What is more, the novel introduction of hexameters
evoked a lively discussion and so stimulated the popular interest in
Ossian. The translation became a model for the school of the bards, most
of whom derived their knowledge primarily from the version of their
revered _confrère_. During Denis’s lifetime, that is, until the opening
of the new century, his translation remained the standard for
Germany.[224] About the time of his death, the so–called Gaelic
original began to occupy the chief attention, and when Ahlwardt’s
translation from the Gaelic appeared, it superseded that of Denis in the
popular favor for a time, that is to say, until it began to be suspected
that the Gaelic original was not all that was claimed for it.
The first collection of Denis’s poems, of the songs of Sined, appeared
in 1772 under the title of _Die Lieder Sineds des Barden_. We have not
far to go to discover a typical instance of the nature of Ossian’s
influence. The very first poem, “An Ossians Geist,” will serve as a
splendid example. The poem begins as follows:
Im schweigenden Thale des Mondes
Umkränzet von heiligen Eichen
Da walten die Geister der Barden,
* * * * *
Sie schweben auf Silbergewölken
Den thauigten Abhang herunter,
* * * * *
Dann heben sich Lieder der Vorzeit,
Und Harfen begleiten die Lieder,
Und sanftester Nachhall entzücket
Die lauschenden Wälder und Fluren umher.[225]
And so on. It is scarcely necessary to point out how closely the
Ossianic spirit and nature coloring have been adhered to. The Ossianic
paraphernalia are all present, the silent vale,[226] the moon, the
sacred oaks, the ghosts of the bards, the clouds upon which they float
along the sides of the mountains,[227] the songs of the times of old
attuned to the accompaniment of the harp; not even the echo is missing,
resounding from woods and fields. These and similar Ossianic properties
are continually resorted to in Denis’s bardic productions. They give an
archaic character to the whole, and lend a certain picturesqueness to
the scene—when not employed to excess. We have further along “Saiten
von Selma,” Ossian’s oft repeated ‘harp of Selma,’ “Zähren der Wehmuth,”
“Wipfel der Eichen,” “moosige Trümmer,” etc. Denis proceeds to narrate
the principal subjects of the poems of Ossian, and then confesses what
an effect Ossian made upon him from the very outset; he tells us how he
persisted in his purpose in spite of the fact that many of his old
listeners deserted him. He concludes with the following lines:
Und, Vater von Oscar![228] dein Folger
Bey kommenden Altern zu heissen!
Ha! dieser Gedanke gesellt mich
Im schweigenden Thale des Mondes zu dir![229]
We should expect Denis, as a strong admirer and pupil of Klopstock, to
follow in the footsteps of his master by introducing the old Norse
mythology into his bardic efforts. As a matter of fact, however, it is
almost completely lacking, a circumstance perhaps best explained by his
religious calling.[230] About the sole indications of an interest in Old
Norse are the seven songs following the first poem. Being translations
and paraphrases of Old Norse material, they do not concern us here.
Next come a number of occasional poems addressed to Maria Theresa and to
Joseph II. On pages 85–143 we have the “Bardenfeyer am Tage Theresiens,”
first published in Vienna in 1770, in which the various offices and
qualities of the empress are sung by different bards. The spirit of
Klopstock and Ossian hovers over all these poems, as will appear from
the extracts to follow. We shall notice also that the bardic machinery
and Ossian’s imagery are not neglected. The bards are described as “Die
Geber des Ruhmes, die Söhne der Lieder,”[231] and are endowed with all
the other characteristics of those of Ossian, as, for example, with the
power of looking into the future.[232]
The poem “An Ossians Geist” showed us that Denis adopted the spirit
world of Ossian, and like Klopstock and Gerstenberg, he has ghosts
appear on all possible occasions, _e. g._, in “Theresia die Fürstinn,”
which begins (p. 89):
Neiget euch nieder aus luftigen Hallen,
Herrscher der Vorzeit im Schmucke Walhallas!
Väter von Habsburg! neiget euch her![233]
So in Ossian “the forms of the fathers bend” from their ‘cloudy–hall.’
In the same poem (p. 92) we have a “verfinsterte Seele,” Ossian’s
‘darkened soul.’[234]
In the next poem, “Theresia die Gattinn,” we have several Ossianic
expressions, _e. g._ (p. 98):
Er zog einher dem Hirschen gleich
* * * * *
In Rabenlocken fiel sein Haar.
We have had occasion before to point out Ossian’s comparisons to a deer,
and his locks black as a raven’s wings. Theresa, in true Ossianic
manner, is compared to the rainbow, a star, a pine,[235] etc., and in
the following poem she is said to be fairer than the moon or an
oak.[236] After the death of her husband she often visits his grave:
“Dort pfleget Sie der Wehmuth Lust,”[237]
“the joy of grief.” His ghost, of course, does his duty and pays her an
occasional visit.[238]
A truly Ossianic picture and comparison are given in the third stanza of
the following poem, “Theresia die Mutter” (p. 103):
Schön ist an des Himmels
Blauem Nachtgesichte
Dünsteloser Mond,
Wenn er unter Sternen
Sanftbeleuchtend wandelt;
Aber schöner ist doch Eine noch.
Ossian’s maidens are generally either “bright as the sun–beam,” or else
“fair as the moon.” Compare also Ossian’s apostrophe to the moon,
beginning of “Dar–Thula.” In another line of the poem (p. 106) we have
“Seelen schmelzen” and likewise in “Calthon and Colmal,” p. 183, ll.
21–2: “The soul ... melted;” “Temora,” Bk. ii, p. 318, ll. 3–4, etc.,
etc.
The tenth stanza of “Theresia die Kriegerinn” is decidedly Ossianic:
Da rollete schnell von Thränen ein Guss
Die bärtigsten Wangen der Männer herab;
... da flogen, wie Blitz
Die wogigten Scheiden empor.[239]
Compare “Carric–Thura,” p. 149, ll. 35–6: “The tear rolled down her
cheek,” etc. The comparison of swords to lightning, to beams of fire, or
to meteors occurs again and again in Ossian.[240] In the following
stanza the rush of the warriors is described (p. 110):
... so stürmet der Wind
Die Blätter des Hayns im Herbste mit sich.
Ossian is very fond of comparing the rush of a host to the wind.[241]
Bartmar has to sing of battle, and it is not astonishing that we find in
his song more traces of Ossian’s influence than in any other song of the
“Bardenfeyer,” the general peaceful atmosphere of which does not offer
the same possibilities for the insertion of Ossianic material. The
ghosts of the fallen warriors make their appearance before the close of
the battle. Theresa’s eye makes the warrior bold:
Und furchtbar im Flügel der düsteren Schlacht.
Sie standen, ein Fels, und rollten den Schwall
Der Krieger aus Norden zurück.[242]
Ossian’s warriors are ‘terrible’ and ‘dark’ in battle, they “stand like
a rock”[243] and roll back the foe. Compare “Temora,” Bk. ii, p. 318,
ll. 17–8: “Conar was a rock before them: broken they rolled on every
side;” etc. Another stanza, the twenty–second, shows a close resemblance
to an Ossianic image (p. 112):
“Doch wie sich der Lenz in Schauergewölk
Itzt hüllet, und itzo sein holdes Gesicht
Den Fluren entdeckt;”
Compare “Fingal,” Bk. vi, p. 265, ll. 22–4: “Like the sun in a cloud,
when he hides his face ..., but looks again on the hills of grass!”
Furthermore we have in the same poem (p. 113) a “Stein des Ruhmes,”[244]
Ossian’s “stone of fame”[245] or “stone of renown.”[246]
The following poem, “Theresia die Fromme,” contains but few traces of
Ossian’s influence. An expression borrowed directly from Ossian,
however, is the “enge Haus,”[247] the “narrow house,” the grave,
occurring continually in the poems of Ossian, _e. g._, “Oithona,” p.
173, l. 36, etc., etc. “Theresia die Weise” also contains a direct
borrowing from Ossian, viz., Denis calls the echo (p. 128) “die Tochter
des Felsen” just as Ossian styles it “the son of the rock.” Another
Ossianic reminder is contained in the second stanza of this poem. The
bard remarks (p. 126):
Oder, wenn ich den Fall eines der blühenden
Heldensöhne beseufzte,
Dem im Felde sein Hügel stieg.
Ossian’s bards “mourn those who fell”[248] and the warrior’s
resting–place is marked by a hill or stones.—“Krümmungen heller Bäche”
(p. 126) recall Ossian’s “bright winding streams.”[249]
I have had occasion several times to refer to the transitoriness of the
warrior’s life as continually harped upon by Ossian. The soldier’s name
is preserved in two ways, as was that of Fingal, _i. e._, in the song of
the bards, and secondly by the stones over his grave. Bearing in mind
that Denis translates ‘stones’ by ‘Trümmer,’ note the following lines
(p. 131):
Menschen schwinden hinweg. Lassen sie Thaten nach,
Dann nennt Trümmer und Lied Thaten und sie zugleich
Ossianic is the phrase in “Theresia die Gütige” (p. 138):
Bis im Felde keine Spur
Unsrer Pfade mehr
Sichtbar ist.
So Fingal, Bk. v, p. 256, l. 27: “My footsteps [shall] cease to be
seen;” etc.
The collection of occasional poems that follows the “Bardenfeyer” is
addressed to Joseph II. Bardic properties are employed here in a similar
manner as in the poems of the preceding series, but otherwise Ossian’s
influence is almost inappreciable. The opening lines (p. 144), beginning
“O Geist der Lieder!”[250] are truly Ossianic. A comparison borrowed
from Ossian is found in “Josephs Erste Reise” (p. 151):
... der im Frieden,
Aehnlich dem Adler am Felsengipfel,
Mit wachem Auge ruhet, und adlerschnell
Auf Störer seiner Ruhe sich niedersenkt.
Sie bluten, liegen, und der Sieger
Schwebet zurücke zum Felsengipfel.
And now for a few passages from “Temora.” Bk. ii, p. 319, ll. 32–3: “The
eyes of Morven do not sleep. They are watchful, as eagles, on their
mossy rocks;” p. 321, ll. 31–3: “Descending like the eagle of heaven,
... the son of Trenmor came.” Bk. iii, p. 330, ll. 11–2: “They return
..., like eagles to their ... rock, after the prey is torn on the
field.” Another Ossianic comparison is the following (p. 155): “Die
Fürsten stehn, Zwo Sonnen.” See “Temora,” Bk. vi, p. 349, l. 27: “Yet is
the king ... a sun ...,” etc. The “Zweite Reise” contains a stanza that
is modeled closely after a passage in Ossian (“Temora,” Bk. ii, p. 323,
ll. 11–20):
Die Kinder Teuts ... sollten nur
* * * * *
Die Stelle zeichnen, wo sich umarmeten
Die Grössten Deutschlands, Joseph und Friederich,
Hin Eichen pflanzen, dass die spätsten
Enkel im Schatten sich diess erzählten.
In the poem, “Die Säule des Pflügers,” we encounter the following
Ossianic reminiscences (p. 166): “In der Seele des Barden ist Licht des
Liedes.”[251] And (p. 167):
Flügel des Blitzes hatte der hohe Gedanke,
Welcher dem Herrscher die Seele durchfuhr.[252]
In the same poem we have the Ossianic comparison (p. 168): “Die Seele so
still, Wie scheidende Sonnen.”[253]
The poem “Auf den Oberdruiden an der Rur” and the following ones written
in the bardic spirit contain Ossianic touches here and there in much the
same way. “An einen Bardenfreund,” contains some verses of Ossianic
description (p. 175):
In den Tagen des Herbsts, wenn sich der Abend bräunt,
Irr’ ich einsam den Hayn, irr’ ich die Fluren durch,
* * * * *
Ja, dann seyd ihr vor mir, Wälder mit seufzenden
Tannen! bist du vor mir, sprudelnder Erlenbach!
Und ihr Teiche voll Schilfes!
Von dem kühlenden West’ umrauscht.
The autumn, the darkening evening, the lonely wanderer in the grove and
on the heath, the sighing pines, “the breeze in the reeds of the
lake,”[254] combine to form an ideal Ossianic picture. More of the same
kind is found in the poem.—“Der Strahl aus Osten” referring to the sun,
as employed in the next poem, “Auf das Haupt der Starken bei den
Markmännern” (p. 180) is undoubtedly Ossian’s “beam of the east.”[255]
In a poem addressed to Gleim, “Auf den Bardenführer der Brennenheere,”
Denis refers to his translation of Ossian and to the favorable reception
accorded it by Gleim (p. 186):
Ossians erhabne
Lieder nachzustimmen
Rang es,[256] und errang mir einen Gleim.
On pp. 189–90 we read:
Aber du, Gespielinn
Meiner Lieder, Harfe!
Theuer bist du mir,
Seit du mir mit Morvens
Neugeweckten Klängen
Dieses Mannes Herz gewonnen hast.
“An Friedrichs Barden” (Ramler) breathes the bardic spirit more
intensely than some of the others we have been considering. When Denis
calls ‘Thaten’ ‘Flammen’ (p. 191), we recall Ossian’s “Our deeds are
streams of light.”[257] Denis’s druids dwell in caves, as they do in
Ossian. “Druiden locket er hervor Aus ihrer Höhle,” he sings (p. 195) in
“An den Oberbarden der Pleisse” (Weisse) and so Ossian addresses the
druid as the “dweller of the rock.”[258]
The next song is addressed “An den Beredtesten der Donaudruiden” (Ignaz
Wurz). The word ‘schwellen’ in the expression “Thränen Schwellen in ...
Augen” (p. 199) no doubt goes back to Ossian; compare “Dar–Thula,” p.
286, l. 17: “Tears swell in her ... eyes!” Denis uses the word
frequently in other connections.[259]
Kretschmann’s poem, “Rhingulphs Lied an Sined,” which follows, is
answered by Denis in “Sineds Gesicht, Rhingulphen dem Freunde der
Geister gewidmet,” a poem teeming with Ossianic properties, the ghosts
playing an especially prominent part. Intensely Ossianic is the
following comparison (p. 207):
Und meine Freude . . . . . .
War, wie des Mondes Antlitz, wenn ein Dunst
Sich von der Erde schwingend es beschleicht.[260]
The ghost tells Denis that Rhingulph (p. 209):
... nannte dich den Freund an Ossians Busen,
Dem Ossian am Abend seiner Augen
Die Harfe liess.—
In a note to “Sineds Gesicht,” Denis quotes Kretschmann’s reply, in
which the latter addresses him as “Sined, treuster Freund von Fingals
Sohne!” and exclaims: “Hätt’ ich Ullins Lieder, böth ich dir sie
an.”[261]—The succeeding poem, “An einen Jüngling,” enjoins a youth to
conduct himself so that his fame may go down in the songs of the bards,
that darkness may not dwell around his grave, that his name may not die
like the thunder echoed by the hills, and gives him much similar advice
such as Ossian was accustomed to extend to his Celtic heroes.
“Sineds Vaterlandslieder,” a series of four poems, contain the
never–failing Ossianic paraphernalia as before. The bard sings in a
grove, reclining upon moss in the shade of an oak, with the breeze
trembling through the leaves and sighing in the harp.[262] In the
opening line of the next poem, “Sineds Morgenlied,” the poet calls upon
the harp to descend (p. 232): “Harfe! steig nieder.” Compare “Urlaub von
der sichtbaren Welt” (p. 283):
Steig nieder, Schattenharfe!
Vom wiegenden Zweige der Tanne!
The ‘Schattenharfe’[263] is Ossian’s ‘shadowy harp,’ “Temora,” Bk. vii,
p. 361, l. 4, and in “Temora,” Bk. v, p. 340, l. 2, we read: “Descend
from thy place, O harp.” The harp may hang on a branch, as in
“Berrathon,” p. 380, l. 31.[264]—“Das Donnerwetter” contains occasional
Ossianic nature touches. This poem is followed by six laments, “Sineds
Klagen,” in which the grief now and again takes an Ossianic tone, as
witness the opening verses of the first, an elegy on Gellert’s death (p.
253):
Schauerndes Lüftchen! woher?
Trüb ist der Tag. In dem entblätterten Hayne
. . . . . . . .
... sitz’ ich einsam
Auf mein Saitenspiel gelehnet,
Da kömmst du, Lüftchen! schwirrest mir
So kläglich, so kläglich die Saiten hindurch.[265]
Ossianic also is the tone of the opening lines of the second complaint,
sung on a cloudy autumn day (p. 258):
Traurig ist der Tag!
Von der Himmelstochter
Blicken ungetröstet
Dämmert er dahin.
Graue Nebelsäulen
Steigen von Gebirgen.
Ossian calls the sun “the son of heaven,” not the “daughter,” but Denis
made similar changes of this nature, _e. g._, in the opening line of
“Dar–Thula” and elsewhere he translates “daughter of heaven,” referring
to the moon, by “Sohn der Nacht.”[266] Denis adds a note to his
translation in “Dar–Thula,” explaining that he took the liberty to
institute the change, because moon in German, forsooth, is of the
masculine gender.[267] And thus we arrive at ‘Himmelstochter.’ Compare
furthermore “Carric–Thura,” p. 152, ll. 12–3: “Grey mist rests on the
hills,” and the like; also the oft repeated ‘columns’ and ‘pillars’ of
mist.—In the same complaint the line (p. 259): “Ein Seufzer reisst sich
aus der Brust”[268] recalls Ossian’s “The sigh bursts from their
breasts.”[269] In this poem Denis laments the taste of those to whom
_Witz_ is everything. He can not follow in their footsteps, because (p.
261):
Greis Ossian in dem Geleite
Der Barden und Skalden besucht ihn.
Er höret am schweigenden Monde
Gesänge vergangener Alter.
The fourth complaint is an elegy on the death of Joh. v. Nep. Hohenwart,
a friend of Denis, whose ghost is asked to appear.—The concluding
stanza of the fifth contains an Ossianic comparison (p. 276): “Sein
Leben bleibt ... ein Strom von ewighellem Lichte.” Compare “Temora,” Bk.
i, p. 311, ll. 22–3: “My life shall be one stream of light.” Several
Ossianic touches in the last poem of the collection, “Urlaub von der
sichtbaren Welt,” have been referred to. Ossianic furthermore is the
following picture (p. 284):
Kühle Lüfte säuseln,
Wiesenquellen lauten,
Durch die Tannenzacken
Blinkt der milde Mond;
Aber schweigend, schweigend steht der Hügel,
Der den Barden deckt.
‘Silent’ as a standing epithet frequently goes with ‘hill’ in Ossian,
and the hill covering the dead has been noticed; we have it again on pp.
287–8.
Having now considered the poems of the first collection, we are ready to
turn our attention to the new offspring of Denis’s muse that found a
place in the first edition of _Ossians und Sineds Lieder_ (1784), the
first three volumes of which contain the translation of Ossian, revised
with reference to the English edition of 1773.[270] Aside from the
alterations necessitated by the conformity to the new English edition
and the working over of “Comala” referred to above (p. 124), the changes
are inconsiderable. The fragment of a Norse poem, “Fithona,” given by
Macpherson in the preface to the edition of 1773, is translated and
inserted among the songs of Sined, Vol. 4, pp. 98–100.—In his preface
“An den Leser” in the first volume, Denis defends his choice of
the hexameter in a few words and states: “Er [Denis] glaubt noch
Ossians Aechtheit, obwohl er sich, als ein Zeitgenoss des XVIII.
Jahrhundertes freuen müsste, wenn dieses Jahrhundert einen solchen
Genius hervorgebracht hätte.” He is strengthened in his belief by the
statement made by Sturz that he (Sturz) had seen the originals.[271] The
preface contains also a chronological bibliography of Ossianic
publications from 1762 to 1783, which is by no means complete and
contains several errors. The _Fragments_ of 1760 are not mentioned at
all. The songs of the five bards given by Macpherson in his note to
“Croma” are translated and placed at the end of the third volume under
the title “Die Octobernacht. Eine alte Nachahmung Ossians.”
I shall point out the most striking Ossianic characteristics in the
poems that have not yet been dwelt upon. The poem “An Gott,” the first
in the list,[272] contains nothing deserving of attention. In “Sined und
der Tag seiner Geburt” (pp. 113–5), we have the hill covering the dead,
the grove of oaks, druids, ghosts, etc. Towards the end Denis addresses
his father:
Hättest du Lieder von Selma gehört,
Hättest du Sined gesehn im Kreise der Barden, dein Antlitz
Hätte von inniger Wonne geglänzt!—
Aber hängst du denn nicht ...
Itzo den thauenden Himmel herab? etc.
In “Der Fremde und Heimische,” the stranger asks whether the native has
ever heard of Denis (p. 131):
Du kennst den Sänger nicht, der Ossians
Gepriesen Lied, das einst in Morven klang,
Den Kindern seines Volks ins Harfenspiel
Zu singen unternahm?
Next we have a series of five poems, “Sineds Träume,” in which we shall
find occasional traces of Ossian’s influence, particularly in the second
dream.
A typical bardic song is “Der Neugeweihte und Sined,” which contains
several passages worthy of note. In the one beginning (p. 164):
... Als sich Fingals Sohn
Auf seinem leichten Nebel einst in Nacht
Zum Ohre meiner Ruhe niederliess,
Denis speaks of the reception of his Ossianic imitation. The following
comparison at the end of the passage (p. 164) is Ossianic: “Und steht so
fest Dem Tadel, wie den Wogen Morvens Fels.”—“Das Kunstfeuer” contains
a reference (p. 207) to an episode in the songs of Ossian, viz.,
Fingal’s encounter with Swaran, “Cath–Loda,” Duan i:
... Ist es Uthornas Nacht
Beschwert mit Himmelszeichen, als Lodas Geist
Aus seiner Wolkenburg nach Fingal
Glühende Schrecken umsonst versandte?—
In “Der Jugendgefährte” Denis’s lament (p. 216) sounds truly Ossianic:
Jüngling! Sined ist todt. Von seiner verlassenen Halle
Tönet kein freundlicher Laut,
Leitet kein Fusstritt in Schatten. Ihm haben die Söhne der Lieder
Traurig sein Grabmaal erhöht.
Ossianic touches also occur in the poems that have been added to the
fifth volume. In the “Fünfte Reise” Denis speaks of bad advice
disappearing “gleich dem Nebel” (p. 89); Ossian has frequent comparisons
to the departure of mist. The first line (p. 91) of the “Sechste Reise”
is typical: “Das Grau der Vorzeit hellt sich dem Barden auf.” “Der Zwist
der Fürsten,” a series of three poems, contains several things of
interest. In the first song we have Ossian’s striking on the shield as a
sign of battle (p. 111). In the second Joseph’s shield is said to be
“gleich dem Monde Mitten in Gewittern” (p. 113). Compare “Temora,” Bk.
i, p. 306, ll. 4–5: “His shield is ... like the ... moon ascending
through a storm,” and numerous other comparisons of a shield to the
moon.—The lines (p. 117):
Die schauernde Gegend erglänzte
Von Waffen, wie feurige Flut.
recall “Fingal,” Bk. iv, ll. 2–3: “The heath flamed wide with their
arms.” Ossianic in “Wiens Befreyung” (p. 124) is “Die Wolke des Tods,”
“the cloud of death.”[273]—The line (p. 132): “Dein Rath ist Licht, und
Flamme dein Muth,” reminds us of “Fingal,” Bk. ii, p. 228, l. 12: “Thy
counsel is the sun,” and “Temora,” Bk. iv, p. 338, l. 23: “Valour, like
a ... flame.”—Ossian calls the dew the “drops of heaven,”[274] and so
Denis in “Der Blumenstrauss” (p. 157) “des Himmels Tropfen.”
The sixth volume, the _Nachlese zu Sineds Liedern_ compiled and edited
by Joseph von Retzer, contains but little that demands our attention. It
includes several religious songs, a few translations, and a number of
occasional poems. Some of the poems were written prior to Denis’s
acquaintance with Ossian, and these of course do not concern us here,
but even the bardic songs contain little that is Ossianic, only now and
then do we meet with a trace of the bard’s influence, as _e. g._, in
“Der Heldentempel Oesterreichs” (p. 54): “Aus jeder Brust gedrängte
Seufzer steigen,” reminding us of Ossian’s “The crowded sighs of his
bosom rose.”[275]
The edition of 1791–2 is virtually identical with that of 1784.
Testimony to the high rank the poems of Ossian still occupied in the
minds of the German people is given in the preface, where we read: “Auch
nur ein Wort von dem Werthe der Werke, ... zu sagen, wäre von mir eine
unverzeihliche Kühnheit. Ossians Gesänge haben das Alter äherner
Denkmaale überlebt, ...”
A cursory perusal of the facts collected above will at once lead us to
the conclusion that Ossian meant much more to Denis than he did either
to Klopstock or to Gerstenberg. When we consider the fact that Denis
became wholly saturated with Ossian while working on his well–known
translation, we no longer marvel at the circumstance that the
characteristics of Ossian took such firm hold of him in the composition
of his own songs. Again, it requires but a glance to see that at no time
was Ossian’s influence stronger than during the years in which the
translation was under way and those immediately following, that is, the
influence is more noticeable in the poems contained in the edition of
1772 than in those written between 1772 and 1784. While the majority of
his productions are of a mediocre character, they nevertheless furnish
an extremely interesting picture of the extent to which the imitation of
the old bard could be carried. And when we compare his original poems
with his translation—instead of with Macpherson’s original—the
similarity will appear even more pronounced. As Klopstock later on
turned to the Revolution, as Gerstenberg found solace in the study of
Kant, so Denis later in life became engrossed in bibliographical labors,
and his Ossianic poetry fell into neglect.
§4. Karl Friedrich Kretschmann.[276]