Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

\j2 critical dissertation
which it is well known those northern nations
were early famous. ' There, mixed with the
murmur of waters, rose the voice of aged men,
\vho called the forms of night to aid them in
their war ;' whilst the Caledonian chiefs, who
assisted them, are described as standing at a
distance, heedless of their rites. That ferocity
of manners which distinguished those nations,
also becomes conspicuous. In the combats of
their chiefs there is a peculiar savageness ; even
their women are bloody and fierce. The spirit,
and the very ideas of Regner Lodbrog, that
northern scalder, whom I formerly quoted, oc-
cur to us again. ' The hawks,' Ossian makes
one of the Scandinavian chiefs say, ' rush from
all their winds ; they are wont to trace my
course. We rejoiced three days above the
dead, and called the hawks of heaven. They
came from all their w^inds, to feast on the foes
of Annir.
Dismissing now the separate consideration
of any of our author's works, 1 proceed to
make some observations on his manner of writ-
ing, Under the general tieads of Description,
Imagery, and Sentiment.
A goet of original genius is always distin-
guished by his talent for description. A second
rate writer discerns nothing new or peculiar in
the object he means to describe. His concep-
tions of it are vague and loose ; his expressions
feeble ; and of course the object is presented
to US indistinctly, and as through a cloud. But
a true poet makes us imagine that we see it
before our eyes ; he catches the distinguishing
features ; he gives it the colours of life and re-
ality ; he places it in such a light that a paint-
er could copy after him- Tliis happy talent
is chiefly owing to a lively imagination, which
first receives a strong impression of the object :