Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 121
^hich Ossian applies to himself; " I, like an ancient
oak in Morven, moulder alone m my place ; the blast
hath lopped my branches away 5 and I tremble at
** the winds of the north."
As Homer exalts his heroes by comparing them to gods,
Ossian makes the same use of comparisons taken from
spirits and ghosts. Swaran *' roared in battle, like the
shrill spirit of a storm that sits dim on the clouds of
'* Gormal, and enjoys the death of the m.ariner." His
people gathered around Erragon, " like storms around
" the ghost of night, w'hen he calls them from the top
of Morven, and prepares to pour them on the lasd of
'* the stranger." " They fell before my son, like groves
" in the desart, when an angry ghost rushes through
" night, and takes their green heads in his hand." In
•isuch images Ossian appears m his strength ; for very sel-
dom have supernatural beings been pamted with so much
sublimity, and such force of imagination, as by this poet.
Even Homer, great as he is, must yield to him in similies
iformcd upon these. Take, for instance, the Iliad.
" IMeriones followed Idomeneus to battle, like Mars
'' the destroyer of men, when he rushes to war. Ter-
•' ror, his beloved son, strong and fierce attends him ;
" who nils with dismay the most valiant hero. They
'• come from Thrace, armed against the Ephyrians, and
'" Phlegyans ; nor do they regard the prayers of either;
'* but dispose of success at will ^" The idea here is un-
doubtedly noble : but observe what a figure Ossian sets
before the astonished imagination, and with what su-
blimely terrible circumstances he has heightened it,
.'* He rushed in the sound of his arms, like the dreadful
" spirit of Loda, when he comes in the roar of a thou-
•* sand storms, and scatters battles from his eves. He
" sits on a cloud over Lochlin's seas. His mighty hand
/' is on his sword. The winds lift his flaming locks.
1" So terrible was Cuthullin in the day of his fame."
Hom.er's comparisons relate chiefly to martial subjects,
to the appearances and motions of armies, the engage-
ment and death of heroes, and the various incidents of
i Iliad iHi. ta^.