Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

01 THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 151
a tender melancholy. Ossian makes a very propc?
distinction betwe en this gratification and the destructive
elTect of overpowering grief. " There is a joy in grief
when peace dwe.lls in the breasts of the sad. But sor-
row wastes the mournful, O daughter of Toscar, and
their days are few." To "give the joy of grief," gen-
erally signifies, to raise the strain of soft and grave
music ; and finely characterizes the taste of Ossian's
age and country. In those days, when the songs of
bards were the great delight of heroes, the tragic muse
was held in chief honor : gallant actions and virtuous
sufferings, were the chosen theme ; preferably to that
light and trifling strain of poetry and music, which
promotes light and trifling manners, and serves to
emasculate the mind. " Strike the harp in my hall,"
said the great Fingal, in the midst of youth and victo-
ry ; " strike the harp in my hall, and let Fingal hear
the song. Pleasant is the joy of grief! It is like the
shower of spring, when it softens the branch of the
oak ; and the young leaf lifts its green head. Sing on,
O bards ! To-morrow we lift the sail."
Personal epithets have been much used by all the
poets of the most ancient ages ; and when well chosen,
not general and unmeaning, they contribute not a little
to render the style descriptive and animated. Besides
epithets founded on bodily distinctions, akin to many
of Homer's, we find in Ossian several which are re-
markably beautiful and poetical. Such as Oscar of
Ihe future fights, Fingal of the mildest look, Carril of
other times, the mildly blushing Evir-allin : Bragela,
the lonely sun-beam of Dunscaich ; a Culdee, the son
of the secret cell.
But of all the orHamcnts employed in descriptive
poetry, comparisons or similes are the most splendid.
These chiefly form what is called the imagery of a
poem ; and as they abound so much in the works of