§5. Minor Bards.
The paragraphs on Denis and Kretschmann have amply demonstrated just how the so–called bards were dependent upon Ossian. There is little difference between the bardic work of these two and that of the remaining bards, the names of many of whom have been consigned to oblivion, and it would serve little purpose to take up the entire work of each separately. I shall therefore content myself with pointing out some of the more striking Ossianic characteristics in a number of selections of bardic poetry taken at random.
Lorenz Leopold Haschka (1749–1827), in whose lyric poetry the influence of Klopstock and Denis is visible, has a bardic poem in the Litterarische Monate,[320] “Cronnan und Minona[321] an Annas Hügel” (pp. 8–14), the very title of which proclaims Ossian’s presence. The first two names are taken from “Carric–Thura.” The hill we have encountered before, and in the poem we even have the four stones at the corners of the grave.[322] Then we read (pp. 11–2):
Horch’ auf! Da winselts das Farrenkraut
Kläglich hindurch, wie Sterbelaut
Auf Harfen!—Annas Seelchen ists, Minona!
Sie wünschet die Stimme des Lobes zu hören!
The sound emitted by the harp to herald a person’s approaching death,[323] the desire of the ghost to hear the voice of fame are both taken from Ossian. Then we have ‘Disteln’ (p. 10) and a “Tochter der Schattenharfe” (p. 12), Ossian’s shadowy harp again.[324] Anna’s ghost hovers over Tonthena (p. 13), the star mentioned several times in Ossian.[325]
In the same magazine we have several other bardic songs by Haschka. In the one “Bei Annas von Gluck Hügel,” we have the echo called the “Sohn des Felsen” (p. 14) as in Ossian;[326] likewise in “Auf Elisabeth von H.” (p. 307) the echo is the “Bergsohn.”—“An den Gespielen meiner Harfe” contains the image of the youth standing tall “der luftigsten Eiche gleich” (p. 18), with which compare “He stands tall, ... as an oak.”[327] After his death, the youth lies “unter den graulichten Vier Steinen” (p. 19), Ossian’s “four grey stones.”[328] Note also the following (p. 19):
Wenn ich dann, gleich der Blume, verwelkt bin
Und, ihren Blättern ähnlich, mein dürr Gebein
Zerstreut liegt, ...
. . . . . .
Dann komm zu meinem blumichten Hügel her
Mit allen deinen Liedern, und gieb, mein Freund,
Dem Winde meinen Geist, und meine
Harfe dem niedrigsten Espenzweige.
As for the first stanza, see supra, pp. 93–4. When we strike an imitator of one of the leading bards, the chances of a direct influence on the part of Ossian are naturally lessened. More than likely Haschka was in this instance indebted to Klopstock more than to Ossian directly, or to Homer or the Bible, for that matter. The situation in the second stanza is thoroughly Ossianic and calls for no further comment.
In “Die Kraft der Tonkunst” we encounter the bardic machinery again as well as Ossianic rhetorical figures. The moon, e. g., is called the “Nachtschild” (p. 210). Then we have the ‘sending round the shell’ (p. 212),[329] “der Wehmut ... Wonne” (p. 215),[330] and the following noteworthy passage (p. 215):
Schwindend itzt, wie Lonas Stimme
Einst im Widerhalle starb,
Da waldeinwärts Jäger riefen:
Ossian! Der Felsen Sohn
Heischer widerseufzt’:
Ossian!
In the poem “Auf Elizabeth von H.,” Elizabeth is said to resemble the morning–sun (p. 307). In the same poem we have the ‘snow of the bosom’ (p. 308) and in the “Geburtslied” the ‘hand of snow’ (p. 310).[331]
In Karl Mastalier’s (1731–95) “Ode auf den Freyherrn von Laudon,” we have Ossian’s ‘trembling harp’ several times.[332] “Das Nationaltheater” shows traces of Ossian’s influence in the bardic paraphernalia and the imagery. The moon is termed the ‘daughter of the silent night.’[333] On the whole, Mastalier’s poems were but little influenced by Ossian, and there is nothing that distinguishes his poetry particularly from the usual run of bardic productions.
Knorr’s[334] “Der Barde an seinen Freund K * * *,” which appeared in the Leipziger Musenalmanach for 1776, is written in the Ossianic vein. The bard sits by the grey oak and asks the breeze to lift his black locks. “Wie Sänger Ossian Hebt er sich vom heiligen Eichbaum,” we read on p. 95.
In the same number of the almanac we have a bardic song by Brown, entitled “Die Nacht,” in which we find Ossianic description and Norse mythology side by side. In the opening lines of the poem, the Ossianic Stimmung is imitated to prepare for the appearance of the ghost.[335] A few quotations from the poem may not be amiss:
Und auf dem bemoosten Hügel,
Ueber den des Sturmes Flügel
Flattert, walle ich allein.[336]
The mossy hill, the wings of the storm, the lonely wanderer are all Ossianic, as is the lament (p. 216):
Auch mich, auch mich, schliesst einst im Felde
Ein aufgethürmter Hügel ein,
Auch ich werd’ unter Eichenschatten
Wo am bemoosten Steine, etc.
In “Das Gesicht,” a bardic poem that appeared anonymously in the Almanach der deutschen Musen for 1773 (pp. 23–5), we have a splendid illustration of how far the imitation of Ossianic apparitions was carried.—The situation of a ghost appearing upon a stream of light and the beholder trembling in terror, as presented in “Die Erscheinung” by N——ch,[337] is Ossianic.
The Barden–Almanach der Teutschen for 1802 contains a bardic poem, “Wodan und Braga,” with Ossianic nature touches, as the following extract will show (pp. 174–6):
Welch ein Aechzen weht vom Hayn der Fichten,
. . . . . . . . .
Blut’ge Schatten, ...
Wimmeln aus der Finsterniss hervor,
. . . . . . . . .
Schreiten über Hayde, Sumpf und Moor.
Plötzlich, gleich dem Aufruhr wilder Wogen,
Braus’t der Sturm, und hohler Donner kracht:
Unterm dunkelblauen Himmelsbogen
Rollt er, rollt er in Gewitter–Pracht.
... aus der Felsen–Oede
Donnert Nachhall durch den Fichten–Wald.
Sufficient examples have been given to show the nature of Ossianic imitation as practiced by the minor bardic poets. Among the features they admired in Ossian was his independence of all rules and conventions, and here they approach the writers of the Storm and Stress. Nor did they hesitate to place him on a level with Homer. Interesting in this connection is the following statement by Bernold: “Und wo nahm denn Ossian seine Regeln her? aus der Natur—und doch übertrifft dieser Dichter in meinen Augen noch einigermassen den Homer selbst und taugt wenigstens für einen Schweizer besser zu einem Vorbild als jener, indem seine besungenen Gegenstände, sowohl in als ausser der Natur, den unsrigen näher kommen und ungleich ähnlicher sind, als jene der Griechen und Römer oder anderer Nationen.”[338] What Ossian meant to them is laid down in a poem “An Heyder,” by J. G. Schulz, published in the Leipziger Musenalmanach for 1783, with a striking quotation from which (pp. 152–3) we shall leave this portion of our subject.—Grim sickness has chased the joyous muses away from the poet’s side; no friend can aid, no book console him:
Nur Ossians des Barden Klage
Umgiebt in meinem Jammer mich.
Da seh ich ihn in seiner Väter Höhle,
Voll tiefen Schmerz die heisse Seele,
Um Oskarn, der vor Ihm erblich
Die väterliche Zähre weinen:
Und höre seiner Harfe Jammerlaut
Durch dumpfe Klüfte wiederhallen.
Ich seh wie ihm auf ihren luftgen Hallen
Die Geister der Vergangenheit erscheinen,
Und Fingaln, der hernieder schaut
Auf seinen alten müdgeweinten Sohn,
Den er von allen einsam übrig siehet,
Den Barden, den des Tages Schimmer fliehet.—
. . . . . .
Hier find ich all die vielen Leiden,
Das karge Loos der Sterblichkeit,
Und die Erinnrung an verflossne Freuden,
Die zu den gegenwärtgen Leiden
Noch Schwefel in die Flamme streut.—
