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,