And so on. It is scarcely necessary to point out how closely the Ossianic spirit and nature coloring have been adhered to. The Ossianic paraphernalia are all present, the silent vale,[226] the moon, the sacred oaks, the ghosts of the bards, the clouds upon which they float along the sides of the mountains,[227] the songs of the times of old attuned to the accompaniment of the harp; not even the echo is missing, resounding from woods and fields. These and similar Ossianic properties are continually resorted to in Denis’s bardic productions. They give an archaic character to the whole, and lend a certain picturesqueness to the scene—when not employed to excess. We have further along “Saiten von Selma,” Ossian’s oft repeated ‘harp of Selma,’ “Zähren der Wehmuth,” “Wipfel der Eichen,” “moosige Trümmer,” etc. Denis proceeds to narrate the principal subjects of the poems of Ossian, and then confesses what an effect Ossian made upon him from the very outset; he tells us how he persisted in his purpose in spite of the fact that many of his old listeners deserted him. He concludes with the following lines:
Und, Vater von Oscar![228] dein Folger
Bey kommenden Altern zu heissen!
Ha! dieser Gedanke gesellt mich
Im schweigenden Thale des Mondes zu dir![229]
We should expect Denis, as a strong admirer and pupil of Klopstock, to follow in the footsteps of his master by introducing the old Norse mythology into his bardic efforts. As a matter of fact, however, it is almost completely lacking, a circumstance perhaps best explained by his religious calling.[230] About the sole indications of an interest in Old Norse are the seven songs following the first poem. Being translations and paraphrases of Old Norse material, they do not concern us here.
Next come a number of occasional poems addressed to Maria Theresa and to Joseph II. On pages 85–143 we have the “Bardenfeyer am Tage Theresiens,” first published in Vienna in 1770, in which the various offices and qualities of the empress are sung by different bards. The spirit of Klopstock and Ossian hovers over all these poems, as will appear from the extracts to follow. We shall notice also that the bardic machinery and Ossian’s imagery are not neglected. The bards are described as “Die Geber des Ruhmes, die Söhne der Lieder,”[231] and are endowed with all the other characteristics of those of Ossian, as, for example, with the power of looking into the future.[232]
The poem “An Ossians Geist” showed us that Denis adopted the spirit world of Ossian, and like Klopstock and Gerstenberg, he has ghosts appear on all possible occasions, e. g., in “Theresia die Fürstinn,” which begins (p. 89):
Neiget euch nieder aus luftigen Hallen,
Herrscher der Vorzeit im Schmucke Walhallas!
Väter von Habsburg! neiget euch her![233]
So in Ossian “the forms of the fathers bend” from their ‘cloudy–hall.’
In the same poem (p. 92) we have a “verfinsterte Seele,” Ossian’s ‘darkened soul.’[234]
In the next poem, “Theresia die Gattinn,” we have several Ossianic expressions, e. g. (p. 98):