Er zog einher dem Hirschen gleich
In Rabenlocken fiel sein Haar.
We have had occasion before to point out Ossian’s comparisons to a deer, and his locks black as a raven’s wings. Theresa, in true Ossianic manner, is compared to the rainbow, a star, a pine,[235] etc., and in the following poem she is said to be fairer than the moon or an oak.[236] After the death of her husband she often visits his grave:
“Dort pfleget Sie der Wehmuth Lust,”[237]
“the joy of grief.” His ghost, of course, does his duty and pays her an occasional visit.[238]
A truly Ossianic picture and comparison are given in the third stanza of the following poem, “Theresia die Mutter” (p. 103):
Schön ist an des Himmels
Blauem Nachtgesichte
Dünsteloser Mond,
Wenn er unter Sternen
Sanftbeleuchtend wandelt;
Aber schöner ist doch Eine noch.
Ossian’s maidens are generally either “bright as the sun–beam,” or else “fair as the moon.” Compare also Ossian’s apostrophe to the moon, beginning of “Dar–Thula.” In another line of the poem (p. 106) we have “Seelen schmelzen” and likewise in “Calthon and Colmal,” p. 183, ll. 21–2: “The soul ... melted;” “Temora,” Bk. ii, p. 318, ll. 3–4, etc., etc.
The tenth stanza of “Theresia die Kriegerinn” is decidedly Ossianic: