Ossian in Germany Part 28

Wie der Wa.s.serfall brausend die Kluft durchflieht, Walze dich wild uber Felsenherzen mein Lied!-[294]

The lines (p. 133):

In Rauch zerdampft des Helden Lichth.e.l.ler Ruhm vor dir.

recall Ossian's "fame, that fled like the mist."[295] The following comparison is Ossianic (p. 134):

Denn er fiel, er fiel,

So reisst im Haine Teutebergs Des Sturmes Fluth die Eiche hin.[296]

Ossian's frequent "melting of the soul" may be responsible for (p. 137):

Und ihre Seele schmolz In ... Minnegesang.

Compare "Croma," p. 178, ll. 145: "Thy song is lovely! ... but it melts the soul."-Thusnelda sheds 'tears of joy' and embraces her father with "schneebeschamenden" (p. 139) arms. He strikes the shield (p. 141) to summon warriors, and Hermann feels "Die sanfte Wehmuth" (p. 147).-In the second canto we notice the following (p. 155):

So wie die Feuersbrunst ...

Entflammt sich oft dein Grimm ...

Verzehrt die Zellter ...

'Burning' or 'flaming wrath' occurs frequently in Ossian, where rage is also occasionally compared to a fire. Notice also "They were consumed in the flames of thy wrath,"[297] "His rage was a fire that always burned,"[298] etc. Ossianic are the tone and atmosphere in the following pa.s.sage (p. 159):

Ich schlich in Wald Bey Sternen Schimmer; Warf mich aufs Moos Der Felsentrummer:

In hohen d.i.c.ken Wipfeln brausten Die Geister luftger Nacht:

Und siehe, mir war, Als stund' ein Mann am Stamme Der alten Eiche hingelehnet, Mit wildflatterndem Haar.

and again (p. 161):

Da sauste von Wacholderhugeln Ein rascher Wind ihm in das Haar; Ich merkte, da.s.s auf seinen Flugeln Der Geist des Romers war.

The "Strahl von seinem Ruhme" (p. 173) in the third canto recalls Ossian's "beam of fame."[299]-Ossian's warriors continually lean on their shields, and Kretschmann may have had this in mind when he wrote the line (p. 179): "Siegmund stand, gelehnt auf seinen Schild." Certain it is that the comparisons in the line (p. 179) "Dein Schild der Mond, dein Schwert der Blitz"[300] are Ossianic.-In the fourth canto the stanza beginning (p. 196): "Ich lag, und schlief so suss" is decidedly Ossianic. As he slept 'grey ghosts arose' (p. 197):

Der falbe Nebel dammerte licht: Und mitten in wirbelnden Schimmern Erblickt' ich ein Gesicht.

It is the face of Irmgard, of which he says (p. 197): "Der Vollmond scheint so lieblich nicht!" Ossian also compares the face to a moon and speaks of a maiden "fair as the full moon."[301] The spirit departs in good Ossianic style (p. 200):

... da verschwand der Geist, Wie der Nebel am Teiche zerfleusst Wenn der Morgenwind erwacht.[302]

A typical Ossianic picture is the following (p. 206), in which the form of comparison also savors of Ossian:

So wie die alte Eiche, An allen Zweigen entlaubt, Hoch auf dem waldigten Berge trauert; Der sinkende Nebel verhullt ihr Haupt: So sa.s.s, umringt von finsterm Harme, Ingwiomar, der greise Mann.

Likewise in Ossian we have an oak "clothed in mist"[303] and the comparison of a warrior to a "leafless oak."[304] Compare also: "But now he is pale and withered like the oak."[305] Ossian again and again arranges comparisons in exactly the manner we have here, _i. e._, the first member is followed by an independent sentence in the indicative mode. Take, _e. g._, such a pa.s.sage as the following: "As rushes a stream of foam from the dark shady deep of Cromla ... Through the breaches of the tempest look forth the dim faces of ghosts. So fierce,"

etc.[306] Likewise Ossianic is this scene (pp. 2078):

... Wenn der Sturm der Nacht Mit allen seinen Winden erwacht, Die schwarze schlosende Wolke saust, Der Wald mit allen Zweigen braust, Der Donner brullt, die Haide brullt, Das wilde Wa.s.ser rauschend schwillt, Ueber die Felsen ins Thal sich giest, etc.,

as are also the following comparisons (p. 210):

Da fuhr hastig, mit blankem Schwert Der Held hervor ... . .

... ... . . so fahrt Der schnelle Blitz ... .

Herab aus finstern Gewittern.- Von der Linken zur Rechten flog Sein Schwert einen flammenden Kreis; da bog Der Schwarm zuruck, und Herman stand Wie durchs Gewitter der Mond sich wand: Einsamglanzend gebietet er.

Compare such expressions as "Ryno as lightning gleamed along,"[307]

"brightened, like the full moon of heaven; when the clouds vanish away,"[308] "risen ... from battle, like a meteor from a stormy cloud,"[309] and the like.-The poem that follows, "Die Jagerin,"

includes anacreontic as well as bardic elements, without containing anything specifically Ossianic. It has the 'grove of oaks' (p. 224), the 'snowy breast' (p. 232), the 'Geist der Lieder' (p. 229), the unavoidable echo (p. 227), and other bardic phrases that had by this time become quite common.

The last poem of the first volume is "Kleist," in three cantos, which cannot be said to have been strongly influenced by Ossian, although the same old bardic paraphernalia of harps and spirits and the like are employed and occasional Ossianic reminders occur _e. g._, the expression (p. 259): "Ihrer Waffen Schein War furchtbar," reminds us of Ossian's "Terrible was the gleam of the steel,"[310] etc. We must again point out that although similar expressions occur also in Homer and elsewhere, Ossian served to intensify the impression. Kretschmann and most of the other bardic poets certainly knew their Ossian better than they did their Homer, and I think we can give Ossian the benefit of the doubt in most instances.-The figure of the stars trembling: "Da bebten die Sterne" (p. 259), also probably goes back to Ossian, as does the line "Thauvoll war sein Haar" (p. 259), with which compare, _e. g._, "Filled with dew are my locks."[311]

In the second volume of Kretschmann's works, which contains "Hymnen,"

"Scherzhafte Lieder," "Sinngedichte," and a few other poems, there are but scattered signs of Ossian's influence scarcely worthy of mention.

Only in the "Anhang einiger kleinen Bardenlieder" do we find the bardic tendency more strongly p.r.o.nounced and in consequence more frequent traces of Ossian. In the first of these bardic poems, "Die teutsche Schamhaftigkeit," we have a "Madchen, rabenschwarz von Haaren,"[312] but the comparison was a common one by this time and need not be referred to Ossian. In the one "An den ersten Weinstock" we have the echo once more (p. 230); likewise in "Das Traumgesicht" (p. 236). In the "Fruhlingslied" the nightingale is called the bardic bird, "Du Bardenvogel Nachtigall" (p. 232), the expression no doubt going back to Klopstock's _Bardale_.[313] In the same poem the bard lies on the moss in the cave of the rock (pp. 2323), and we have the following Ossianic lines (p. 233):

Nur selten blinkte durch die Nebeldecken Der spaten Sonne Blick.

Compare Ossian's "the sun looks through mist."[314] In the last poem of the _Anhang_, "Das Traumgesicht," the bardic character stands out more prominently than in any of the preceding ones. The very first line gives us "Zukunftspahende Druiden" (p. 236), and soon the ghost of the dreamer's father hovers from the dark oaks (p. 237).-In all these bardic songs Gleim's influence is distinctly noticeable. In the second stanza of the "Friedenslied" (p. 147), we have "tiefgestimmte Saiten,"

whereas the original version in the _Leipziger Musen Almanach_ for 1780 (p. 40) had "Distelumkranzte Saiten."

Volumes 3 and 4 of the works contain comedies. In the fifth volume we have first some "Vermischte Gedichte und Fragmente," one of which is addressed to Denis: "An Sined den HarfenDruiden." It is written in the bardic spirit with here and there an Ossianic touch. At the beginning we have an imitation of the Ossianic mood of forsakenness and wildness.[315] The spirit of song again appears[316] and also the echo (p. 14). The poet hears the call of the harp, he follows the sound, until he sees "den Sanger am Eichenbaum" (p. 14).-On pp. 156 we read:

Und nun kenn' ich dich, Sined, Den Freund an Ossians Busen, Dem er am Abend Seiner Augen die Harfe liess.

Aber ach, kenn' ich denn nicht, Sined, Ossians Harfe, Die vom Rauschen der Speere, Vom Sauseln der Schwerter gern begleitet wird?

Another bardic song is that "An Telynhardt,"[317] addressed to Hartmann,[318] and containing the lines (p. 50):

Dann tritt ... unter die Bardenschaar, ... ... ... .

Da wirst du zittern, so wie Rhingulph Zitterte, wenn er zu Ossian hintrat.

The following poem "An den Herrn B. von F. * * *" sets up Ossian as a model and ends with the exclamation (p. 53):

O dringe furder bis zum Ziele, Und komm' als Ossian zuruck!

The following pa.s.sage is worthy of note (p. 52):

Als Ossian, in Deiner Blute, Der sussen Harfe schwur; Da harrt' er oft am heissen Tage, In kalten Nachten, auf der Flur; Und sucht' und fand Natur und Wahrheit, Bis ihn der ehrenvolle Zweig umlaubt, Den ihm nicht h.e.l.le's Barde, Der Barde Roms nicht raubt.

We see from the above lines that Kretschmann also was not inclined to set Ossian below Homer or Vergil, and that it was Ossian's naturalness that appealed to him, his freedom from rules and conventions.[319]