Ossian in Germany Part 21

We see, therefore, that Ossian was unceremoniously annexed by Klopstock; Celts and Germani were all one to him,[65] he drew no narrow distinctions, and not until late in life were his ideas on this point clarified. We are not to suppose, however, that Klopstock alone occupied this position. Far from it. The conceptions that existed at the time as to the genetic relation of peoples and languages were rather hazy, to say the least. Klopstock's intense patriotism was a factor in preventing him from penetrating more to the root of the matter. "Die allgemein anerkannte und empfundene Vortrefflichkeit dieser Gesange war es," says a writer in the periodical _Bragur_,[66] "welche ... die zartliche Vaterlandsliebe einiger teutschen Worthies so weit entflammte, da.s.s sie nicht nur den Barden Ossian, weil man bisher die Celten fur die Stammvater der Teutschen hielt und die altesten teutschen Dichter aus der Heidenzeit nicht anders als mit dem Bardennamen zu beschenken gewohnt war, zu einem Landsmanne von uns zu machen suchten, sondern ihn auch wirklich machten. Unsere Vater waren also Celten, unsere altesten teutonischen Dichter Barden."

But still another element of confusion made its appearance with the introduction of Norse mythology. The warriors of Arminius were not Christians, nor was their religion based upon the mythology of the Greeks. They had a mythology of their own, of which little was known.

Fortunately, the Old Norse _Edda_ had preserved a complete system of divinities, and so Arminius and his followers were constrained to pray to the Old Norse G.o.ds. Ferven patriots, who did not hesitate to adopt Ossian as a countryman, could scarcely be expected to distinguish between Old Norse mythology and the mythology of the ancient Cherusci and Catti. Now Ossian having once been stamped as of German descent, it required no great stretch of imagination to make Fingal and his warriors forswear their allegiance to the Spirit of Loda and pray to Wodan and his band, and _vice versa_ to make Norse bards-skalds-a.s.sume various characteristics of Ossian's heroes. Ossian and the characters of Norse mythology went hand in hand, and making their appearance, as they did, about the same time,[67] confusion was bound to arise. This confusion was particularly noticeable in the writings of the first group of German poets that were influenced by Ossian-of Klopstock and the bards-and played much mischief in German literature for several years. Klopstock, not content with introducing the Norse G.o.ds into his new poems, proceeded to drive the residents of Olympus out of old ones and to replace them by the dwellers in Walhalla. By the end of the year 1767 this process was completed. It is nowhere better ill.u.s.trated than in the ode now called "Wingolf," which was written in 1747 under the t.i.tle "An des Dichters Freunde." In the first verse, _e. g._, Hebe has had to make way for Gna and so on throughout the poem.[68] It will be interesting to mention a few of the changes occasioned by the appearance of Ossian. L.

4: "Feyernd in machtigen Dithyramben," now reads: "Feyrend in kuhnerem Bardenliede." Ll. 57 which originally read:

Wilst du zu Strophen werden, o Lied, oder Ununterwurfig Pindars Gesangen gleich, Gleich Zevs erhabenen trunkenen Sohne, ...[69]

have been changed to:

Willst du zu Strophen werden, O Haingesang?

Willst du gesetzlos, Ossians Schwunge gleich, Gleich Ullers Tanz auf Meerkrystalle, ...

It is evident that these changes are confined to externals, as is also the case when l. 10, "Mit Orpheus Leyer," becomes "Des Zelten Leyer,"

or l. 25, "Dein Priester wartet," is changed to "Dein Barde wartet," and so on. As for Orpheus, the Thracians were regarded by Klopstock as a tribe of the Celts, and so Orpheus becomes as much of a German bard as Ossian.[70] Before we leave this ode, let us glance at an example or two, showing how the machinery of Ossian is thrown together with Norse mythology. Ll. 459, which originally read:

Aber geliebter, trunken und weisheitsvoll Von Weingeburgen, wo die Unsterblichen Taumelnd herumgehn, wo die Menschen Unter Unsterblichen Gotter werden.

were changed to:

Allein geliebter, wenn du voll Vaterlands Aus jenen Hainen komst, wo der Barden Chor[71]

Mit Braga singet, wo die Telyn Tont zu dem Fluge des deutschen Liedes.

or ll. 20912:

Oder, wie aus den Gotterversammlungen Mit Agyieus Leyerton, himmelab, Und taumelnd, hin auf Weingeburgen, Sazungenlos Dithyramben donnern!

which have become:

Wie aus der hohen Druden Versammlungen, Nach Braga's Telyn, nieder vom Opferfels, Ins lange tiefe Thal der Waldschlacht, Satzungenlos sich der Barden Lied sturzt!

Klopstock notes with reference to the word _Telyn_: "Die Leyer der Barden. Sie heisset noch jetzt in der neueren celtischen Sprache so, die am Meisten von der alteren behalten hat." The term has replaced _Leier_ also in the odes "Thuiskon," l. 13, "Die Barden," l. 2; it occurs in ll.

62 and 123 of the ode "Der Hugel, und der Hain," l. 14 of "Die Barden,"

in the _Hermannsschlacht_, in _Hermann und die Fursten_, etc. The introduction of this Celtic word goes back directly to the study of Celtic to which Klopstock was incited by the poems of Ossian. Moreover, it is not the only word he borrowed in this way. In "Die Barden," l. 14, he speaks of the _Telyn_ of our _Filea_, and explains the latter term in a note as "Die vortrefflichsten unter den Barden, welche die jungeren unterrichteten."[72] Another Celtic word that he introduced is _Bardale_, which he defines as follows: "Von Barde. So hiess in unsrer alteren Sprache die Lerche. Die Nachtigall verdient's noch mehr, so zu heissen." Klopstock applied the word also to the nightingale, but in the ode "Die Lerche und die Nachtigall" he uses it for the lark, a symbol of the song of nature, in contradistinction to the nightingale, whose song is more artificial. The ode "Bardale," written in 1748, was originally ent.i.tled "Aedone"; it was first published under the simple t.i.tle "Ode"

in the _Vermischte Schriften von den Verfa.s.sern der Bremischen Beitrage_, i, p. 378 (1749). Although these terms are employed occasionally by Klopstock's imitators and others,[73] they never became popular and soon died out altogether.

Klopstock was an earnest student of versification and nothing could have given him more pleasure at one time of his career than the discovery of the poetical measures of the ancient Germani. The appearance of Macpherson's Ossian in a prose garb, welcome as it was to some, must have come as a cruel disappointment to one who was so anxious to be enlightened as to the nature and structure of the meter of the UrGermanic bardic songs. This disappointment finds expression in the ode "Der Bach," where he sings:

Der grosse Sanger Ossian folgt Der Musik des vollen Baches nicht stets.

If Klopstock had only lived to see Ahlwardt's translation from the socalled Celtic originals, he would have had at least a partial recompense. As it was, all he had to go by was the original (?) of the sixth book of "Temora" and that did not give him much information as to the exact structure of the verse he sought. He therefore entered into correspondence with Macpherson, as we saw above[74] in the letter to Gleim. The intensity of his interest is well ill.u.s.trated by a few epistolary pa.s.sages. He writes to Denis under date of July 22, 1768: "In dem Celtischen war ich auch schon ziemlich weit, aber es erklart ~uns~ nichts; und da liess ichs. Ihnen ins Ohr. ~Macpherson~ (mit dem ich correspondire), versteht entweder Ossians Quant.i.tat, oder das Sylbenma.s.s uberhaupt nicht genug. Wenn Sie mir wahrscheinlich machen konnen, da.s.s die illyrischen Barden wenigstens halbe Deutsche waren, so bekommt der Uebersetzer einen schweren Stand mit mir, wenn er falsch, nur ein wenig falsch ubersetzt."[75] Again, he writes to Ebert on May 5, 1769: "Wenn mir ~Macpherson~ Wort halt; so bekomme ich einige alte Melodien nach Ossian, in unsre Noten gesezt; und so kann ich auch vielleicht etwas nicht unwahrscheinliches von dem Rhythmus der Barden sagen."[76] It appears, however, that he got but little help from the material that Macpherson sent him, and so he takes his request to Angelica Kauffmann,[77] who resided in London at the time. He writes to Gleim from Bernstorff, Sept. 2, 1769: "Ich bin seit Kurzem in eine deutsche Malerin in London, Angelika Kaufmann, beinahe verliebt. Sie hat einen Briefwechsel mit mir angefangen, und will mir schicken: einen Kopf Ossians nach ihrer Phantasie, ihr Portrait und ein Gemalde aus dem Messias."[78] Their common admiration for Ossian was no small factor in cementing the friends.h.i.+p between the poet and the artist. Unfortunately nothing came of the portrait of Ossian,[79] and hence we are left in the dark as to the artist's conception of the Voice of Cona and as to how her conception would have coincided with Klopstock's. On March 3, 1770, Klopstock wrote to Angelica from Copenhagen: "Konnten Sie nicht in Edingburgh, oder auch weiter hinauf gegen Norden, durch Hulfe Ihrer Freunde, einen Musikus auftreiben, der mir die Melodien solcher Stellen im Ossian, die vorzuglich lyrisch sind, in unsere Noten setzte,"

etc.[80] Nothing could better ill.u.s.trate Klopstock's profound interest in the subject than the pa.s.sages just quoted. After this we hear nothing further of the matter, and must conclude that Klopstock's hopedfor a.s.sistance from this quarter proved illusory. What were Klopstock's conclusions with reference to Ossian's meter, we are told in one of his essays on the German hexameter, viz., he thought that Ossian's meter consisted of a mixture of narrative verses of his own invention and other lyrical verses answering to the sense.[81] Of course Ossian's value for Klopstock lay in the fact that he supposedly sang in natural melodies and was not hampered by artificial measures.

At the height of his enthusiasm for Ossian, Klopstock deemed it no sacrilege to place the Celtic bard alongside of Homer, in accordance with the popular practice of the day.[82] In a letter to Denis, Klopstock writes from Copenhagen under date of August 4, 1767: "Ich liebe Ossian so sehr, da.s.s ich seine Werke uber einige Griechische der besten Zeit setze."[83] In the first edition of the _Gelehrtenrepublik_ (1774) appeared the following epigram, which is a striking ill.u.s.tration of Klopstock's _quondam_ supreme admiration for Ossian:

Du gingst der Schonheit Bahn, Sohn Fingals, Ossian; Sie ging Maonides Homer: Wer that der Schritte mehr?[84]

Similarly he sings in the ode "Unsre Sprache" (ll. 5360):

Die Vergessenheit umhullt', o Ossian, auch dich!

Dich huben sie hervor, und du stehest nun da!

Gleichest dich dem Griechen! trotzest ihm!

Und fragst, ob wie du er entflamme den Gesang?

Voll Gedanken auf der Stirne h.o.r.et' ihn Apoll, Und sprach nicht! und gelehnt auf die Harfe Walhalls Stellt sich vor Apollo Bragor hin, Und lachelt, und schweiget, und zurnet nicht auf ihn.

The first four verses of this eulogy became very popular among Ossian's numerous admirers, and we find them occasionally prefixed to German translations. They are also quoted by Denis in his Vorbericht[85] to the _Lieder Sineds_ (1772).

Let us now briefly consider Ossian's influence upon Klopstock as it appears in some of his works. Dr. Julius Koster in his _Programm Ueber Klopstocks Gleichnisse_ (Iserlohn, 1878), fixes the beginning of this influence altogether too late. He says: "Ossian hat erst Ende der sechziger Jahre auf Klopstock wirken konnen, weil er in Deutschland erst um jene Zeit durch die Uebersetzung von Denis bekannt wurde." We have seen, however, that notices of Ossian had appeared in Germany as early as 1762 and that several translations were published before that of Denis, although to be sure, Denis's was the first that attracted widespread attention. Klopstock, who of course had become acquainted with Ossian long before the appearance of Denis's translation, took a warm interest in the translator's work, as is evidenced by the correspondence that pa.s.sed between the two. Klopstock had seen bits of the translation before it was published; under date of Sept. 8, 1767, he writes to Denis from Bernstorff: "Sie werden am Ende dieses Briefs einige Ausdrucke finden, mit denen ich in Ihrer Uebersetzung des Ossian und in Ihrer Ode weniger als mit den andern zufrieden bin."[86] It has been pointed out,[87] that the earliest translations all emanated from North Germany, from Bremen, Hamburg, and Hannover, and they were consequently very liable to fall into Klopstock's hands. Besides, there is no reason why he should not have read Macpherson's poems in English, a copy of which he would have had no difficulty in procuring on one of the frequent visits made to Germany between the summer of 1762 and July, 1764. Klopstock had begun the study of English as a youngster at school, and although he, like so many other German literati of the day, like Lenz, for example, never obtained a complete scientific mastery of the language, he would have experienced little difficulty in construing Macpherson's short, simple periods. Be that as it may, there can be no doubt of the fact that Klopstock became acquainted with Ossian as early as 1764, for the simple reason that some of the odes written in that year show plain traces of Ossian's influence.

In all attempts to arrive at an exact estimate of Ossian's influence upon Klopstock, one difficulty will always be encountered, a difficulty based upon the fact that both the language of Macpherson and that of Klopstock rest in large measure upon the same foundations: the Bible, Homer, Milton, Latin poets. Malcolm Laing in his "Dissertation"[88] gave innumerable examples of Macpherson's borrowings, and although he undoubtedly went a little too far, it can not be denied that many of his conclusions are true. The greatest care has, therefore, to be exercised in attributing anything in Klopstock to Ossian, for the chances are that the Bible, or Milton, or Homer, or Horace, or some other cla.s.sical poet, is the common source from which both drew.[89] For instance, Macpherson is fond of comparing the voice or song to a stream, but were we to attribute Klopstock's lines:

So floss der Waldstrom hin nach dem Ozean: So fliesst mein Lied auch, stark und gedankenvoll.

to Ossian, we should be led astray, for Klopstock's source was undoubtedly Horace, _Odes_, iv, 2, ll. 58, where he speaks of the songs of Pindar:

Monte decurrens velut amnis, imbres Quem super notas aluere ripas, Fervet immensusque suit profundo Pindarus ore.

The large majority of Klopstock's comparisons are taken from nature and so are Ossian's: comparisons with the moon and the stars, dusk and night, clouds and mist, wind and storm, etc., etc., all are found in Klopstock even before Ossian appeared; indeed, the resemblance of the language of Klopstock to that of Ossian, even in the early songs of the _Messiah_, especially as far as the imagery is concerned, is striking.

The same acc.u.mulation of comparisons is of course found in Homer.

Koster[90] again and again notes pa.s.sages from Ossian where an influence proceeding from him is absolutely out of the question, not only in connection with the early songs of the _Messiah_, but also with reference to odes written before 1764, _e. g._, he refers to Ossian in connection with the line "Laura war ... Schon wie ein festlicher Tag,"

in the ode "Petrarka und Laura" (l. 61). But this ode was written as early as 1748 and consequently Ossian can not be held responsible. When Klopstock in the "KlaG.o.de" sings (ll. 1011):

Wie Gras auf dem Felde sind Menschen Dahin, wie Blatter; ...

we can of course point to a resemblance in Ossian, "Lathmon," p. 271, l.

20: "We decay like the gra.s.s of the hill," or "Berrathon," p. 382, l.

3: "Like the leaves of woody Morven, they pa.s.s away," but at the same time we must not forget that similar comparisons occur in the Psalms and in Homer (_e. g._, _Iliad_, vi, ll. 1468). Likewise we have the comparison of man's perishableness to the short life of a flower in _Hermann und die Fursten_, Sc. 14: "Vor dem Triumphwagen werd' ich wie eine Blume hindorren," and also in Ossian, "Croma," p. 178, l. 18: "They fall away, like the flower," etc., but compare _Job_, 14, 2, _Psalms_, 103, 156, etc. Enough examples have been cited to convince one of the fruitlessness of attempting to draw sharp lines in the treatment of our subject. Of this we may be certain: One reason why Ossian appealed so strongly to Klopstock was, that he found here so much that was familiar to him from his own reading and writing.

Having thus far regarded the question mainly from a negative standpoint, it now remains for us to give some examples of a positive influence.

Ossian's influence upon Klopstock is visible particularly in the odes written in 1764, 1766 and 1767, and in the first _Bardiet_, _Die Hermannsschlacht_, although traces appear in the later odes and _Bardiete_. Doubtless a closer examination of the language of the later books of the _Messiah_ would also reveal the influence of Ossian.

_Salomo_ contains an Ossianic reminiscence or two, but nothing that can be distinctly localized. Klopstock's unbounded admiration for Ossian really did not last much over a decade and the old bard's influence gradually diminished, just as Klopstock's fondness for Norse mythology grew less and less p.r.o.nounced. By the time he began to turn his attention to the French Revolution, both Ossian and the Norse divinities appear more like a memory of the days of old. The year 1764, in which Klopstock probably first became acquainted with Ossian, marks the beginning of a period of renewed activity in the field of the ode, and I am inclined to conclude that Ossian's appearance helped to further that activity. The influence of Norse mythology upon the works of Klopstock manifests itself largely in externals; similarly does that of Ossian.

Klopstock borrowed much from the bardic machinery, just as he did from that of the Norse G.o.ds, without at the same time entering very deeply into the spirit of Ossian. In fact, he did not need to, for much of what he found in Ossian was not foreign to his nature. That we are justified in placing Klopstock's acquaintance with Ossian as far back as 1764 needs no further proof than a reference to the ode "Der Jungling"

written in that year, in which the poet treats the theme of the perishableness of youth, a subject upon which Ossian loved to harp.

Indeed, Klopstock's poem is directly based upon Ossian's reflections on youth in "The War of InisThona," p. 203, ll. 15.[91] The entire dress of the poem is Ossianic.

It strikes us as rather savoring of Ossian, when nature is allowed to take on a dimmer, mistier aspect in the new form of the ode "Wingolf,"

_e. g._, in l. 196 "wallenden Opferrauche" is changed to "schweigenden Dammerungen;"

ll. 26971:

Er sprach's. Izt seh ich uber den Altar her, Auf Opferwolken, Schlegeln mit dicht'rischen Geweihten Lorbeerschatten kommen, ...

become:

Er sang's. Jetzt sah ich fern in der Dammerung Des Hains am Wingolf Schlegeln aus dichtrischen Geweihten Eichenschatten schweben, ...

Dark, dim, distant, dusky, far, misty, silent are epithets that continually occur in Ossian, over whose distant groves of oaks pours the mist in which ghosts hover. The last three lines quoted certainly present a much more Ossianic picture as they now stand than they did in the original version.

In the ode "Hermann" (1767), three bards are introduced lamenting the death of Arminius. An Ossianic chord is struck at the very beginning, when Werdomar, the chief of the bards, sings, ll. 12: