Ossian
|
|
Ossian was the supposed writer of a cycle of Scots Gaelic poems forged by James Macpherson. He was based on Oisín, poet of the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology.
In 1760 Macpherson, a Scots poet, claimed to have found poetry written by Ossian. He published translations of it during the next few years. The poems achieved international success and were proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical writers such as Homer. Many writers were influenced by the works, including the young Walter Scott and the German writer J.W. von Goethe, whose own German translation of a portion of Macpherson's work figures prominently in a climactic scene of The Sorrows of Young Werther. Goethe's associate Johann Gottfried Herder wrote an essay titled Extract from a correspondence about Ossian and the Songs of Ancient Peoples in the early days of the Sturm und Drang movement.
However it became clear after a few years that Macpheson's claims were false and the poems were condemned as forgeries - albeit forgeries of some artistic merit. The most famous of these poems was Fingal written in 1762. Template:Commons
Ossian is a town in Livingston County, New York
Ossian is a Hungarian heavy metal band.de:Ossian pl:Osjan