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Solution Manual for C# Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, 5th Edition, Barbara Doyledownload

The document provides information about the Solution Manual for C# Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design, 5th Edition by Barbara Doyle, including a download link and details about the book's content and author. It highlights the book's focus on programming principles, concepts, and hands-on coding skills for beginners in C#. Additionally, it lists other related solution manuals and test banks available for download on the same website.

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Solution Manual for C# Programming: From
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Description:
Discover an expert blend of the programming principles and concepts and hands-
on coding skills you need to create a strong professional foundation as a
beginning C# programmer. The latest edition of C# PROGRAMMING: FROM
PROBLEM ANALYSIS TO PROGRAM DESIGN from respected author Dr. Barbara
Doyle provides a straightforward approach and understandable vocabulary that
make it easy for you to grasp new programming concepts without distraction. This
edition introduces a variety of fundamental programming concepts, from data
types and expressions to arrays and collections, all using the latest version of
today�s popular C# language. New programming exercises and engaging,
numbered examples throughout this edition reflect the latest updates in Visual
Studio 2015 and C# 6.0, while learning objectives, case studies, and Coding
Standards summaries in each chapter give you the knowledge and tools you need
to master each key concept.
About the Author
Distinguished author Dr. Barbara Doyle has been teaching introductory
programming courses for more than 25 years. She received her Ph.D. from Florida
Institute of Technology in 1991 and shortly after joined the faculty at Jacksonville
University. She currently chairs the CS Department, where they prepare majors in
Computing Science and Information Systems. Ms. Doyle teaches the CS1 and CS2
courses using the C# programming language. She has been very involved with
ABET-CAC, the Computer Science accreditation board, chairing more than a dozen
accreditation teams. In 2009 she was elected to a five-year ABET-CAC
commissioner appointment and currently volunteers as a training support
facilitator.
• ISBN-10 : 1285856872
• ISBN-13 : 978-1285856872
\
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to Computing and Programming.
2. Data Types and Expressions.
3. Methods and Behaviors.
4. Creating Your Own Classes.
5. Making Decisions.
6. Repeating Instructions.
7. Arrays.
8. Advanced Collections.
9. Introduction to Windows Programming.
10. Programming Based on Events.
11. Advanced Object-Oriented Programming Features.
12. Debugging and Handling Exceptions.
13. Working with Files.
14. Working with Databases.
15. Web-Based Applications.
Appendix A: Visual Studio Configuration.
Appendix B: Code Editor Tools.
Appendix C: Character Sets.
Appendix D: Operator Precedence.
Appendix E: C# Keywords.
Glossary.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
suggests that Gerstenberg probably had his Ossian in mind when he
had Francesco say in the first act: “Wenn er sich nur nicht ... herab
stürzt, gleich dem erhabnen Vogel, der sich ins Steinthal wirft.”[146]
Compare “Temora,” Bk. ii, p. 321, ll. 31–2: “Descending like the
eagle of heaven, ... the son of Trenmor came;” Bk. viii, p. 369, ll.
11–2: “... the windy rocks, from which I spread my eagle–wings,”
etc., etc. In the second act, Anselmo considers himself “flüchtiger als
ein junges Reh,”[147] a comparison of which Ossian is exceedingly
fond.[148] Gaddo and Anselmo shed regular Ossianic “tears of joy.”
In the second act Anselmo refers to Francesco having ridden off “auf
dem Rücken des Windes”;[149] compare “The War of Caros,” p. 193,
l. 26: “The rustling winds have carried him far away;”[150] “Temora,”
Bk. viii, p. 366, l. 21: “From this I shall mount the breeze.” Ossianic
furthermore are Anselmo’s exclamations: “Lasst die Hörner tönen am
hallenden Fels!”[151] and “o du mit der finstern Stirne!”[152] which
call up Ossian’s ‘echoing rock’ and his ‘dark’ or ‘gloomy brow.’
When Gerstenberg has Ugolino say of his wife in the third act: “Kalt
[ist] der Schnee ihrer Brust,”[153] and when he speaks of the
“Seufzer ihres Busens,”[154] he was no doubt thinking of the snowy
breasts of Ossian’s maidens and of the sighs of their bosoms. In the
same act Francesco uses a comparison that is taken directly from
Ossian:[155] “Du wirst fallen,” he says, “wie der Stamm einer Eiche,
alle deine Äste um dich hergebreitet.”[156] Compare “Temora,”[157]
Bk. iii, p. 328, ll. 25–6: “Like a young oak falls Tur–lathon, with his
branches round him,” etc. In the last act Ugolino, speaking of the
death of his son, says: “Wann ward dieser erste Ast vom Stamme
gerissen?”[158] His opening monolog in the fourth act shows a
decided Ossianic influence; e. g., “sein bleifarbigtes wässeriges
Angesicht tobte vom Sturm seiner Seele; er wälzte seine ... Augen
weit hervor,”[159] etc. In Ossian we have a “watery and dim face,” a
“grey watery face,” and a soul “folded in a storm,” and as for rolling
eyes, that is a property that no Ossianic warrior may be without, and
one of the first that a Storm and Stress poet would be led to adopt.
Further along in the monolog, Ugolino says: “Doch der grosse
Morgen wird ja kommen! schrecklich, dunkelroth und schwül von
Gewittern wird er ja kommen! In seinem schwarzen Strahle will ich
erlöschen! In seiner gebärenden Wolke soll, wie Feuer vom Himmel,
mein Geist über Pisa stehn!”[160] This picture is as Ossianic as it can
be. The ghosts of Ossian sit upon their clouds; they ride on beams
of fire, and are compared to meteors of fire or to a terrible light.
Ossianic spirits appear again a little later in the act, when Francesco
says of Anselmo: “... seine Geister scheinen sich zu sammeln,”[161]
and in the last act, where we read of a “wandernden Geist,” which
shall remain near the beloved ones.[162] And then Francesco: “Ah!
deine Geister sind im Aufruhr! Sammle sie, geliebter theurer
Anselmo.” All this, however, is only a weak foretaste of the great
importance that the ghosts of Ossian assume in Gerstenberg’s later
drama, in Minona, to the discussion of which I shall proceed after a
short reference to Der Waldjüngling. The illustrations given are not
intended to be exhaustive, but to give a general idea of the
character of Ossianic traces as they are exhibited in the various
works.
Der Waldjüngling.—As an appendix to his treatise on Ugolino, Jacobs
published a fragment by Gerstenberg entitled Der Waldjüngling,
which in spirit shows a combination of Rousseau’s doctrine of the
return to nature plus the leaning towards Norse antiquity, towards
the poetry of the bards. The combination is attempted by sketching
the life of a primitive man, un homme sauvage, transferred to the
woods of Scandinavia. The small portion of the drama that has been
preserved to us was written probably in 1770.[163]
As it incorporates the bardic spirit in its very essence, we shall not
search in vain for reminiscences of Ossian, which, as in Ugolino, are
met with in large part in the epithets and images. The Scandinavian
scenery partakes of the characteristics of the Scotch Highlands as
pictured by Ossian. The names of the characters, Hvanar,
Cindiskraka (cp. Ossian’s Craca), Svanhilde, Arnas, Flino, Heener,
Mimur, have Celtic as well as Germanic elements, and these
characters talk much like the characters of Ossian. Mimur, e. g., in l.
122 laments in the strain of Ossian: “Ich bin alt und schwach,” etc.
In l. 9, Cindiskraka is addressed as “Du Bewohnerinn der Felshöhle
mit dem krähschwarzen Haar,” to which compare Ossian’s “dweller of
the rock,”[164] and hair “dark as the raven’s wing.”[165] Further along
(l. 36) we have a flute “Die des armen Mädchens verschwiegenen
Kummer einsam seufzt.” This is a typical line. Ossian’s maidens have
a habit of sitting ‘alone,’ nursing their ‘silent grief,’ giving vent to
their sorrow in ‘secret sighs.’—Mimur styles Hilde (l. 78) in true
Ossianic language: “Der Ruhm der Hirtinnen auf dem Gebirg,” and
invests the forest youth in ll. 114–5 with the characteristic attributes
of the ideal heroes of Ossian, ‘terrible’ in battle, but in peace
‘generous and mild’:[166]

... furchtbar an Kraft des Arms,


Doch sanft, doch freundlich, doch gut; ...

Ossianic is Hvanar’s characterization of himself (l. 152): “Ich bin ein


Sohn des Meeres, rauh, wie der Sturm, ...” and a few Ossianic
images from nature also occur.
Minona.—We have no conclusive proof that Gerstenberg later in life
lost his early scruples in regard to Ossian’s authenticity, but if
circumstantial evidence carry any weight, there can be no doubt that
he came to regard Ossian as genuine, at least for a time. And this
evidence is furnished by the drama Minona, first published in 1785,
Gerstenberg’s favorite production and one that gave him the
greatest concern in the preparation of the edition of his works late in
life. For this edition (1815–6) he worked over the entire drama and
increased it from four acts to five, and by assigning to it the place of
honor at the head of the list, furnished testimony to his fondness for
this particular child of his muse. The action of the drama is laid in
Britain in the fifth century, at the time when the Low German
continental tribes were called over by the Britons to assist them
against the incursions of the Picts. The Romans, who had refused to
aid the British province against the Picts, also play an important part.
Everything is mixed together, and of course anachronisms abound:
Norse gods, skalds, druids, bards, Ossianic spirits, all are thrown
together in one multi–colored complex. The spirit of the play is
Ossianic throughout, and external as well as internal characters of
Ossian’s influence are not lacking. Several of the characters are
taken directly from Ossian, others only in name, e. g., Trenmor, King
of Morven; Minona, his sister; Ryno, a bard of Ossian; Swaran, Lord
of Lochlin. Edelstan, the hero, lord of Inisthona, is a son of Frothal
and a grandson of Bosmina. During the perusal of the drama we are
continually reminded that the author has made a thorough study of
his Ossian. Selma is the name of the royal residence in Morven, just
as it is in Ossian. Minona is a typical Celtic maiden as described by
Ossian, just as Ryno is the Ossianic bard comme il faut. Just as
Ossian’s Minona was possessed of the gift of song,[167] so
Gerstenberg’s Minona has the reputation of being the
“gesangreichste der Harfen Selma’s.”[168] In the review of the drama
that appeared in the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek,[169] Minona is
characterized as “grossmüthig und liebevoll, aber auch sittsam und
duldend, eine würdige Schülerin der Barden,” and Ryno as “ein
kraftvoller, biedrer Barde.” The Roman Äzia betrothed to Aurelius, a
Roman commander, in spite of her dazzling personal charms, suffers
in comparison with the modest Celtic maiden in much the same way
as the heroes of Homer were often put to shame by their Celtic
rivals.
The Ossianic scene par excellence is the third division of the first
scene of the second act, where Äzia and Edelstan are interrupted in
a tête–à–tête by Ryno, the bard of Ossian. Nothing can convey a
better idea of the hold that Ossian had on Gerstenberg than to
quote a passage from this scene.[170] Ryno announces himself as:
“ehemals Ferchio’s Gefährt’ in jener berühmten Schlacht
deines Vaters Frothal zu Inisthona, ein Barde Ossians,
heisse Ryno.”
Edelstan. Ryno?—ein Gefährte Ferchio’s?—ein Barde
Ossian’s?—Welche Thaten, welche andre Zeiten, ... rufst
du in mein Gedächtniss zurück?—Ryno?—... der mich jene
unvergesslichen Gesänge von den Schlachten Lochlin’s
lehrte, wie Ossian, die Stimme Selma’s, seinen geliebtern
Oscar, den Mann aus andern Zeiten, nach Angeley—in der
Sprache Morvens wie tönender! nach Inisthona—zu Hülfe
sandte dem Vater meiner Väter, dem trauernden Annir—
Ryno. Wie der blutige Cormalo dem Arm des Starken aus
Morven erlag, ‘dass die Söhne der vergifteten Lano, wo
die Wolke des Tages rastet, gleich dunkelbraunen
Hindinnen dahinflohen, unfähig den Gram ihres Stolzes zu
rächen;’ wie Fingals holde Tochter, Bosmina mit den
schwarzrollenden Augen, Runa’s tönende Halle betrat, ein
wiederkehrender Stern dem Abend der Tage Annirs:—
Bosmina später vermählt dem gewaltigen Ina, der
einzigen übriggebliebenen Stütze des jammernden Annir,
da Ruro fiel! da Argon fiel! dem hinterlassenen Säuglinge
Ruro’s, die Mutter des königlichen Frothal, der erhabne
Stamm deines so herrlich wieder aufblühenden
Geschlechts ...
Edelstan. ...
Ryno. ... Gesegneter, wenn ich mich dir ein Bote des
Friedens genaht hätte, würdig erfunden, den getrennten
Stamm einer Eiche wieder aufzurichten, dass er noch
einmal umherschaue, wie er vormals stand, sein
tausendastiges Haupt weit umher verbreitend von Selma’s
Halle bis zur Halle Runa’s, von Inisthona’s wogigem
Strande bis über Morven’s fernher rauschende Thale!”[171]
How characteristically a bit of Ossianic history is told here and how
faithfully the language of the poems of Ossian is copied! We should
have to search long to find a passage in German literature that
shows a more complete immersion in the spirit of Ossian.
In the scene from which we have just quoted, Fingal is called “das
finstre Auge Morvens,” Trenmor “zog mit dem Winde seiner Küste
luftig daher,” Fingal draws his sword against Lochlin “da Cuchullin
unter Swaran’s Zehntausenden schwankte,” Ossian is referred to as
“die Harfe aus andern Zeiten,”[172] etc., etc. It is scarcely necessary
to give parallels from Ossian. Any one who has ever read a poem of
Ossian will be struck by the close resemblance of all that has been
quoted above. The historical allusions, the comparisons, the
metaphorical expressions, the standing epithets, are all taken
directly from the songs of Ossian.
Before taking up the spirits of Ossian, and in that connection the
lyrical passages which are given much prominence throughout the
drama—especially in the third act—I shall quote a few more
instances of borrowings from Ossian. We have in the drama a hand
“blendender als Schnee”[173] and a “blendend weisse Hand;”[174]
Minona has dark–black hair, which “floss vermuthlich in niedlichen
Ringelchen über ihren blendend weissen Nacken herunter.”[175] Ryno
and Edelstan “glaubten ... ein Sausen in der Luft zu hören, als wenn
der Wind sich erhebt.”[176] The motif of Edelstan’s delivery from the
cave is taken from Ossian, “Calthon and Colmal,”[177] as is Minona’s
imprisonment in a cave on the isle of ghosts.[178] The scenic
description of the cave in which Minona is held captive is
characteristic: “Scene eine dunkle Höhle; über der Höhle der Mond
im ersten Viertel, der ein schwaches Licht in das Innere der Höhle
wirft.”[179]
Nothing gave the critics so much concern upon the first appearance
of Minona as the machinery of the spirits. They begin their influential
incantations in the second act, and from that moment on occupy a
prominent position in the economy of the play to the very end. Some
of these lyrical passages are by no means of a mean order, but we
are now and again at a loss to grasp the poet’s meaning. The critic
in the Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften, speaking of the
songs at the close, says: “Diese Gesänge sind, uns wenigstens,
verschlossene Worte;”[180] and again, speaking of that of the spirits
in the second act: “Dass uns manche Stellen dieses Liedes ganz
unerklärbar geblieben sind, hat uns desto weniger befremdet, da,
wie Ryno oben versicherte, selbst nur wenigen Barden die
ätherischen Ströme dieses Gesanges verständlich sind.”[181] And in
the same strain the critic in the Allgemeine Literaturzeitung writes:
“In dem was die Geister zuletzt singen ... sind schöne Verse: Aber
manche so schwer zu verstehn, dass der Leser, geschweige der
Hörer ihren Sinn nicht fasst..”.[182] The same reviewer refers to the
unusually lofty, simple Ossianic tone of the spirit scenes. The
importance assigned to these spirits in the structure of the drama
can best be judged by reading Gerstenberg’s own view as expressed
in the second Schreiben prefixed to his works: “Mit den Ossianischen
Geistern, über die mancher damalige Kunstrichter den Kopf
schüttelte bin ich weniger verlegen: sie sind die Unterlage des
Ganzen, und ich brauche der Anlage nach, ihnen nur mehr Spielraum
zu verschaffen; mein Drama von den Angelsachsen würde nicht
zugleich meine Oper von Minona und der Zukunft seyn, wenn ich die
Geister aus dem Spiele liesse.”[183] This is not the place to discuss
the question whether Gerstenberg was justified in the introduction of
this mystic spirit–world into his drama, and so I shall proceed to look
at the songs at once. The ghosts, or rather the voices of the ghosts,
make their first appearance, as has been observed, in the second
act. Minona, captive in the cave is singing a song to the
accompaniment of the harp, when enchanting spirit voices become
audible and cause her to be filled with rapture. This song, in which
she is interrupted, as well as her other airs and recitatives, are
Ossianic in tone and motif, indeed, wherever Gerstenberg falls into
the lyric strain, Ossian’s influence becomes apparent in one feature
or another:

In deiner süssen Stimme will ich zittern,


Ein Seufzer der Liebe,
Süss wie ein Harfenton!
Wenn leisere Luft dich umweht,
Vernimm das Wehen meiner Liebe:
Minonens Geist schwebt über dir!
.......
Hinweg du Wolke zwischen ihm und mir!
Horch! durch die Halle saust
Der Wind der Mitternacht.[184]
Minona gives expression to her rapture in ecstatic terms, of course in
Ossianic language, and what is more, in Macpherson’s rhythmic
prose. A paragraph or two may serve for illustration:
Diese Fluth von wunderbaren Tönen, die sich wie ein Meer
über mich ausgiesst, die durch den hohlen Abgrund der
Felsen im Donner des Wohllauts daher rollt, ist sie ein
Spiel der Lüfte in den Wölbungen der Tiefe? widerprallend
an den jähen Wänden des innern Gebirgs?[185]
[Ist’s] Vielleicht Fingal’s Schild aus der hängenden Wolke
herab? vielleicht Fingals geistige Hand, die an dem Schilde
vorüberrauscht?
Vielleicht die tonvolle Harfe aus andern Lüften, Ossians
Harfe aus andern Zeiten?[186]
These voices have given Minona a foretaste of the delights beyond
the grave:
Wo, mich schwesterlich bewillkommend, Malvina,
Bosmina, Comala, Guthona, die holdseligen, von ihrem
und meinem Ossian so edel besungenen, Töchter der
Vorzeit alle, in der Begeisterung seines erhabenen
Gesanges zu seinen Füssen hingelagert und horchend,
beisammen sässen, und ich, seine neu angelangte ...
Zuhörerin, in Wonnethränen der namenlosesten Gefühle
überflösse![187]
The ghosts that chant these songs are endowed with all the qualities
of their Ossianic prototypes—especially with the gift of foretelling the
future—and why should they not, seeing that they are intended to
represent the incarnation of the songs of Ossian.[188] They are the
spirits of Ossian, and the spirits of Ossian “sind die veredelte
Menschlichkeit selbst.”[189] As for the songs of the ghosts, the solos,
duets, choruses, and what not, as they begin in this act and are
continued throughout the third and fifth acts, it would be impossible
to take up each verse in detail. Suffice it to say, that the songs bear
the ideal stamp of the influence of Ossian, which is expressed in
more ways than one. I quote one or two passages in illustration.
Several voices sing in the second act:

Stolzern Tritts erhebt vom Saum der Wolke sich


Fingal, den Arm auf seinen Schild gelehnt.[190]

Compare “Fingal,” Bk. vi, p. 261, l. 24: “Fingal leaned on the shield;”
also Ossian’s skirt, edge, or side of the cloud. So in the third act
Minona sings:

Schnell wie ein Blitz der Mitternacht,


Zerriss, aus seiner Wolke Saum,
Der Felsen aufgethürmte Last
Ein stärkrer unnennbarer Arm.[191]

Compare “The War of Inis–Thona,” p. 206, ll. 15–6: “Stormy clouds


... their edges are tinged with lightning,” etc.—Minona is referred to
by the ghosts as the ‘daughter of Selma,’ and Edelstan as the ‘star of
Inis–Thona,’ and the ‘star of night.’ Towards the end of the third act
the voices sing:

Auf flügelschnellster der Stürme,


Gleit’ auf der Woge dahin

Rolle deine krausen Locken


Im Silberschaume der Fluth!

Fahr’ hin auf dem röthesten Strahle des Dampfs,[192]


Und hole vom Mond mir den Blitz herab![193]

In rebellious opposition to these spirits of Ossian are the druids, who


refer to the songs of the ghosts as “die verführerischen Gesänge
Ossians, des Tonangebers der ganzen harfnenden Bande,”[194] and
again as “die aufrührerischen Gesänge eines unserer Barden—Ossian
hiess der Erzketzer.”[195] The druids rely on the spirits of Brumo,[196]
the god of human sacrifice, and Brumo’s spirits, says the chief druid,
“pflegen nicht in dieser weibisch weichen ... Ossianssprache ... zu
reden.”[197] Brumo corresponds very closely to Ossian’s Loda, to his
‘terrible spirit of the circle of stones.’ Ossian likewise furnished
abundant material for the rites of the druids as they are described in
the last act.
In addition to the songs of the ghosts, we have two Bardiete in the
drama, one in Act 4, 8, the other in Act 4, 9. Needless to say,
Ossian’s influence is plainly discernible. The first begins thus:

Aufdämmernd hinter Wolken schlief


Der junge Morgen im trüberen Roth!...
........
Und warnend thürmte die Wolke sich auf;
Und aus der Wolke brach, verkündigt von Blitz,
Mit tausend Spiessen der Tag hervor.[198]

In the first edition the ending of the drama was somewhat


differently motivated, inasmuch as Äzia, clothed in the armor of a
warrior, allows herself to be captured by some of Edelstan’s soldiers
and makes an attempt to assassinate Minona, but is foiled in the
effort by Ryno. Undoubtedly this motif of the disguise was taken
from Ossian, where we find almost a dozen examples of maids
taking on the disguise of a youth.[199]
Many of the geographical and historical notes to the drama are
based upon Macpherson, “dessen historische Data noch Niemand
angefochten hat.”[200] From the notes to the first edition of Minona
we can get some idea of Gerstenberg’s opinion of Ossian in the
middle of the eighties. He says in note 8: “Auch können wir uns aus
dem Ossian, dessen historische Data wenigstens itzt keinen Einwand
mehr leiden, wenn gleich die Ächtheit seiner gegenwärtigen
epischen und dramatischen Gestalt noch etwaz zweydeutig seyn
möchte, ganz vernünftig überzeugen,” etc. And in note 14 he writes:
“Es wäre ein gut Theil gewagter gewesen, einer alten Chronik, als
der lautern Quelle Ossians nachzuspüren.” Another note (the 10th)
gives evidence of the popularity that Ossian still enjoyed as late as
1785: “Was übrigens die ossianische Urkunde von Inisthona betrifft,
... so hat sich der Verfasser berechtigt geglaubt, diese Geschichte als
aus einem der classischen Werke unsers Jahrhunderts allgemein
bekannt vorauszusetzen...” These notes are omitted in the final
version of 1815, a fact which leads me to believe that Gerstenberg’s
early scruples returned to him late in life. Minona had served to
dispel them momentarily, but no doubt the unsatisfactory character
of the Report of the Committee of the Highland Society and the
aspersions cast upon Macpherson’s translation by Ahlwardt served to
reëstablish them in his wavering mind.

§3. Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis.


[201]

No one did more to increase the knowledge of Ossian in Germany


and to enlarge the sphere of his influence there, than did the Jesuit
Michael Denis, a native of Bavaria, who took up his residence in
Vienna early in life and there spent the remainder of his days.
Although himself the author of a considerable number of poetic
productions, his contemporary fame was based primarily upon his
translation of Ossian, which created a great stir at the time of its
appearance, setting all the previous efforts at translation in the
shade for good and all. It remained for many years the standard, the
classical German translation of the works of Ossian, in spite of the
fact that the mold in which it is cast aroused the most violent
opposition from many quarters.
Denis had been led to the study of English by his admiration for
Klopstock’s Messiah, the prototype of which, Paradise Lost, he was
desirous of reading in the original. When he began his translation in
1767, he was well equipped for the task as far as a knowledge of the
language is concerned, and the true poetical genius that he lacked
was compensated for in large measure by the sincere enthusiasm
with which he set about his task. A serious obstacle presented itself
at the very outset: there was not a copy of Macpherson’s Ossianic
poems to be had in Vienna. Nothing daunted, Denis commenced by
translating from Cesarotti’s Italian translation—which had appeared
at Padua in 1763[202]—a fact that explains the presence of the notes
from Cesarotti interspersed throughout his translation. Fortunately
he soon obtained a copy of the English original from Prague,
whereupon he destroyed all he had so far done and started in
afresh. His enthusiasm for the Messiah led to the choice of the
hexameter for his translation. Denis was a very rapid worker, a
quality that stood him in good stead in the manufacture of the many
occasional poems that emanated from his pen. Once on the right
track, he worked at his translation with the utmost diligence and
persistence and pushed it rapidly to a conclusion, volumes 1 and 2
appearing in 1768, and volume 3 in the following year. The two
editions that appeared simultaneously apparently found a ready sale.
In the preface to the first volume, Denis confesses what an
instantaneous effect the songs of Ossian had upon him. “Kaum hatte
ich ein paar Gedichte durchgelesen,” he says, “als ich ihn in meinen
Gedanken Homern und Virgiln an die Seite setzte.” And when Ossian
received Klopstock’s stamp of approval, Denis was overjoyed. “Wie
froh war ich! Ich fieng zu übersetzen an.”[203] At the conclusion of
the preface he expresses doubts as to the gracious reception of the
translation: “Ossian ist viel zu sonderlich,” he thinks, “viel zu
unmodern, viel zu unterschieden von denen Dichtern, die man
immer in den Händen hat. Allein, wenn man nur einmal mit seinem
Geiste bekannter wird, wenn seine Art sich auszudrücken durch ein
wiederholtes Lesen ihre Ungewöhnlichkeit verlieret, dann, dächte
ich, sollte er nach dem Engländer am ersten bei einem Deutschen
sein Glück machen.” It was only a few years later that the real
Ossian craze began in Germany, and then Denis was to realize that
these unmodern poems with their sentimental coloring appealed
even more strongly to the German soul than they did to the English.
Dr. Blair’s arguments were not needed to convince Denis of the
authenticity of the poems. He could not accept as spurious poems
whose author he had in his first enthusiasm placed by the side of
Homer and Vergil, unless irrefutable proof of forgery were given, and
this was not forthcoming. And so when Dr. Blair in the appendix to
his “Dissertation” in the edition of 1765 undertakes to defend the
poems for external reasons also, Denis is led to remark: “Alle diese
Gründe dürften für England und Irland, wo vielleicht Scheelsucht
und Partheylichkeit Zweifler erwecket haben mag, nöthiger seyn.
Einen von Vorurtheilen freyen deutschen Kenner wird immer der
innere Gehalt genugsam überzeugen, das[s] Ossians Gedichte nicht
unterschoben, sondern wahrhaft alte Gedichte sind.” Denis never
took the trouble to institute any original researches or to devote
himself to a serious study of this field, but accepted the genuineness
of the poems as a matter of course. The unanimity of the German
critics allowed no scruples to arise in his mind to vex him.
The reception granted the translation was most flattering indeed,
and Denis could not but feel completely satisfied with the result of
his labors. Nicolai, e. g., writes from Berlin, as early as Nov. 14,
1769: “Ihre vortreffliche Übersetzung des Ossian, ist auch in unsern
Gegenden in den Händen aller Kenner; ich auch habe sie mit
grossem Vergnügen gelesen, und sie stets für eins der wichtigsten
Neuen Werke gehalten.”[204] Gleim sends Denis his ‘poetical trifles,’
“aus Dankbarkeit vornehmlich für das Vergnügen, welches der
deutsche Ossian ihm machte.”[205] Denis writes in the preface to Vol.
3: “Seitdem der erste Band dieser Uebersetzung in Deutschland
bekannt geworden ist, sind mir verschiedene Beweise zugekommen,
dass sie dort ganz gut aufgenommen worden sey, wo ich es am
meisten wünschte.” The reviews in the Neue Bibliothek der schönen
Wissenschaften, in the Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, in the
Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen, and elsewhere, all
were extremely gratifying, and only one note of disapproval insisted
upon asserting itself, a note that found most emphatic expression in
the Erfurtische gelehrte Zeitungen: the form of the translation met
with pronounced opposition. The most important of these reviews is
that in the Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek. It was written by Herder,
who designates the departure as “neu und schön,” and refers to the
poems of Ossian as “diese kostbaren Ueberbleibsel aus der alten
celtischen oder gallischen Sprache.” But soon doubts arise: “So sind
also die Gedichte Ossians in Hexameter übersezt—aber würde
Ossian, wenn er in unsrer Sprache sie abgesungen, sie hexametrisch
abgesungen haben? oder wenn die Frage zu nah und andringend ist;
mag er in seiner Originalsprache den Hexameterbau begünstigt
haben? ... Oder ...: thut Ossian in seinem homerischen Gewande
eben die Würkung, als Ossian der Nordische Barde?”[206] Here was
the rub: Denis had given Ossian, the Gaelic bard, the ‘rough,
sublime Scotchman’ in the measure of a Greek rhapsodist. “Vielleicht
aber wird er dadurch verschönert, und gleichsam classisch? Er mag
es werden: nur er verliert mehr, als er gewinnt, den Bardenton
seines Gesangs.”[207] The translation makes an epic, a heroic
impression, but does not reproduce its natural Scotch heroic
impression. Herder proceeds to show how Ossian and Homer are
antitheses in almost every respect, and holds that in consequence
the difference in expression should be emphasized by the choice of
different meters. Although Herder regards many of Denis’s
hexameters as melodious and euphonious, he opines that the free
meters introduced by Klopstock in his odes are better adapted to a
translation of the bard. That the translation made a favorable
impression upon Herder in spite of its metrical drawbacks is
evidenced by the concluding lines of the review: “Wir freuen uns
überhaupt auf die ganze Fortsetzung der Dennisschen Arbeit mehr,
als auf manche neuere süsslallende Originale in Deutschland, und
wünschen, dass Ossian der Lieblingsdichter junger epischer Genies
werde!”[208] Herder here had in mind Vol. 1 only; his review of Vols.
2 and 3 did not appear until three years later, in 1772, being written
at about the same time as the “Auszug aus einem Briefwechsel über
Ossian und die Lieder alter Völker,” which opened the Blätter von
Deutscher Art und Kunst.[209] His view–point and line of argument
are to all intents and purposes identical in the review and the essay.
In the review he laments: “Noch immer Ossian der Hexametrist, der
Klopstockianer, da man Ossian den kurztönenden, unregelmässigen
Celtischen Barden hören sollte.”[210] Again and again Herder returns
to the attack; he can not reconcile the smooth poetry of Denis with
the unpolished bard. The soft lyric cadence of Denis’s verses appeals
to Herder, to be sure, but “hier, so sanft, so vieltönig und schön sie
sey, hier passet sie Ossianen oft so an, als etwa einen
Samojedischen Gesandten bey der russischen Gesetzkommission das
Ceremonienkleid des Hofmarschalls.”[211] But not alone the
hexameters aroused Herder’s dissatisfaction; his displeasure
increases when he views Denis’s attempt to translate a poem in the
measure employed by Gerstenberg in his Gedicht eines Skalden.
Here Denis employs rime with poor success, and we must agree with
Herder when he says: “Denis gelingen nicht Reime!”[212]
There was still another side from which Herder attacked the
translation; he was not content with the language employed, which
he did not consider natural enough; too many words were not
sufficiently indigenous. “War Ossian nicht unser Bruder?” he asks,
“und welch’ ein Glück, welch ewiges Verdienst wäre es, ihn so zu
verdeutschen, als ob er, ein Deutscher gewesen wäre: das er doch,
der Hälfte nach, gewesen ist.”[213]
I hinted above that Herder was not the only critic who was ill–
pleased with Denis’s choice of the hexameter. A similar chord is
struck in other reviews, in the introductions to several later
translations, and elsewhere.
The most appreciative notice of Denis’s translation was that in the
Neue Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften. From beginning to end
the review teems with praise for the translator, as well as for old
Ossian himself. “Wir haben die Entdeckung der Gedichte Ossians,”
begins the critic, “immer für eine der wichtigsten Begebenheiten
dieses Jahrhunderts in der Geschichte des Witzes und Geschmacks
unsers Jahrhunderts gehalten. Ihre Avthenticität ist nunmehro eben
so sehr entschieden, als ihre Vortrefflichkeit.”[214] Not only does the
critic refrain from discountenancing the employment of the
hexameter, but, like the reviewer in the Hamburgischer
Correspondent, he even expresses his admiration for the verses. “In
der That,” he says, “haben wir kaum wohlklingendere deutsche
Hexameter gesehen.”[215] In order to bring the value of the poetical
translation more vividly before the reader, an extract from Denis’s
translation is given[216] and compared with a literal prose translation
that follows.[217] The value of such long extracts must not be
underestimated. They occurred frequently and no doubt aroused an
interest in the original in many a reader. As an illustration of the
lyrical measure in which Denis translated the distinctively lyrical
passages of Ossian, Carril’s song on the death of Crugal is given.
[218] Besides we have an extract from the beginning of “Comala”
and a prose version of the extract for comparison. “Comala” is one
of the poems that Denis had clothed in rime, giving it the form of a
modern Singspiel, and with this raiment the reviewer is not quite
satisfied. Other voices were raised in opposition to the general form
Denis had given the dramatic poem. The latter, appreciating the
justice of the position of the critics, changed the structure for the
edition of 1784,[219] but at the same time inserted the poem in its
original form in another volume,[220] in order to satisfy those who
preferred it in that shape. The objection to the first form of “Comala”
we find also in the review in the Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen,
where the critic writes: “Die Comala deucht uns nicht sehr glücklich
ausgefallen zu seyn....Will man sagen: es sey Ossians Comala in ein
Singspiel verwandelt, so sind wir zufrieden. Aber Ossian ist es
nicht.”[221] Otherwise this review of the first volume of Denis’s
translation is full of compliments to the genius of the translator. The
critic expresses the opinion that the poems of Ossian have gained
much by the new form. Especially does the hexameter tend to give
“Fingal” the character of a true epic. On the whole, the reviewer is
as much impressed with the necessity of the translation on the one
hand as with the beauty of the original on the other, “Es kan diese
Uebersetzung nach unserm deutschen epischen Originaldichter
[Klopstock] billig gesetzet werden, billig einen nahen Platz erhalten;
selbst in so fern der alte Barde mit unserm Gefühl, und mit unsern
National–Begriffen von den ersten Zeiten weit mehr übereinstimmt,
als ein Homer und Virgil.”[222]
I shall refrain from a detailed discussion of the character of the
translation and would refer the reader to Hofmann–Wellenhof’s
biography, pp. 163–91. Denis’s was the first translation to give the
works of Ossian in full, and attracted attention by reason of that fact
alone. He adhered as closely as possible to the original, but from the
very nature of the case, he had often to expand.[223] Provincialisms
abound. It cannot be denied that he failed to reproduce the spirit as
given to the original by Macpherson, yet when all is said, Denis’s
translation is facile princeps among the complete German
translations. The hexameters lend an air of stateliness and dignity to
the poems and give them more the air of a classic. What is more,
the novel introduction of hexameters evoked a lively discussion and
so stimulated the popular interest in Ossian. The translation became
a model for the school of the bards, most of whom derived their
knowledge primarily from the version of their revered confrère.
During Denis’s lifetime, that is, until the opening of the new century,
his translation remained the standard for Germany.[224] About the
time of his death, the so–called Gaelic original began to occupy the
chief attention, and when Ahlwardt’s translation from the Gaelic
appeared, it superseded that of Denis in the popular favor for a
time, that is to say, until it began to be suspected that the Gaelic
original was not all that was claimed for it.
The first collection of Denis’s poems, of the songs of Sined,
appeared in 1772 under the title of Die Lieder Sineds des Barden.
We have not far to go to discover a typical instance of the nature of
Ossian’s influence. The very first poem, “An Ossians Geist,” will serve
as a splendid example. The poem begins as follows:

Im schweigenden Thale des Mondes


Umkränzet von heiligen Eichen
Da walten die Geister der Barden,

Sie schweben auf Silbergewölken


Den thauigten Abhang herunter,

Dann heben sich Lieder der Vorzeit,


Und Harfen begleiten die Lieder,
Und sanftester Nachhall entzücket
Die lauschenden Wälder und Fluren umher.[225]
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):

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:

Da rollete schnell von Thränen ein Guss


Die bärtigsten Wangen der Männer herab;
... da flogen, wie Blitz
Die wogigten Scheiden empor.[239]
Compare “Carric–Thura,” p. 149, ll. 35–6: “The tear rolled down her
cheek,” etc. The comparison of swords to lightning, to beams of fire,
or to meteors occurs again and again in Ossian.[240] In the following
stanza the rush of the warriors is described (p. 110):

... so stürmet der Wind


Die Blätter des Hayns im Herbste mit sich.

Ossian is very fond of comparing the rush of a host to the wind.[241]


Bartmar has to sing of battle, and it is not astonishing that we find in
his song more traces of Ossian’s influence than in any other song of
the “Bardenfeyer,” the general peaceful atmosphere of which does
not offer the same possibilities for the insertion of Ossianic material.
The ghosts of the fallen warriors make their appearance before the
close of the battle. Theresa’s eye makes the warrior bold:

Und furchtbar im Flügel der düsteren Schlacht.


Sie standen, ein Fels, und rollten den Schwall
Der Krieger aus Norden zurück.[242]

Ossian’s warriors are ‘terrible’ and ‘dark’ in battle, they “stand like a
rock”[243] and roll back the foe. Compare “Temora,” Bk. ii, p. 318, ll.
17–8: “Conar was a rock before them: broken they rolled on every
side;” etc. Another stanza, the twenty–second, shows a close
resemblance to an Ossianic image (p. 112):

“Doch wie sich der Lenz in Schauergewölk


Itzt hüllet, und itzo sein holdes Gesicht
Den Fluren entdeckt;”

Compare “Fingal,” Bk. vi, p. 265, ll. 22–4: “Like the sun in a cloud,
when he hides his face ..., but looks again on the hills of grass!”
Furthermore we have in the same poem (p. 113) a “Stein des
Ruhmes,”[244] Ossian’s “stone of fame”[245] or “stone of
renown.”[246]
The following poem, “Theresia die Fromme,” contains but few traces
of Ossian’s influence. An expression borrowed directly from Ossian,
however, is the “enge Haus,”[247] the “narrow house,” the grave,
occurring continually in the poems of Ossian, e. g., “Oithona,” p.
173, l. 36, etc., etc. “Theresia die Weise” also contains a direct
borrowing from Ossian, viz., Denis calls the echo (p. 128) “die
Tochter des Felsen” just as Ossian styles it “the son of the rock.”
Another Ossianic reminder is contained in the second stanza of this
poem. The bard remarks (p. 126):

Oder, wenn ich den Fall eines der blühenden


Heldensöhne beseufzte,
Dem im Felde sein Hügel stieg.

Ossian’s bards “mourn those who fell”[248] and the warrior’s resting–
place is marked by a hill or stones.—“Krümmungen heller Bäche” (p.
126) recall Ossian’s “bright winding streams.”[249]
I have had occasion several times to refer to the transitoriness of the
warrior’s life as continually harped upon by Ossian. The soldier’s
name is preserved in two ways, as was that of Fingal, i. e., in the
song of the bards, and secondly by the stones over his grave.
Bearing in mind that Denis translates ‘stones’ by ‘Trümmer,’ note the
following lines (p. 131):

Menschen schwinden hinweg. Lassen sie Thaten nach,


Dann nennt Trümmer und Lied Thaten und sie zugleich

Ossianic is the phrase in “Theresia die Gütige” (p. 138):

Bis im Felde keine Spur


Unsrer Pfade mehr
Sichtbar ist.

So Fingal, Bk. v, p. 256, l. 27: “My footsteps [shall] cease to be


seen;” etc.
The collection of occasional poems that follows the “Bardenfeyer” is
addressed to Joseph II. Bardic properties are employed here in a
similar manner as in the poems of the preceding series, but
otherwise Ossian’s influence is almost inappreciable. The opening
lines (p. 144), beginning “O Geist der Lieder!”[250] are truly Ossianic.
A comparison borrowed from Ossian is found in “Josephs Erste
Reise” (p. 151):

... der im Frieden,


Aehnlich dem Adler am Felsengipfel,
Mit wachem Auge ruhet, und adlerschnell
Auf Störer seiner Ruhe sich niedersenkt.
Sie bluten, liegen, und der Sieger
Schwebet zurücke zum Felsengipfel.

And now for a few passages from “Temora.” Bk. ii, p. 319, ll. 32–3:
“The eyes of Morven do not sleep. They are watchful, as eagles, on
their mossy rocks;” p. 321, ll. 31–3: “Descending like the eagle of
heaven, ... the son of Trenmor came.” Bk. iii, p. 330, ll. 11–2: “They
return ..., like eagles to their ... rock, after the prey is torn on the
field.” Another Ossianic comparison is the following (p. 155): “Die
Fürsten stehn, Zwo Sonnen.” See “Temora,” Bk. vi, p. 349, l. 27: “Yet
is the king ... a sun ...,” etc. The “Zweite Reise” contains a stanza
that is modeled closely after a passage in Ossian (“Temora,” Bk. ii, p.
323, ll. 11–20):

Die Kinder Teuts ... sollten nur

Die Stelle zeichnen, wo sich umarmeten


Die Grössten Deutschlands, Joseph und Friederich,
Hin Eichen pflanzen, dass die spätsten
Enkel im Schatten sich diess erzählten.
In the poem, “Die Säule des Pflügers,” we encounter the following
Ossianic reminiscences (p. 166): “In der Seele des Barden ist Licht
des Liedes.”[251] And (p. 167):

Flügel des Blitzes hatte der hohe Gedanke,


Welcher dem Herrscher die Seele durchfuhr.[252]

In the same poem we have the Ossianic comparison (p. 168): “Die
Seele so still, Wie scheidende Sonnen.”[253]
The poem “Auf den Oberdruiden an der Rur” and the following ones
written in the bardic spirit contain Ossianic touches here and there in
much the same way. “An einen Bardenfreund,” contains some verses
of Ossianic description (p. 175):

In den Tagen des Herbsts, wenn sich der Abend


bräunt,
Irr’ ich einsam den Hayn, irr’ ich die Fluren durch,

Ja, dann seyd ihr vor mir, Wälder mit seufzenden


Tannen! bist du vor mir, sprudelnder Erlenbach!
Und ihr Teiche voll Schilfes!
Von dem kühlenden West’ umrauscht.

The autumn, the darkening evening, the lonely wanderer in the


grove and on the heath, the sighing pines, “the breeze in the reeds
of the lake,”[254] combine to form an ideal Ossianic picture. More of
the same kind is found in the poem.—“Der Strahl aus Osten”
referring to the sun, as employed in the next poem, “Auf das Haupt
der Starken bei den Markmännern” (p. 180) is undoubtedly Ossian’s
“beam of the east.”[255]
In a poem addressed to Gleim, “Auf den Bardenführer der
Brennenheere,” Denis refers to his translation of Ossian and to the
favorable reception accorded it by Gleim (p. 186):
Ossians erhabne
Lieder nachzustimmen
Rang es,[256] und errang mir einen Gleim.

On pp. 189–90 we read:

Aber du, Gespielinn


Meiner Lieder, Harfe!
Theuer bist du mir,
Seit du mir mit Morvens
Neugeweckten Klängen
Dieses Mannes Herz gewonnen hast.

“An Friedrichs Barden” (Ramler) breathes the bardic spirit more


intensely than some of the others we have been considering. When
Denis calls ‘Thaten’ ‘Flammen’ (p. 191), we recall Ossian’s “Our
deeds are streams of light.”[257] Denis’s druids dwell in caves, as
they do in Ossian. “Druiden locket er hervor Aus ihrer Höhle,” he
sings (p. 195) in “An den Oberbarden der Pleisse” (Weisse) and so
Ossian addresses the druid as the “dweller of the rock.”[258]
The next song is addressed “An den Beredtesten der Donaudruiden”
(Ignaz Wurz). The word ‘schwellen’ in the expression “Thränen
Schwellen in ... Augen” (p. 199) no doubt goes back to Ossian;
compare “Dar–Thula,” p. 286, l. 17: “Tears swell in her ... eyes!”
Denis uses the word frequently in other connections.[259]
Kretschmann’s poem, “Rhingulphs Lied an Sined,” which follows, is
answered by Denis in “Sineds Gesicht, Rhingulphen dem Freunde
der Geister gewidmet,” a poem teeming with Ossianic properties, the
ghosts playing an especially prominent part. Intensely Ossianic is the
following comparison (p. 207):

Und meine Freude . . . . . .


War, wie des Mondes Antlitz, wenn ein Dunst
Sich von der Erde schwingend es beschleicht.[260]
The ghost tells Denis that Rhingulph (p. 209):

... nannte dich den Freund an Ossians Busen,


Dem Ossian am Abend seiner Augen
Die Harfe liess.—

In a note to “Sineds Gesicht,” Denis quotes Kretschmann’s reply, in


which the latter addresses him as “Sined, treuster Freund von
Fingals Sohne!” and exclaims: “Hätt’ ich Ullins Lieder, böth ich dir sie
an.”[261]—The succeeding poem, “An einen Jüngling,” enjoins a
youth to conduct himself so that his fame may go down in the songs
of the bards, that darkness may not dwell around his grave, that his
name may not die like the thunder echoed by the hills, and gives
him much similar advice such as Ossian was accustomed to extend
to his Celtic heroes.
“Sineds Vaterlandslieder,” a series of four poems, contain the never–
failing Ossianic paraphernalia as before. The bard sings in a grove,
reclining upon moss in the shade of an oak, with the breeze
trembling through the leaves and sighing in the harp.[262] In the
opening line of the next poem, “Sineds Morgenlied,” the poet calls
upon the harp to descend (p. 232): “Harfe! steig nieder.” Compare
“Urlaub von der sichtbaren Welt” (p. 283):

Steig nieder, Schattenharfe!


Vom wiegenden Zweige der Tanne!

The ‘Schattenharfe’[263] is Ossian’s ‘shadowy harp,’ “Temora,” Bk. vii,


p. 361, l. 4, and in “Temora,” Bk. v, p. 340, l. 2, we read: “Descend
from thy place, O harp.” The harp may hang on a branch, as in
“Berrathon,” p. 380, l. 31.[264]—“Das Donnerwetter” contains
occasional Ossianic nature touches. This poem is followed by six
laments, “Sineds Klagen,” in which the grief now and again takes an
Ossianic tone, as witness the opening verses of the first, an elegy on
Gellert’s death (p. 253):

Schauerndes Lüftchen! woher?


Trüb ist der Tag. In dem entblätterten Hayne
........
... sitz’ ich einsam
Auf mein Saitenspiel gelehnet,
Da kömmst du, Lüftchen! schwirrest mir
So kläglich, so kläglich die Saiten hindurch.[265]
Ossianic also is the tone of the opening lines of the second
complaint, sung on a cloudy autumn day (p. 258):

Traurig ist der Tag!


Von der Himmelstochter
Blicken ungetröstet
Dämmert er dahin.
Graue Nebelsäulen
Steigen von Gebirgen.

Ossian calls the sun “the son of heaven,” not the “daughter,” but
Denis made similar changes of this nature, e. g., in the opening line
of “Dar–Thula” and elsewhere he translates “daughter of heaven,”
referring to the moon, by “Sohn der Nacht.”[266] Denis adds a note
to his translation in “Dar–Thula,” explaining that he took the liberty
to institute the change, because moon in German, forsooth, is of the
masculine gender.[267] And thus we arrive at ‘Himmelstochter.’
Compare furthermore “Carric–Thura,” p. 152, ll. 12–3: “Grey mist
rests on the hills,” and the like; also the oft repeated ‘columns’ and
‘pillars’ of mist.—In the same complaint the line (p. 259): “Ein
Seufzer reisst sich aus der Brust”[268] recalls Ossian’s “The sigh
bursts from their breasts.”[269] In this poem Denis laments the taste
of those to whom Witz is everything. He can not follow in their
footsteps, because (p. 261):

Greis Ossian in dem Geleite


Der Barden und Skalden besucht ihn.
Er höret am schweigenden Monde
Gesänge vergangener Alter.
The fourth complaint is an elegy on the death of Joh. v. Nep.
Hohenwart, a friend of Denis, whose ghost is asked to appear.—The
concluding stanza of the fifth contains an Ossianic comparison (p.
276): “Sein Leben bleibt ... ein Strom von ewighellem Lichte.”
Compare “Temora,” Bk. i, p. 311, ll. 22–3: “My life shall be one
stream of light.” Several Ossianic touches in the last poem of the
collection, “Urlaub von der sichtbaren Welt,” have been referred to.
Ossianic furthermore is the following picture (p. 284):

Kühle Lüfte säuseln,


Wiesenquellen lauten,
Durch die Tannenzacken
Blinkt der milde Mond;
Aber schweigend, schweigend steht der Hügel,
Der den Barden deckt.

‘Silent’ as a standing epithet frequently goes with ‘hill’ in Ossian, and


the hill covering the dead has been noticed; we have it again on pp.
287–8.
Having now considered the poems of the first collection, we are
ready to turn our attention to the new offspring of Denis’s muse that
found a place in the first edition of Ossians und Sineds Lieder
(1784), the first three volumes of which contain the translation of
Ossian, revised with reference to the English edition of 1773.[270]
Aside from the alterations necessitated by the conformity to the new
English edition and the working over of “Comala” referred to above
(p. 124), the changes are inconsiderable. The fragment of a Norse
poem, “Fithona,” given by Macpherson in the preface to the edition
of 1773, is translated and inserted among the songs of Sined, Vol. 4,
pp. 98–100.—In his preface “An den Leser” in the first volume, Denis
defends his choice of the hexameter in a few words and states: “Er
[Denis] glaubt noch Ossians Aechtheit, obwohl er sich, als ein
Zeitgenoss des XVIII. Jahrhundertes freuen müsste, wenn dieses
Jahrhundert einen solchen Genius hervorgebracht hätte.” He is
strengthened in his belief by the statement made by Sturz that he
(Sturz) had seen the originals.[271] The preface contains also a
chronological bibliography of Ossianic publications from 1762 to
1783, which is by no means complete and contains several errors.
The Fragments of 1760 are not mentioned at all. The songs of the
five bards given by Macpherson in his note to “Croma” are translated
and placed at the end of the third volume under the title “Die
Octobernacht. Eine alte Nachahmung Ossians.”
I shall point out the most striking Ossianic characteristics in the
poems that have not yet been dwelt upon. The poem “An Gott,” the
first in the list,[272] contains nothing deserving of attention. In
“Sined und der Tag seiner Geburt” (pp. 113–5), we have the hill
covering the dead, the grove of oaks, druids, ghosts, etc. Towards
the end Denis addresses his father:

Hättest du Lieder von Selma gehört,


Hättest du Sined gesehn im Kreise der Barden, dein
Antlitz
Hätte von inniger Wonne geglänzt!—
Aber hängst du denn nicht ...
Itzo den thauenden Himmel herab? etc.

In “Der Fremde und Heimische,” the stranger asks whether the


native has ever heard of Denis (p. 131):

Du kennst den Sänger nicht, der Ossians


Gepriesen Lied, das einst in Morven klang,
Den Kindern seines Volks ins Harfenspiel
Zu singen unternahm?

Next we have a series of five poems, “Sineds Träume,” in which we


shall find occasional traces of Ossian’s influence, particularly in the
second dream.
A typical bardic song is “Der Neugeweihte und Sined,” which
contains several passages worthy of note. In the one beginning (p.
164):
... Als sich Fingals Sohn
Auf seinem leichten Nebel einst in Nacht
Zum Ohre meiner Ruhe niederliess,

Denis speaks of the reception of his Ossianic imitation. The following


comparison at the end of the passage (p. 164) is Ossianic: “Und
steht so fest Dem Tadel, wie den Wogen Morvens Fels.”—“Das
Kunstfeuer” contains a reference (p. 207) to an episode in the songs
of Ossian, viz., Fingal’s encounter with Swaran, “Cath–Loda,” Duan i:

... Ist es Uthornas Nacht


Beschwert mit Himmelszeichen, als Lodas Geist
Aus seiner Wolkenburg nach Fingal
Glühende Schrecken umsonst versandte?—

In “Der Jugendgefährte” Denis’s lament (p. 216) sounds truly


Ossianic:

Jüngling! Sined ist todt. Von seiner verlassenen Halle


Tönet kein freundlicher Laut,
Leitet kein Fusstritt in Schatten. Ihm haben die Söhne
der Lieder
Traurig sein Grabmaal erhöht.

Ossianic touches also occur in the poems that have been added to
the fifth volume. In the “Fünfte Reise” Denis speaks of bad advice
disappearing “gleich dem Nebel” (p. 89); Ossian has frequent
comparisons to the departure of mist. The first line (p. 91) of the
“Sechste Reise” is typical: “Das Grau der Vorzeit hellt sich dem
Barden auf.” “Der Zwist der Fürsten,” a series of three poems,
contains several things of interest. In the first song we have Ossian’s
striking on the shield as a sign of battle (p. 111). In the second
Joseph’s shield is said to be “gleich dem Monde Mitten in Gewittern”
(p. 113). Compare “Temora,” Bk. i, p. 306, ll. 4–5: “His shield is ...
like the ... moon ascending through a storm,” and numerous other
comparisons of a shield to the moon.—The lines (p. 117):
Die schauernde Gegend erglänzte
Von Waffen, wie feurige Flut.

recall “Fingal,” Bk. iv, ll. 2–3: “The heath flamed wide with their
arms.” Ossianic in “Wiens Befreyung” (p. 124) is “Die Wolke des
Tods,” “the cloud of death.”[273]—The line (p. 132): “Dein Rath ist
Licht, und Flamme dein Muth,” reminds us of “Fingal,” Bk. ii, p. 228,
l. 12: “Thy counsel is the sun,” and “Temora,” Bk. iv, p. 338, l. 23:
“Valour, like a ... flame.”—Ossian calls the dew the “drops of
heaven,”[274] and so Denis in “Der Blumenstrauss” (p. 157) “des
Himmels Tropfen.”
The sixth volume, the Nachlese zu Sineds Liedern compiled and
edited by Joseph von Retzer, contains but little that demands our
attention. It includes several religious songs, a few translations, and
a number of occasional poems. Some of the poems were written
prior to Denis’s acquaintance with Ossian, and these of course do
not concern us here, but even the bardic songs contain little that is
Ossianic, only now and then do we meet with a trace of the bard’s
influence, as e. g., in “Der Heldentempel Oesterreichs” (p. 54): “Aus
jeder Brust gedrängte Seufzer steigen,” reminding us of Ossian’s
“The crowded sighs of his bosom rose.”[275]
The edition of 1791–2 is virtually identical with that of 1784.
Testimony to the high rank the poems of Ossian still occupied in the
minds of the German people is given in the preface, where we read:
“Auch nur ein Wort von dem Werthe der Werke, ... zu sagen, wäre
von mir eine unverzeihliche Kühnheit. Ossians Gesänge haben das
Alter äherner Denkmaale überlebt, ...”
A cursory perusal of the facts collected above will at once lead us to
the conclusion that Ossian meant much more to Denis than he did
either to Klopstock or to Gerstenberg. When we consider the fact
that Denis became wholly saturated with Ossian while working on
his well–known translation, we no longer marvel at the circumstance
that the characteristics of Ossian took such firm hold of him in the
composition of his own songs. Again, it requires but a glance to see
that at no time was Ossian’s influence stronger than during the years
in which the translation was under way and those immediately
following, that is, the influence is more noticeable in the poems
contained in the edition of 1772 than in those written between 1772
and 1784. While the majority of his productions are of a mediocre
character, they nevertheless furnish an extremely interesting picture
of the extent to which the imitation of the old bard could be carried.
And when we compare his original poems with his translation—
instead of with Macpherson’s original—the similarity will appear even
more pronounced. As Klopstock later on turned to the Revolution, as
Gerstenberg found solace in the study of Kant, so Denis later in life
became engrossed in bibliographical labors, and his Ossianic poetry
fell into neglect.

§4. Karl Friedrich Kretschmann.[276]

In the same year that the first two volumes of Denis’s translation
made their appearance and created such a stir in the literary world
of Germany, another prominent example of bardic literature loomed
up in a different quarter, “Der Gesang Rhingulphs des Barden als
Varus geschlagen war,” which was published in the autumn of 1768,
although the title–page bears the date 1769. This is the first
instance we have of the employment of a bardic pseudonym.
Kretschmann tells us that he received his impulse through
Gerstenberg, whose “Gedicht eines Skalden” had appeared two
years previously, and we can easily see that the form and conception
of Kretschmann’s song are borrowed from Gerstenberg’s poem. The
“Gesang” was followed in 1771 by “Rhingulphs Klage,” which served
to establish firmly the contemporary fame the “Gesang” had gained
for its author. In both of these poems the influence of Klopstock
goes hand in hand with that of Ossian, just as is the case in so much
of Denis’s poetry. But while Denis’s original poetic efforts were
confined almost exclusively to vers d’ occasion, Kretschmann tried
his hand not only at bardic and lyric poetry, but also at epigrams,
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