author
James Macpherson
1736–1796
Best remembered for bringing the poems of Ossian to a huge European audience, this Scottish writer became one of the most debated literary figures of the 18th century. His work helped shape Romantic taste even as arguments over authenticity followed him for the rest of his life.
2 Audiobooks
Fragments of Ancient Poetry
by James Macpherson
Der Dichter Lenz und Friedericke von Sesenheim Aus Briefen und gleichzeitigen Quellen; nebst Gedichten und Anderm von Lenz und Göthe
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, James Macpherson
About the author
Born in Ruthven, Inverness-shire, on October 27, 1736, he was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector, and later a politician. He studied at King’s College and Marischal College in Aberdeen and also spent time at Edinburgh before first working as a schoolmaster.
His fame began with the publication of Fragments of Ancient Poetry in 1760, followed by the Ossian books Fingal and Temora. He said these works came from ancient Gaelic sources that he had collected and translated, and they quickly became famous across Europe. At the same time, they sparked a long-running controversy, with critics questioning how much was translation, how much was adaptation, and how much was his own invention.
Whatever one thinks of that debate, his impact was real. The Ossian poems influenced readers, writers, and artists far beyond Scotland, and they played an important part in the growing taste for wild landscape, melancholy heroism, and ancient national traditions. Later in life he also served in government-related posts and sat in Parliament. He died on February 17, 1796, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.