James Macpherson
James Macpherson (born October 27, 1736 in Ruthven , Inverness-shire , † February 17, 1796 in Balavil House , Inverness-shire) was a Scottish writer and politician .
Life
Macpherson studied from 1753 at King's College in Aberdeen and then at the University of Edinburgh . During this time he already wrote some poems; only a few of these have been published, such as The Highlander from 1758.
He became famous above all for the Fragments of Ancient Poetry , which were published by Hugh Blair in 1760 and which became very famous as the work of a Gaelic singer Ossian . These works were ostensibly the record of a very old Gaelic oral tradition that he had collected in Scotland. In reality, Macpherson had written the works himself. He later published the alleged original texts of Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books (1761), Temora (1763) and The Works of Ossian (1765). The collections were soon translated into other European languages and received euphorically everywhere. His enthusiasm for ancestral folklore and natural people made Macpherson one of the forefathers of English Romanticism alongside Edward Young and Thomas Gray . It was not until much later that Macpherson's works were recognized as forgeries (see also Celtomania ).
In 1780 Macpherson became a Member of the British Parliament , which he remained until his death.
Works
- Ossian 's poems by an old Celtic hero and bard / [… by Harold Major.] Düsseldorf 1775. urn : nbn: de: hbz: 061: 1-13477 University and State Library Düsseldorf
- Ossian's newly-discovered poems / [James Macpherson]. Translated by Edmund von Harold . Dänzer, Düsseldorf 1798. urn : nbn: de: hbz: 061: 1-3926 University and State Library Düsseldorf
literature
- Macpherson, James . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 17 : Lord Chamberlain - Mecklenburg . London 1911, p. 267 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
- Literature by and about James Macpherson in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about James Macpherson in the German Digital Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Macpherson, James |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ossian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish writer and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 27, 1736 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ruthven , Inverness-shire |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 17, 1796 |
| Place of death | Balavil House , Inverness-shire |