Carric-thura Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B C D D E F G H I H J E K H L M N O P K| Fingal returning from an expedition which he had made into the Roman province resolved to visit Cathulla king of Inistore and brother to Comala whose story is related at large in the preceding dramatic poem Upon his coming in sight of Carric thura the palace of Cathulla he observed a flame on its top which in those days was a signal of distress The wind drove him into a bay at some distance from Carric thura and he was obliged to pass the night on shore Next day he attacked the army of Frothal king of Sora who had besieged Cathulla in his palace of Carric thura and took Frothal himself prisoner after he had engaged him in a single combat The deliverance of Carric thura is the subject of the poem but several other episodes are interwoven with it It appears from tradition that this poem was addressed to a Culdee or one of the first Christian missionaries and that the story of the spirit of Loda supposed to be the ancient Odin of Scandinavia was introduced by Ossian in opposition to the Culdee's doctrine Be this as it will it lets us into Ossian's notions of a superior Being and shows us that he was not addicted to the superstition which prevailed all the world over before the introduction of Christianity | A |
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| HAST thou left thy blue course in heaven golden haired son of the sky The west opened its gates the bed of thy repose is there The waves come to behold thy beauty They lift their trembling heads They see thee lovely in thy sleep they shrink away with fear Rest in thy shadowy cave O sun let thy return be in joy | B |
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| But let a thousand lights arise to the sound of the harps of Selma let the beam spread in the hall the king of shells is returned The strife of Crona is past like sounds that are no more Raise the song O bards the king is returned with his fame | C |
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| Such were the words of Ullin when Fingal returned from war when he returned in the fair blushing of youth with all his heavy locks His blue arms were on the hero like a light cloud on the sun when he moves in his robes of mist and shows but half his beams His heroes followed the king the feast of shells is spread Fingal turns to his bards and bids the song to rise | D |
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| Voices of echoing Cona he said O bards of other times Ye on whose souls the blue host of our fathers rise strike the harp in my hall and let me hear the song Pleasant is the joy of grief it is like the shower of spring when it softens the branch of the oak and the young leaf rears its green head Sing on O bards to morrow we lift the sail My blue course is through the ocean to Carric thura's walls the mossy walls of Sarno where Comala dwelt There the noble Cathulla spreads the feast of shells The boars of his woods are many the sound of the chase shall arise | D |
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| Cronnan son of the song said Ullin Minona graceful at the harp raise the tale of Shilric to please the king of Morven Let Vinvela come in her beauty like the showery bow when it shows its lovely head on the lake and the setting sun is bright She comes O Fingal her voice is soft but sad | E |
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| Vinvela My love is a son of the hill He pursues the flying deer His gray dogs are panting around him his bow string sounds in the wind Dost thou rest by the fount of the rock or by the noise of the mountain stream The rushes are nodding to the wind the mist flies over the hill I will approach my love unseen I will behold him from the rock Lovely I saw thee first by the aged oak of Branno thou wert returning tall from the chase the fairest among thy friends | F |
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| Shilric What voice is that I hear that voice like the summer wind I sit not by the nodding rushes I hear not the fount of the rock Afar Vinvela afar I go to the wars of Fingal My dogs attend me no more No more I tread the hill No more from on high I see thee fair moving by the stream of the plain bright as the bow of heaven as the moon on the western wave | G |
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| Vinvela Then thou art gone O Shilric I am alone on the hill The deer are seen on the brow void of fear they graze along No more they dread the wind no more the rustling tree The hunter is far removed he is in the field of graves Strangers sons of the waves spare my lovely Shilric | H |
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| Shilric If fall I must in the field raise high my grave Vinvela Gray stones and heaped up earth shall mark me to future times When the hunter shall sit by the mound and produce his food at noon some warrior rests here he will say and my fame shall live in his praise Remember me Vinvela when low on earth I lie | I |
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| Vinvela Yes I will remember thee alas my Shilric will fall What shall I do my love when thou art for ever gone Through these hills I will go at noon I will go through the silent heath There I will see the place of thy rest returning from the chase Alas my Shilric will fall but I will remember Shilric | H |
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| And I remember the chief said the king of woody Morven he consumed the battle in his rage But now my eyes behold him not I met him one day on the hill his cheek was pale his brow was dark The sigh was frequent in his breast his steps were towards the desert But now he is not in the crowd of my chiefs when the sounds of my shields arise Dwells he in the narrow house the chief of high Carmora | J |
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| Cronnan said Ullin of other times raise the song of Shilric when he returned to his hills and Vinvela was no more He leaned on her gray mossy stone he thought Vinvela lived He saw her fair moving on the plain but the bright form lasted not the sunbeam fled from the field and she was seen no more Hear the song of Shilric it is soft but sad | E |
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| I sit by the mossy fountain on the top of the hill of winds One tree is rustling above me Dark waves roll over the heath The lake is troubled below The deer descend from the hill No hunter at a distance is seen It is mid day but all is silent Sad are my thoughts alone Didst thou but appear O my love a wanderer on the heath thy hair floating on the wind behind thee thy bosom heaving on the sight thine eyes full of tears for thy friends whom the mists of the hill had concealed Thee I would comfort my love and bring thee to thy father's house | K |
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| But is it she that there appears like a beam of light on the heath bright as the moon in autumn as the sun in a summer storm comest thou O maid over rocks over mountains to me She speaks but how weak her voice like the breeze in the reeds of the lake | H |
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| Returnest thou safe from the war Where are thy friends my love I heard of thy death on the hill I heard and mourned thee Shilric Yes my fair I return but I alone of my race Thou shalt see them no more their graves I raised on the plain But why art thou on the desert hill Why on the heath alone | L |
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| Alone I am O Shilric alone in the winter house With grief for thee I fell Shilric I am pale in the tomb | M |
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| She fleets she sails away as mist before the wind and wilt thou not stay Vinvela Stay and behold my tears Fair thou appearest Vinvela fair thou wast when alive | N |
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| By the mossy fountain I will sit on the top of the hills of winds When mid day is silent around O talk with me Vinvela come on the light winged gale on the breeze of the desert come Let me hear thy voice as thou passest when mid day is silent around | O |
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| Such was the song of Cronnan on the night of Selma's joy But morning rose in the east the blue waters rolled in light Fingal bade his sails to rise the winds came rustling from their hills Inistore rose to sight and Carric thura's mossy towers But the sign of distress was on their top the warning flame edged with smoke The king of Morven struck his breast he assumed at once his spear His darkened brow bends forward to the coast he looks back to the lagging winds His hair is disordered on his back The silence of the king is terrible | P |
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| Night came down on the sea Rotha's | K |
James Macpherson
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