Cathlin Of Clutha Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B C D E F G B H I J K L| An address to Malvina the daughter of Toscar The poet relates the arrival of Cathlin in Selma to solicit aid against Duth carmor of Cluba who had killed Cathmol for the sake of his daughter Lanul Fingal declining to make a choice among his heroes who were all claiming the command of the expedition they retired each to his hill of ghosts to be determined by dreams The spirit of Trenmor appears to Ossian and Oscar They sail from the bay of Carmona and on the fourth day appear off the valley of Rath col in Inis huna where Duth carmor had fixed his residence Ossian despatches a bard to Duth carmor to demand battle Night comes on The distress of Cathlin of Clutha Ossian devolves the command on Oscar who according to the custom of the kings of Morven before battle retired to a neighboring hill Upon the coming on of day the battle joins Oscar carries the mail and helmet of Duth carmor to Cathlin who had retired from the field Cathlin is discovered to be the daughter of Cathmol in disguise who had been carried off by force by and had made her escape from Duth carmor | A |
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| COME thou beam that art lonely from watching in the night The squalling winds are around thee from all their echoing hills Red over my hundred streams are the light covered paths of the dead They rejoice on the eddying winds in the season of night Dwells there no joy in song white hand of the harps of Lutha Awake the voice of the string roll my soul to me It is a stream that has failed Malvina pour the song | B |
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| I hear thee from thy darkness in Selma thou that watchest lonely by night Why didst thou withhold the song from Ossian's falling soul As the falling brook to the ear of the hunter descending from his storm covered hill in a sunbeam rolls the echoing stream he hears and shakes his dewy locks such is the voice of Lutha to the friend of the spirits of heroes My swelling bosom beats high I look back on the days that are past Come thou beam that art lonely from watching in the night | C |
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| In the echoing bay of Carmona we saw one day the bounding ship On high hung a broken shield it was marked with wandering blood Forward came a youth in arms and stretched his pointless spear Long over his tearful eyes hung loose his disordered locks Fingal gave the shell of kings The words of the stranger arose In his hall lies Cathmol of Clutha by the winding of his own dark streams Duth carmor saw white bosomed Lanul and pierced her father's side In the rushy desert were my steps He fled in the season of night Give thine aid to Cathlin to revenge his father I sought thee not as a beam in a land of clouds Thou like the sun art known king of echoing Selma | D |
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| Selma's king looked around In his presence we rose in arms But who should lift the shield for all had claimed the war The night came down we strode in silence each to his hill of ghosts that spirits might descend in our dreams to mark us for the field We struck the shield of the dead we raised the hum of songs We thrice called the ghosts of our fathers We laid us down in dreams Trenmor came before mine eyes the tall form of other years His blue hosts were behind him in half distinguished rows Scarce seen is their strife in mist or the stretching forward to deaths I listened but no sound was there The forms were empty wind | E |
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| I started from the dream of ghosts On a sudden blast flew my whistling hair Low sounding in the oak is the departure of the dead I took my shield from its bough Onward came the rattling of steel It was Oscar of Lego He had seen his fathers As rushes forth the blast on the bosom of whitening waves so careless shall my course be through ocean to the dwelling of foes I have seen the dead my father My beating soul is high My fame is bright before me like the streak of light on a cloud when the broad sun comes forth red traveller of the sky | F |
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| Grandson of Branno I said not Oscar alone shall meet the foe I rush forward through ocean to the woody dwelling of heroes Let us contend my son like eagles from one rock when they lift their broad wings against the stream of winds We raised our sails in Carmona From three ships they marked my shield on the wave as I looked on nightly Ton thena red traveller between the clouds Four days came the breeze abroad Lumon came forward in mist In winds were its hundred groves Sunbeams marked at times its brown side White leapt the foamy streams from all its echoing rocks | G |
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| A green field in the bosom of hills winds silent with its own blue stream Here midst the waving of oaks were the dwellings of kings of old But silence for many dark brown years had settled in grassy Rath col for the race of heroes had failed along the pleasant vale Duth carmor was here with his people dark rider of the wave Ton thena had hid her head in the sky He bound his white bosomed sails His course is on the hills of Rath col to the seats of roes We came I sent the bard with songs to call the foe to fight Duth carmor heard him with joy The king's soul was like a beam of fire a beam of fire marked with smoke rushing varied through the bosom of night The deeds of Duth carmor were dark though his arm was strong | B |
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| Night came with the gathering of clouds By the beam of the oak we sat down At a distance stood Cathlin of Clutha I saw the changeful soul of the stranger As shadows fly over the field of grass so various is Cathlin's cheek It was fair within locks that rose on Rath col's wind I did not rush amidst his soul with my words I bade the song to rise | H |
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| Oscar of Lego I said be thine the secret hill to night Strike the shield like Morven's kings With day thou shalt lead in war From my rock I shall see thee Oscar a dreadful form ascending in fight like the appearance of ghosts amidst the storms they raise Why should mine eyes return to the dim times of old ere yet the song had bursted forth like the sudden rising of winds But the years that are past are marked with mighty deeds As the nightly rider of waves looks up to Ton thena of beams so let us turn our eyes to Trenmor the father of kings | I |
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| Wide in Caracha's echoing field Carmal had poured his tribes They were a dark ridge of waves The gray haired bards were like moving foam on their face They kindle the strife around with their red rolling eyes Nor alone were the dwellers of rocks a son of Loda was there a voice in his own dark land to call the ghosts from high On his hill he had dwelt in Lochlin in the midst of a leafless grove Five stones lifted near their heads Loud roared his rushing stream He often raised his voice to the winds when meteors marked their nightly wings when the dark robed moon was rolled behind her hill Nor unheard of ghosts was he They came with the sound of eagle wings They turned battle in fields before the kings of men | J |
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| But Trenmor they turned not from battle He drew forward that troubled war in its dark skirt was Trathal like a rising light It was dark and Loda's son poured forth his signs on night The feeble were not before thee son of other lands Then rose the strife of kings about the hill of night but it was soft as two summer gales shaking their light wings on a lake Trenmor yielded to his son for the fame of the king had been heard Trathal came forth before his father and the foes failed in echoing Caracha The years that are past my son are marked with mighty deeds | K |
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| In clouds rose the eastern light The foe came forth in arms The strife is mixed on Rath col like the roar of streams Behold the contending of kings They meet beside the oak In gleams of steel the dark forms are lost such is the meeting of meteors in a vale by night red light is scattered round and men foresee the storm Duth carmor is low in blood The son of Ossian overcame Not harmless in batt | L |
James Macpherson
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