Macpherson, James, 1736-1796

LC control no.	n 50042738
Descriptive conventions	rda
LC classification	PR3544
Personal name heading	Macpherson, James, 1736-1796 *Browse this term in* LC Authorities or the LC Catalog
Variant(s)	Mac a' Phearsain, Seumas, 1736-1796 MacMhuirich, Seumas, 1736-1796 Makferson, Dzhems, 1736-1796
See also	Ossian, active 3rd century *Browse this term in* LC Authorities
Other standard no.	Q312562 0000000080783068 100201047 500443156 14688
Associated country	Scotland Great Britain
Birth date	1736-10-27
Death date	1796-02-17
Place of birth	Ruthven (Scotland) Inverness-shire (Scotland)
Place of death	Belville (Scotland) Inverness-shire (Scotland)
Field of activity	Poetry Translating and interpreting
Profession or occupation	Authors Poets Translators
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Found in	Oxford dictionary of national biography online, April 4, 2014 (Macpherson, James (1736-1796), writer, was born in the small settlement of Ruthven, near Kingussie, in Badenoch, on 27 October 1736; In 1771 he published An Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, a work which had a strong Celtic emphasis. In 1773 he published a translation of the Iliad, in 1775 the Papers Containing the Secret History of Great Britain (a work of some historical importance), and also in 1775 The History of Great Britain from the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hanover; died at Belleville [estate north of Kingussie] on 17 February 1796, just short of his sixtieth birthday) Wikipedia, February 11, 2022 (James Macpherson (Gaelic: Seumas MacMhuirich or Seumas Mac a' Phearsain; 27 October 1736 - 17 February 1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of epic poems; born at Ruthven in the parish of Kingussie in Badenoch, Inverness-shire; died Belville, Inverness-shire, Scotland) Britannica online, February 11, 2022 (James Macpherson, Scottish poet; born October 27, 1736, Ruthven, Inverness, Scotland; died February 17, 1796, Belville, Inverness; he published Fragments of Ancient Poetry ... Translated from the Gallic or Erse Language (1760), Fingal (1762), and Temora (1763), claiming that much of their content was based on a 3rd-century Gaelic poet, Ossian. No Gaelic manuscripts date back beyond the 10th century) Britannica online, February 11, 2022 (Ossian, legendary Gaelic poet; Ossian, Gaelic Oisín, the Irish warrior-poet of the Fenian cycle of hero tales about Finn MacCumhaill (MacCool) and his war band, the Fianna Éireann. The name Ossian became known throughout Europe in 1762, when the Scottish poet James Macpherson "discovered" and published the poems of Oisín, first with the epic Fingal and the following year with Temora; both of these works were supposedly translations from 3rd-century Gaelic originals. Actually, although based in part on genuine Gaelic ballads, the works were largely the invention of Macpherson and were full of similarities to Homer, John Milton, and the Bible. These so-called poems of Ossian won wide acclaim and were a central influence in the early Romantic movement. J.W. von Goethe was one of their many admirers, but they aroused the suspicions of some critics, such as Samuel Johnson. They infuriated Irish scholars because they mixed Fenian and Ulster legends indiscriminately and because Macpherson claimed that the Irish heroes were Caledonians and therefore a glory to Scotland's past, rather than to Ireland's. The Ossianic controversy was finally settled in the late 19th century, when it was demonstrated that the only Gaelic "originals" that Macpherson had produced were poor-quality Gaelic translations of his own English compositions. The name Ossian, popularized by Macpherson, superseded Oisín, though they are often used interchangeably. The term Ossianic ballads refers to genuine late Gaelic poems that form part of the common Scots-Irish tradition and should not be confused with the romanticized epics of "Ossian.")
Associated language	eng