Cath-Loda by James Macpherson (1765)
Cath-Loda, Duan First, by James Macpherson, tells of Fingal landing in Lochlin and facing Starno and Swaran. Fingal, a young king, has been driven by storms to the dark billowy bay of U-thorno, far from Morven. Starno sends a dweller of Loda to invite him to a feast. Fingal remembers the past, including Starno's killing of his own daughter, the white-handed Agandecca, and refuses to see Gormal's towers or Starno. He calls his heroes Duth-maruno, Cromma-glas, Struthmor and Cromar, and they take up their hills by night. Duth-maruno offers to scout, speaking of his wife and his son Candona at Crathmo-craulo. Fingal declines and goes himself across Turthor's stream. Fingal finds a woman in a cave, singing a broken song to her father Torcul-torno of Lulan. He frees her hands and learns she is Conban-cargla. Starno killed her father in war and carried her to the cave, where he visits her like a gathered mist. She loves Swaran, who passes in her thoughts. Fingal speaks of the maids of Selma, who are not shut in caves. He then comes to the trees and three mossy stones of Loda, where a ghost half formed of smoke speaks from a red cloud. Swaran and Starno stand beneath a blasted tree. Starno bids Swaran strike the stranger. Swaran throws his spear, and then they fight with swords. Fingal's blade, made by Luno, cuts through Swaran's shield and helmet. Fingal stops his own stroke, and Swaran throws down his sword and walks off whistling. Starno strikes Loda's tree in anger. Fingal returns at dawn with the spoils of Lochlin. Conban-cargla sees Starno's bloody shield and the cleft helmet of Swaran, and shrinks from Fingal. The duan ends with a description of Cruth-loda in his misty hall on U-thorno, holding a shield and a shell. In the next duan, Duth-maruno asks where the king is. Fingal returns and says the foes are near. Duth-maruno recalls how Trenmor, when chiefs quarrelled over the lead, bade them lead by turns, until danger rose and Trenmor himself led and won. Cromma-glas proposes that each warrior strike his shield on a hill of mist, and the bards mark the sounds. Duth-maruno's boss rings loudest, so he leads. The hosts meet at Turthor's stream. Lochlin is driven back, and Fingal's horn calls the army home. Fingal praises Duth-maruno, who tells of Colgorm, who slew his brother in I-thorno and settled at Crathmo-craulo, so that his race always fell in war. Duth-maruno draws an arrow from his side and dies, and the chiefs stand silent around him. At Fingal's bidding, the bard Ullin sings of Colgorm and Strina-dona, daughter of Rurmar of Tormoth. Colgorm and his brother Corcul-suran came to woo her, and she chose Colgorm. The brothers fought, Corcul-suran fell, and his father turned Colgorm out to wander. Colgorm dwelt by Crathmo-craulo, and Strina-dona was with him. The following duan begins with Ossian's thoughts on the stream of years. Fingal bends over Duth-maruno's tomb while the host of Lochlin waits by Turthor's stream, and the two kings stand on separate hills. Starno tells Swaran about his own father Annir, who fought Corman-trunar of Urlor after Corman-trunar carried off Annir's daughter Foina-bragal. In the fight at Urlor the foe prevailed. The young Starno took a broken helmet and shield and came to Corman-trunar, claiming to bring word that Annir was dying and asking for a lock of Foina-bragal's hair. She gave it. He then killed Corman-trunar and Foina-bragal in the night. He urges Swaran to kill Fingal in secret on his lonely hill. Swaran refuses to slay in shades. Starno raises his spear against his son, spares him, and goes himself. Fingal wakes, fights him, splits his shield, and binds him to an oak. In the morning, Fingal remembers Agandecca and frees him. He tells Starno to go back to Gormal and warns him that strangers will shun him.
By James Macpherson · First published 1765 · Genre: Epic poetry, Heroic poetry, Elegiac poetry · 3 chapters · 5,111 words
First lines
Argument. Fingal, when very young, making a voyage to the Orkney Islands, was driven by stress of weather into a bay of Scandinavia, near the residence of Starno, king of Lochlin. Starno invites Fingal to a feast. Fingal, doubting the faith of the king, and mindful of a former breach of hospitality, refuses to go. -- Starno gathers together his tribes; Fingal resolves to defend himself. -- Night coming on, Duth-maruno proposes to Fingal to observe the motions of the enemy. -- The king himself undertakes the watch. Advancing towards the enemy, he accidentally comes to the cave of Turthor, where Starno had confined Conban-cargla, the captive daughter of a neighboring chief. -- Her story is imperfect, a part of the original being lost. -- Fingal comes to a place of worship, where Starno, and his son Swaran, consulted the spirit of Loda concerning the issue of the war. -- The rencounter of Fingal and Swaran. -- Duan first concludes with a description of the airy hall of Cruth-loda, supposed to be the Odin of Scandinavia.[1]
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Genres
- Epic poetry — The work is a verse narrative of a legendary king's campaign, with battles, feasts, single combat, and a long cast of heroes, which is the core structure of the Ossianic epic tradition.
- Heroic poetry — The plot centers on warrior honor, hospitality, rage, and martial prowess, as Fingal, Starno, Swaran, and Duth-maruno contest the field and test their courage.
- Elegiac poetry — Much of the text is a lament for the dead, including Duth-maruno, Colgorm, and Strina-dona, and it returns repeatedly to loss, memory, and the passing of time.
- Poetic prose — The style is rhythmic, repetitive, and apostrophic, with direct addresses to the wind, the hills, and the absent bard, so it reads as prose poetry rather than metrical verse.
Tags
Ossianic poetry · Epic poetry · Heroic verse · Duan · Fingal · Starno · Swaran · Lochlin · Morven · Scandinavia · Legendary past · War and battle
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Cath-Loda is listed on Textopian as a poem by James Macpherson, dated 1765 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: James Macpherson
- Date: 1765 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Epic poetry, Heroic poetry, Elegiac poetry, Poetic prose, Gothic fiction
- Length: 5,111 words
- Structure: 3 chapters, 69 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Cath-Loda by James Macpherson
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