Conlath and Cuthona by James Macpherson
Conlath and Cuthona, by James Macpherson, opens with Ossian hearing the ghost of Conlath, son of Morni, who complains that he and his companions lie unburied and unsung on dark I-thona, and begs that their fame be told. Ossian calls on his harp and sees the vanished scene. In the cave of Thona, Toscar bends over a stream with his friend Fercuth, while Cuthona sits apart, weeping. The night is stormy. Toscar has seen the ghost of his father standing silent on the bank, and Fercuth reads it as a sign that death is coming to their race. Fercuth longs for the peaceful vales of Erin, and Toscar rebukes his fear. Toscar recalls sailing past a desert isle, where he saw Cuthona hunting deer with her bow and was struck by her beauty. She grieves for Conlath. Cuthona tells him that her love lives at Mora, where Conlath watches the sea for her. When the hunting maidens returned without her, he asked after the daughter of Rurmar and received no answer. Toscar says he will carry her back to the towers of Conlath, who is his friend and in whose halls he has feasted, though his own days will be sad. Cuthona sees the ghosts of her fathers in a cloud, foresees her own death, and asks that Conlath see her before she enters the narrow house. Ossian then sees Conlath come over the sea with the blood of Toscar on his spear and a wound in his side. He dies at the cave. His mother looks at his shield on the wall of Mora and finds it bloody. Cuthona stays pale beside the fallen chiefs and drives away the screaming fowls. The sons of Selma find her dead, raise a tomb over the heroes, and lay her beside Conlath. Ossian asks that Conlath's ghost not trouble his dreams, now that he has his fame.
By James Macpherson · First published 1765 · Genre: Elegy, Lament, Tragedy · 1,637 words
First lines
Argument. Conlath was the youngest of Morni's sons, and brother to the celebrated Gaul. He was in love with Cuthona, the daughter of Rumar, when Toscar, the son of Kinfena, accompanied by Fercuth his friend, arrived from Ireland, at Mora, where Conlath dwelt. He was hospitably received, and according to the custom of the times, feasted three days with Conlath. On the fourth he set sail, and coasting the island of waves, one of the Hebrides, he saw Cuthona hunting, fell in love with her, and carried her away, by force, in his ship. He was forced, by stress of weather, into I-thona, a desert isle. In the mean time Conlath hearing; of the rape, sailed after him, and found him on the point of sailing for the coast of Ireland. They fought: and they and their followers fell by mutual wounds. Cuthona did not long survive: for she died of grief the third day after. Fingal hearing of their unfortunate death, sent Stormal the son of Moran to bury them, but forgot to send a bard to sing the funeral song over their tombs. The ghost of Conlath comes long alter to Ossian, to entreat him to transmit to posterity, his and Cuthona's fame. For it was the opinion of the times, that the souls of the deceased were not happy, till their elegies were composed by a bard.
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Genres
- Elegy — The poem is framed as an elegy. The ghost of Conlath asks Ossian to compose the bardic funeral song that was never sung over the tombs, because the dead were believed to remain unhappy until their elegies were composed.
- Lament — Cuthona's grief, the tears of Fercuth and Toscar, and Ossian's closing lament over the fallen chiefs and their neglected tomb centre on mourning more than on action.
- Tragedy — Two lovers and a rival die of mutual wounds and grief, so the plot follows a classic tragic arc of love, violence and irreversible loss.
- Tragic romance — The love between Conlath and Cuthona, and Toscar's abduction of Cuthona, drive the narrative, and the romance ends in death.
Tags
Ossian · ghost of a slain warrior · elegy · Ossianic poetry · Gaelic heroic verse · ancient Celtic setting · Hebrides · I-thona · Mora · Selma · abduction · duel
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Conlath and Cuthona 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: Elegy, Lament, Tragedy, Tragic romance, Epic poetry
- Length: 1,637 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
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- Work identity for Conlath and Cuthona by James Macpherson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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