The Battle of Lora by James Macpherson
Fingal, returning from Ireland after driving Swaran from that land, holds a feast for his heroes but forgets two chiefs, Maronnan and Aldo. Burning with resentment, they sail to Sora and take service under its king, Erragon, who is Fingal's enemy. Their valor wins them renown in his wars. Lorma, the beautiful wife of Erragon, sees young Aldo returning to Sora's walls and falls in love with him. After three days of hiding her grief behind joy, she flees with him across the sea to Cona and Fingal's towers. Fingal rebukes Aldo for dishonoring his name in Sora, and tells him to go hide in his caves. He foresees a sorrowful battle with the injured king, and he laments that his own renown will live only in song. Erragon gathers his people on the shore of Cona and sends his bard to demand either combat or the land. Fingal's young heroes are away hunting, so he sends Bosmina, his daughter, with the aged Nartmor to offer peace. She carries a shell as a sign of peace and a golden arrow as a sign of war. She invites Erragon to the feast at Selma and offers him the wealth of Aldo: steeds, maids, hawks, girdles and gem-studded shells. She even offers to return Lorma. Erragon scorns the offer and demands the swords and shields of Fingal's fathers. Bosmina answers that those arms remain in the hands of heroes who never yield. Fingal takes up the mail of Trenmor and his fathers' shield, and the aged chiefs rush out gladly to meet the foe. Near Trathal's tomb the young heroes arrive from the chase: Oscar, Morni's son, Nemi's race, Fercuth, Dermid and Ossian, who comes last. Fingal strikes his shield to give the sign of war. Erragon advances like a winter stream, and Aldo meets him in single combat and falls. Fingal mourns him and weeps for Lorma. Gaul, the son of Morni, then meets the king of Sora, and Erragon is slain. Fingal calls a halt to the killing, pities the stranger who will find Erragon's hall silent, and the bard raises the song of peace. The warriors lay Erragon in a tomb, and Ossian raises the voice of grief. Lorma waits in Aldo's hall by the light of a flaming oak, calling for her hunter to return. His thin ghost appears on a rock, and she follows it over the heath and knows that her hero has fallen. She finds his body, falls silent, and sinks into the tomb within a few days. Fingal's bards sing over her death, and the daughters of Morven mourn her one day each year, when the dark winds of autumn return. Ossian, who tells the tale to a dweller in a secret cell, asks that the song rise at times in praise of those who fell, so that the soul of Lorma may come on a feeble beam of the moon.
By James Macpherson · First published 1765 · Genre: Epic poetry, Elegy, Heroic poetry · 3,155 words
First lines
Argument. Fingal, on his return from Ireland, after he had expelled Swaran from that kingdom, made a feast to all his heroes: he forgot to invite Maronnan and Aldo, two chiefs, who had not been along with him in his expedition. They resented his neglect; and went over to Erragon, king of Sora, a country of Scandinavia, the declared enemy of Fingal. The valor of Aldo soon gained him a great reputation in Sora; and Lorma. the beautiful wife of Erragon, fell in love with him. He found means to escape with her, and to come to Fingal, who resided then in Selma, on the western coast. Erragon invaded Scotland, and was slain in battle by Gaul, the son of Morni, after he had rejected terms of peace offered him by Fingal. In this war Aldo fell, in a single combat, by the hands of his rival Erragon, and the unfortunate Lorma afterward died of grief.
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Genres
- Epic poetry — The passage recounts wars between Fingal's heroes and the forces of Erragon, Sora and Erin on a grand martial scale, the defining mode of the Ossian cycle.
- Elegy — Its core is mourning for the dead Erragon, Aldo and Lorma, with tombs, fallen warriors and invocations to the departed.
- Heroic poetry — It celebrates martial prowess, the code of warriors who spare the weak, and fame that survives death in song.
- Ossianic poetry — It uses the rhythmic, apostrophic style of Macpherson's Ossian, with questions addressed to the bard, recurring nature similes and fragmentary cadences.
Tags
Ossianic poetry · Heroic poetry · Prose poetry · Fingal · Morven · Erragon · Lorma · Aldo · Ossian · Sora · Ancient Scotland · Forbidden love
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The Battle of Lora 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, Elegy, Heroic poetry, Ossianic poetry, Tragedy
- Length: 3,155 words
- Structure: 1 section, 24 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
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