The War of Caros by James Macpherson
In The War of Caros, James Macpherson has Ossian call for the harp so that he can recall a battle fought by his son Oscar against Caros, king of ships. The poem is addressed to Malvina, daughter of Toscar. Ossian sees the shape of Oscar in the mist near the mossy rock of Crona. Ryno, the old bard, returns from viewing the foe and reports that Caros keeps behind his gathered heap of stones and looks over them with fear. Oscar sends Ryno back with the spear of Fingal, its point aflame, to challenge Caros to battle. He says the mighty are absent and his own arm is young. Oscar's heroes gather on Ardven. Caros does not cross the streamy Carun, and the bard comes back with his song. At night a feast is spread on Crona, and the ghosts of Ardven pass through the firelight. Among them are Comala and the sullen Hidallan. Oscar asks how Hidallan fell, and Ryno tells it. Fingal was sad for Comala and drove Hidallan from his wars. Hidallan wandered alone for three days to the halls of his blind father Lamor, beside the stream of Balva. Lamor asked where the people were and whether his son had fallen on the banks of Carun. Hidallan answered that they lived, but that he himself had lost his fame. Lamor reminded him that his fathers never sat alone when battle roared, and he recalled the tomb of Garmallon, who never fled from war. Hidallan said he had never fled, and that Fingal had denied him war and told him to moulder like a leafless oak. Lamor had his son bring Garmallon's sword and lead him to Garmallon's tomb. There Lamor pierced his son's side. They sleep together, and the valley is silent, shunned by the people. Oscar mourns Hidallan, tells his warriors to watch the strength of Caros, and climbs the hill alone to the shades of his fathers. He draws his sword and calls on them to reveal the deeds of future times. Trenmor comes on a cloud, sighs thrice over him, and speaks words that reach the listeners only by halves. From then on Oscar begins to be sad, for he foresees the fall of his race. At gray morning Oscar reaches Carun's banks. The warriors of Caros, who crossed the stream by night, sit around an ancient tomb. Oscar raises his terrible voice three times, and a thousand spears rise against him. He chooses to stand rather than fly, as his fathers never fled, and he fights until the foe falls. His people come from Crona like a hundred streams, and the warriors of Caros flee. Caros then rolls forward with all his strength, and battle spreads from wing to wing. Ossian declines to sing further of battles, since his own arm is weak. He calls Oscar happy in his fame and asks Malvina to lead him to his woods and streams. He hopes that future ages will say, "Here Ossian dwelt."
By James Macpherson · First published 1765 · Genre: Epic poetry, Ossianic poetry, Elegiac poetry · 2,927 words
First lines
Argument. Caros is probably the noted usurper Carausius, by birth a Menapian. who assumed the purple in the year 2S4; and, seizing on Britain, defeated the emperor Maximinian Herculius in several naval engagements, which gives propriety to his being called in this poem "the king of ships. " He repaired Agricola's wall, in order to obstruct the incursions of the Caledonians, and when he was employed in that work, it appears he was attacked by a party under the command of Oscar the son of Ossian. This battle is the foundation of the present poem, which is addressed to Malvina, the daughter of 1 oscar.
Genres
- Epic poetry — The poem narrates a single heroic engagement between Oscar and the forces of Caros, with feats of arms, catalogues of warriors and invocations of ancestral spirits in the manner of classical and Celtic epic.
- Ossianic poetry — It belongs to the Ossianic cycle of Gaelic heroic verse, drawing on the Fingalian tradition, its named heroes (Fingal, Oscar, Trenmor, Hidallan) and the bardic voice of Ossian.
- Elegiac poetry — Lament shapes the narrative: Ossian mourns the fall of his son, the decline of his race and the passing of youth and old companions, closing with meditation on mortality and memory.
- Pre-Romantic poetry — Its melancholy, fascination with ruins and antiquity, and emphasis on intense feeling anticipate Romantic sensibility in late eighteenth-century British verse.
Tags
Ossianic poetry · Celtic epic · Caledonian resistance · Roman Britain · Late third-century Britain · Battle poem · Father and son · Mourning and loss · Ghosts and spirits · Ancestral heroes · Fame and renown · Bardic tradition
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The War of Caros is listed on Textopian as a poem by James Macpherson, dated 1765 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: James Macpherson
- Date: 1765 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Epic poetry, Ossianic poetry, Elegiac poetry, Pre-Romantic poetry, Sublime poetry
- Length: 2,927 words
- Structure: 1 section, 29 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
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