biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1736–96)
|
| biography:
| Poet, born in Ruthven, Highland, N Scotland, UK. He studied at King's College and Marischal College, Aberdeen, and became a schoolteacher and poet. In 1760 he was commissioned by the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh to tour the Highlands in search of material relating to the legendary hero Fingal, as told by his son, Ossian. He published his work in 1762 as Fingal: an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books, followed by Temora, an Epic Poem, in Eight Books (1763). They were received with huge acclaim, but a storm of controversy soon arose about their authenticity. It appears that he used only about 15 genuine pieces of original verse which he altered and amended, and invented the rest to create an epic form for them. |
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