In 1760, James Macpherson published Fragments of Ancient Poetry, claiming they were translated from ancient Gaelic sources. The Ossian poems became an international sensation despite later controversy over authenticity. Their misty melancholy made marginal Highland material fashionable across Europe.

Ossian profoundly influenced Romanticism, even as it distorted and commodified Gaelic oral tradition. The controversy raised questions about translation, forgery, cultural ownership, and the way dominant literary markets consume the voices of marginal communities.