ABSTRACT
In chapter two I argued that it was possible to understand 'The Battle of Lora' and its relationship to the Gaelic poetry that inspired it in terms of the defining romance characteristic of elaboration. Without wishing to engage in any significant way with the 'authenticity dispute' surrounding Ossian, I suggested that this notion of romance elaboration gives us a handle on one of the key questions provoked by Ossian and allows us to see the poems as both indebted to and yet significantly different from any identifiable Gaelic source.
