Complex sentence: James Macpherson (1736--96) was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, claiming to have found poetry written by the ancient bard Ossian, he published translations that acquired international popularity, being proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical epics.
Split into simpler sentences: James Macpherson (1736--96) was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation. Claiming to have found poetry written by the ancient bard Ossian, he published translations that acquired international popularity, being proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical epics.