Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832)

Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832)

Scotch poet and novelist of the romantic period, known for his historical novels, narrative poems and ballads on medieval themes and incidents in Scotch history. He was influenced in his choice of subject-matter by German ballads in the medieval manner and by the Gothic Novel, and in his turn had an important influence on the school of the historical novel that developed in the 19th century in England, France, and the U.S. Scott's novels, for which he is most famous, are marked by vividness of detail, adventure, and a colorful re-creation of the past. In the field of poetry, his works include THE EVE OF SAINT JOHN (1799), a celebrated ballad; Minstrelsy of the, Scottish Border ( 1802-1803), a collection of ancient Scotch ballads and legends; THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805); MARMION (1808); THE LADY OF THE LAKE (1810); The Vision of Don Roderick ( 1811); ROKEBY (1813). The best-known of his novels and tales include the following:

WAVERLEY (1814); GUY MANNERING (1815); THE ANTIQUARY (1816); OLD MORTALITY (1816); THE BLACK DWARF (1816); THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN (1818); ROB ROY (1817); THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR (1819); THE LEGEND OF MONTROSE (1819); IVANHOE (1819); THE MONASTERY (1820); THE ABBOT (1820); KENILWORTH (1821); THE PIRATE (1821); THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822); PEVERIL OF THE PEAK (1823); QUENTIN DURWARD (1823); ST. RONAN'S WELL (1823); REDGAUNTLET (1824); THE BETROTHED (1825); THE TALISMAN (1825); WOODSTOCK (1826); THE HIGHLAND WIDOW (1827); THE TWO DROVERS (1827); THE SURGEON'S DAUGHTER (1827); THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828); ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN (1829); COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS (1832); CASTLE DANGEROUS (1832); THE DEATH OF THE LAIRD'S JOCK (1827); TALES OF A GRANDFATHER (1828-1830).

Scott also wrote several dramatic works, a number of studies in biography and in the history, legends, and antiquities of Scotland, and miscellaneous essays, including articles in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The novelist came of a family related to the old Scotch clan of Buccleuch, and in childhood was ill with infantile paralysis. In his maturity he was socially ambitious and built the mansion of Abbotsford on the banks of the Tweed. He also was a partner lit the publishing business with two brothers named Ballantyne, issuing, among other things, the Quarterly Review, a periodical rivaling the Edinburgh Review: in the later years of his life much of his writing was done in order to pay the debts of this firm, which went into bankruptcy about 1825.

Scott was known to the readers of his day as "The Wizard of the North."