Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832), was a Scottish Romantic writer. He created and popularized historical novels in a series called the Waverley novels. In his novels, Scott showed his unique genius for re-creating social history. He arranged his plots and characters so the reader can enter into the lives of both great and ordinary people caught up in violent, dramatic changes in history.
Scott’s art shows the influence of the Enlightenment of the 1700’s. He believed every human was basically decent, regardless of class, religion, politics, or ancestry. Tolerance for different ways of life is a major theme in his historical works. The Waverley novels express his belief in the need for social progress that does not reject the traditions of the past. He was the first novelist to portray peasant characters sympathetically and realistically, and he agreed with the poet William Wordsworth’s glorification of common people. He was equally just to people in business, soldiers, and even kings.
Scott’s amiability, generosity, and modesty made him popular with his fellow writers. He declined the offer of poet laureate in 1813 and supported Robert Southey, who received the honor. Scott entertained on a grand scale at Abbotsford, his famous estate.
Scott’s influence can be seen in the works of Victor Hugo and Honore de Balzac of France, James Fenimore Cooper of the United States, and Leo Tolstoy of Russia. But despite his influence, Scott’s reputation declined from the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s. His reputation has begun to rise again. But it probably will never reach the heights it achieved during Scott’s lifetime. Literary historians regard his death in 1832 as marking the close of the romantic age in English literature.
His life.
Scott was born on Aug. 15, 1771, in Edinburgh. His father, who was a successful lawyer, had young Walter trained for a law career. Scott became an attorney in 1792, and he practiced law actively for many years.
A childhood illness, probably polio, left Scott lame in his right leg. But he had unusual physical strength, and was an enthusiastic outdoorsman. He enjoyed taking trips into the Scottish countryside. These trips gave him firsthand knowledge of the life of rural people, and provided material for his first major publication, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-1803). This book was one of the great early collections of popular songs and ballads. Minstrelsy led to his first long verse poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805). The poem tells the legend of a famous goblin, and describes much about life along the English-Scottish border in the 1500’s. Scott’s interest in collecting and writing ballads was partially inspired by his knowledge of German writers, especially Gottfried August Burger and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His uses of rhythm and meter in his poems greatly influenced other writers, especially Lord Byron.
Scott continued his success at narrative poetry with Marmion (1808), which includes his best-known ballad, “Lochinvar.” In 1810, Scott wrote his most popular story-poem, The Lady of the Lake. This romantic tale, set in the famous Trossach Mountains, deals with picturesque Highland customs and history.
Despite his enormous success and fame, Scott’s last years were sad. They were marked by illness and financial difficulties brought on by the failure of a publishing company in which he had an interest. He died on Sept. 21, 1832.
The Waverley novels.
After the publication of his first novel, Waverley, in 1814, Scott devoted himself primarily to fiction. Scott’s progress to historical novels was natural. His talents as a storyteller and as a creator of character, as well as his gift for realistic Scottish dialect, could be better realized in novels than in poetry.
Waverley describes a Scottish rebellion against England in 1745. The novel was published anonymously, without the benefit of Scott’s name. However, the book was a success. From 1814 to 1832, Scott published 27 other novels, four plays, and much nonfiction. All of Scott’s novels were referred to as part of the Waverley series, because the author was identified on the title page only as “The Author of Waverley.” Scott’s authorship was officially revealed in 1827, but it had been known for years.
Scott wrote frequently about the conflicts between different cultures. Ivanhoe (1819) deals with the struggle between Normans and Saxons, and The Talisman (1825) describes the conflict between Christians and Muslims. The novels dealing with Scottish history are probably Scott’s best. They deal with clashes between the new commercial English culture and an older Scottish culture. Many critics rank Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Midlothian (1819), and St. Ronan’s Well (1824) as Scott’s best novels. Other works in the Waverley series include Rob Roy (1817), A Legend of Montrose (1819), and Quentin Durward (1823).
