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The Life and Works of Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a Scottish novelist and poet, whose work as a translator, editor, biographer, and critic, together with his novels and poems, made him one of the most important figures in English romanticism. Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh and was the son of a solicitor, Walter Scott, and Anne, a daughter of a professor of medicine. A childhood illness, polio, left him lame in the right leg. Six of his 11 brothers and sisters died in infancy. But, Scott grew up to be a man of over six feet and great physical endurance. 1
Scott spent his early years in Sandy-Know, in the home of his grandfather. There his grandmother told him tales of old heroes, which later inspired him to write his heroic novels. At the age of eight he returned to Edinburgh. He then attended Edinburgh High School and studied arts and law at the Edinburgh University.2
At the age of sixteen he had already started to collect old ballads and later translated into English Gottfried Bürger's ballads “The Wild Huntsman” and “Lenore” and “Goetz of Berlichingen” from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play. Scott was apprenticed to his father in 1786. In 1799 he was chosen sheriff depute of the county of Selkirk. Scott married in 1797 Margaret Charlotte Charpentier (or Charpenter), daughter of Jean Charpentier of Lyon in France. They had five children.3
In 1806 Scott became clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Scott spent long holidays at Ashestiel, situated on the Tweed River. To increase his income he started a printing and publishing business with his friend James Ballantyne. A few years later he founded the Bannatyne Club, which published old Scottish documents. Scott visited France in 1826 to collect material for his book, "Life Of Napoleon", which was published in nine volumes in 1827. His wife, Lady Scott, died in 1826, and the Walter Scott himself had a stroke in 1830. The next year Scott traveled to Italy. In Malta he wrote one novel and a short story, and in Naples he collected old songs and ballads. After returning to England in 1832, he died on September 21. Scott was buried in Dryburgh Abbey.4
Scott’s first achievement was with a book of ballads, called The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, in 1802. His first narrative poem, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel", brought him huge popularity. Following this success, he wrote a series of romantic narrative poems, which included "Marmion", "The Lady of the Lake", "The Bridal of Triermain", and "The Lord of the Isles". Verses from ""The Lady of the Lake, including “Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!” were put to music by James Sanderson and this became the march traditionally played to honor the president of the United States. In 1813, Scott was offered the poet laureateship of England, but he declined, and recommended Robert Southey instead.5
Scott’s declining popularity as a poet, in part caused by competition with Lord Byron, made him take an interest in novels. In the 1810s Scott published several novels anonymously under the pseudonym Jebediah Cleisbotham or “Author of Waverley”. His most famous poem of this period was "Waverley". He wrote more than 20 novels afterwards, including "Guy Mannering", "Old Mortality", "The Heart of Midlothian", "Rob Roy", "The Bride of Lammermoor", "Ivanhoe", "Kenilworth", "Quentin Durward", and "The Fair Maid of Perth".6 Although he published this most of these novels anonymously, his identity became an open secret. He had at least five pen names, including Crystal Croftangry, Malachi Malagrowther, Lawrence Templeton, and Captain Clutterbuck. Scott used his enormous profits to build a mansion called Abbotsford. In 1820 he was made a baronet.7
Scott is the first major historical novelist. In his portraits of Scotland, England, and America from medieval times to the 18th century, he showed a keen sense of political and traditional forces and of their influence on the individual. Although his plots are sometimes hastily constructed and his characters sometimes unnatural, these works remain valuable for their compelling atmosphere, occasional epic dignity, and clear understanding of human nature. James Fenimore Cooper in America, Honoré de Balzac in France, and Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray in England were among the many who learned from Scott’s panoramic studies of the interplay between social trends and individual character. In Great Britain, he created an enduring interest in Scottish traditions, and throughout the Western world he encouraged the cult of the Middle Ages, which strongly characterized romanticism. 8
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