Walter Scott

The poet

Between 1805 and 1817 Scott produced five long, six-canto narrative poems, four shorter independently published poems, and many small metrical pieces. He was the most popular poet of the time until Lord Byron published the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812. The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) grew out of Scott's plan to include a long original poem in the second edition of the Minstrelsy. He owed the distinctive irregular four-beat metre to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Christabel, which he had heard recited by John Stoddart.

The poem drew on his familiarity with Border history and legend to present a picture of 16th-century Scotland that captivated the public and, with its voluminous notes, also addressed antiquarian students. It has a strong moral theme, introducing a version of the 'Dies irae' at the end. The work was an immediate success, going through five editions in one year.

The novelist

Scott was drawn to Gothic romance, and in 1801 he worked with 'Monk' Lewis on a collection called Tales of Wonder. His start as a novelist was shaky. He had written the opening chapters of Waverley by around 1805, but set them aside after a friend gave harsh criticism. Later, the publisher John Murray asked Scott to finish the final chapter of an incomplete romance by Joseph Strutt, which was published in 1808 as Queenhoo Hall.

Set in 1400s England, it failed because of its old-fashioned language and too much antiquarian detail. The strong reception of his narrative poem The Lady of the Lake in 1810 gave Scott the idea to pick up Waverley again, sending its hero Edward Waverley to Scotland. Though the novel was announced for release, it was shelved once more until late 1813, finally coming out in 1814. Only 1,000 copies were printed, but it was an instant hit, and two more editions that year added 3,000 copies.

Waverley became the first of 27 novels, and by the sixth, Rob Roy, the first print run had grown to 10,000 copies. Scott published the novels without his name, a practice he kept until his financial collapse in 1826. Why he did this is not certain, though he said, with Shylock, "such was my humour."

Reputation

By the late 1800s, as literary fashion shifted from romanticism toward realism, Scott's standing among critics took a hit, and he started being seen as a writer for children. This view only grew stronger in the following century. In 1927, E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel took aim at Scott's messy prose, one-dimensional characters, and weak storylines. Meanwhile, Jane Austen's novels—once admired by a small circle that included Scott himself—gained more critical respect, even if she was still criticized for sticking to "feminine" topics instead of the grand, masculine historical themes Scott tackled.

Still, Scott's role as a trailblazer remained clear. He is often credited with inventing the modern historical novel (though some give that nod to Jane Porter), and he inspired countless imitators across Britain and Europe. His Waverley novels also helped reshape how the Scottish Highlands were viewed, moving public opinion away from seeing the region as a lawless, rebellious backwater.

Influence

Walter Scott had an immense impact throughout Europe. His historical fiction created for the first time a sense of the past as a place where people thought, felt and dressed differently. His historical romances influenced Balzac, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Dumas, Pushkin, and many others, and his interpretation of history was seized on by Romantic nationalists, particularly in Eastern Europe. Early translations into French by Auguste Defauconpret were also highly influential.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was a great admirer and wrote two tributes to him on his death. Victor Hugo wrote an essay on Scott in 1823. Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed (1827) has similarities with Scott's Ivanhoe. In Charles Baudelaire's La Fanfarlo (1847), the poet Samuel Cramer makes a remark about Scott.

Jane Austen, in a letter to her nephew in 1816, praised Scott's work, and in her novel Persuasion (1817) characters discuss whether Marmion or The Lady of the Lake is preferred. Mary Shelley wrote to Scott in 1829 for information while researching her historical novel. In Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847), St. John Rivers gives a copy of Marmion to Jane. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was influenced by Scott's novels, particularly Rob Roy.

Did You Know?

• Scott began studying classics at the University of Edinburgh in November 1783 at age 12.
• He met the poet Robert Burns at a literary salon during the winter of 1786–1787.
• Scott was a cousin of London property-developer James Burton and architect Decimus Burton through his mother's Haliburton ancestry.