Waverley (1814)
Edward Waverley is caught up in the Jacobite rising of 1745; subtitled ''Tis Sixty Years Since'
Literature · Novelists
Walter Scott
1771–1832 · Scottish
Romanticism; the historical novel
Sir Walter Scott, an Edinburgh lawyer, first won fame as a poet with narrative romances such as The Lady of the Lake, then published Waverley (1814) anonymously and effectively invented the historical novel. The Waverley Novels, including Rob Roy and Ivanhoe, were read across Europe and shaped the romantic image of Scotland.
How to spot them
- ▸'The Great Unknown' and 'the Wizard of the North'; author of the Waverley Novels
- ▸Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Heart of Midlothian, The Bride of Lammermoor
- ▸'Oh what a tangled web we weave' (Marmion)
- ▸Abbotsford house on the Tweed; the Scott Monument and Waverley station in Edinburgh
- ▸Stage-managed George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822
Key works
Ivanhoe (1819 (dated 1820))
Saxons and Normans in the reign of Richard I, with Rebecca, Rowena and Robin of Locksley
Rob Roy (1817)
Frank Osbaldistone's adventures with the Highland outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor
The Heart of Midlothian (1818)
Jeanie Deans walks to London to seek a pardon for her sister, amid the Porteous Riots
The Bride of Lammermoor (1819)
Tragic tale of Lucy Ashton and Edgar Ravenswood, source of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
The Lady of the Lake (1810)
Narrative poem set around Loch Katrine, featuring Ellen Douglas and the song 'Hail to the Chief'
Marmion (1808)
Narrative poem of the Battle of Flodden (1513)
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
His first major poem, containing 'Breathes there the man, with soul so dead'
Key ideas
- Founded the historical novel: ordinary protagonists caught between opposing sides at moments of historical change
- Romanticised Highland Scotland, tartan and chivalry, influencing tourism and national identity
Quick-fire facts
- •Born in Edinburgh; childhood polio left him lame
- •Collected ballads in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802–1803)
- •Declined the Poet Laureateship in 1813; it went to Robert Southey
- •Created a baronet in 1820
- •Publicly acknowledged authorship of the Waverley Novels only in 1827
- •Ruined by the collapse of the Ballantyne printing firm and publisher Archibald Constable in 1826, he wrote furiously to repay the debts
- •In 1818 he led the rediscovery of the Honours of Scotland (the Scottish crown jewels) in Edinburgh Castle
- •Died at Abbotsford and is buried at Dryburgh Abbey
- •Edinburgh Waverley railway station is named after his novels
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Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sir Walter Scott
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — The Waverley Novels