Outline  Timeline of Sir Walter Scott’s Life  Early works  Transition period  Later works

Early Life Born 1771 in Edinburgh At a young age moved to live with grandparents to improve his health  Had polio in 1773 that left him lame- Mainly lost function of right leg  Border of Southern Scotland and Northern England-Sandy Knowe Visits London and Bath with his Aunt for “water cure”  taught him to read  He listened to many Scottish legends and history as a child

Sandy Knowe

Sir Walter Scott’s Education In 1778 he returned to Edinburgh for private education  Royal High School of Edinburgh Loved reading chivalric romances, poetry, history & travel books Travels back to see his aunt for a year  Attends Kelso Grammar School & meets future friend James Ballantine

Continued… Studies Latin, Greek, & Logic at Edinburgh University Apprenticed at his father’s legal firm Begins attending law classes  Expected to follow in his father’s footsteps called to the Scottish bar as an advocate  Falls in love with Williamina Belsches qualifies as a lawyer

Sir Walter Scott’s life-Continued… Loses Williamina Belsches and she married Sir William Forbes meets and marries Charlotte Charpentier in the same year  Eventually have 5 children together Appointed sheriff- Deputy of Selkirkshire  Enjoyed using the law in his stories published “Minstresly of the Scottish Border”  First well known work Becomes business partners with James Ballantine

Abbotsford He buys a small farm and expands it  Called his home Abbotsford

Inside Abbotsford

Later Life 1820-became a baronet  Founded the bannatyne club  Published old Scottish documents had his first stroke printing company collapses  Tries to write his way out of debt  Dozen volumes in last few years His wife dies suffers more strokes Dies in Abbotsford September 21 st

Significance Scott monumentsScott monumentsScott monumentsScott monuments George Meikle Kemp

Sir Walter Scott…The Works That Started It All In Scott's first major work, Minstrelsy Of The Scottish Border appeared.  A three-volume set of collected Scottish ballads  First sign of his interest in Scottish history from a literary standpoint  Meant to concentrate on ballads celebrating historical incidents, but eventually the work contained romantic ballads as well

Scott rose into fame with the publication of The Lay Of The Last Minstrel (1805), which is about an old border country legend.  The poem deals with a sixteenth-century Border feud.  The story is told, over a century and a half later, by an aging minstrel who receives hospitality from a Duchess. In return, he recites a tale concerning the Duchess's family.  It became a huge success and made him the most popular author of the day.

Marmion (1808)  A historical romance in tetrameter, which concerned the attempts of Lord Marmion to marry the rich Lady Clare. The Lady In The Lake (1810) Rokeby (1813)

In the 1810s decade Scott published several novels. – Waverley (1814) Deals with the rebellion of 1745, which attempted to restore a Scottish family to the British throne.

– Guy Mannering (1815) set in the 1760s to 1780s, mostly in the Galloway area of southwest Scotland. It tells the story of Harry Bertram, the son of the Laird of Ellangowan, who is kidnapped at the age of five by smugglers after witnessing the murder of a customs officer. – Rob Roy (1817) A portrait of one of Scotland's greatest heroes, sold out its edition of 10,000 copies in two weeks.

– Tales Of My Landlord (1816). is a series of novels by Sir Walter Scott that form a subset of the Waverley Novels – The Heart of Midlothian (1818) ( 2 nd series) In 1736, a riot broke out in Edinburgh over the execution of two smugglers. The Captain of the City Guards, Captain John Porteous, ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd, killing several people. Porteous was later killed by a lynch mob who stormed the Old Tolbooth.

– The Bride Of Lammermoor (1819) ( 3 rd series) The story recounts the tragic love of Edgar, Master of Ravenswood, and Lucy Ashton, the daughter of Ravenswood's enemy, Sir William Ashton. – A Legend Of Montrose (1819). ( 3 rd series) The story takes place during the Earl of Montrose's Highland campaign on behalf of King Charles I against the Covenanters who had sided with the English Parliament in the English Civil War.

Transition from earlier works into Ivanhoe Scott in his early works mainly focused on the setting of Scotland. Waverly, which was one of Scott’s major works had a Scottish historical setting. In 1819 Scott transitioned from writing about Scotland with his novel Ivanhoe which took place in 12 th century England

Sir Walter Scott’s Transition in Writing Early novels were historically based  Factual  Original  Vivid Portrayals of History  Lively Characters Later novels, such as Ivanhoe are  Romantically Based or  Adventure Based  Obscure SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Ivanhoe.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Feb "Scott, Sir Walter - Introduction." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Sheets Nesbitt. Vol. 32. Gale Cengage, eNotes.com Feb, 2011

Response to Scott’s Writing Transition At the turn of the century:  No longer viewed as a major literary figure  Contemporary critics observed flaws  Careless Plotting  Prolixity  Bad Grammer Early 1930s:  “most satisfactory things he ever wrote.”  “the only parts of Scott’s work that retains any vitality.” Modern Scholars  “influence on the development of European novel genre” "Scott, Sir Walter - Introduction." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Sheets Nesbitt. Vol. 32. Gale Cengage, eNotes.com Feb, 2011

Why did Scott’s Writing Change? Began to tire of translation Began to tire of narrative poetry Born a storyteller Able to write in a fictional form concerning his feelings for Scotland "Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Web. 26 Feb

ivanhoe 1820 Set in Yorkshire, England at the time of the Crusades. This was the first of his works to be set in a place other than Scotland. It talks of British Legend and Anglo-Saxon-Norman conflict in Medieval England. This novel was written during the Emancipation of the Jews in England. Scott emphasizes their struggle in this novel.

ivanhoe Ivanhoe is a chivalric romance about a disinherited knight and his quest to clear his name and fight for his country. It was a change from the chivalric, narrow-minded readiness to believe, to a more stable order of cosmopolitanism and rational faith.

ivanhoe Still Chivalry and nobility are common themes in this novel. It is about the transition from an age of heroism to an age of reason.

redgauntlet 1824 Believed to be Scott’s most deeply personal novel. The work references real things in his life. It talks of his training as a lawyer, the tour of the Lake district in 1797 when he met his wife, his visit to Dumfries and Galloway in 1807, and it is a common held belief that the character Alan Fairford is Sir Walter Scott and Saunders Fairford is his father.

redgauntlet This novel is about a Jacobite uprising. This work is purely fictional, not historical fiction. Darsie is the hero kidnapped by Redgauntlet and taken to a village in Dumphries. Darsie’s friend Alan Fairford sets out to rescue him. Redgauntlet is trying to start another Jacobite rebellion and reveals to Darsie that he is his uncle. The Prince Charles Stuart also aids in the uprising.

redgauntlet This novel is about Redgauntlet’s feeble attempt to take over the throne by the Jacobite rebellion. He fails to to keep the plot quiet and the government finds out. They send the Prince off to France and out of guilt Redgauntlet goes with him.

kenilworth 1821 Set in 1575, Kenilworth is about Robert Dudley (the Earl of Leicester) and Amy Robsart and their secret marriage. Amy leaves her fiancee to mary Robert. They truly love each other, but Robert loves ambition more. He wants power, and to do so he has to keep his marriage to Amy a secret. He is trying to impress Queen Elizabeth I. In the end the Queen finds out the truth, and shames the Earl. However it is too late, his wife Amy has been murdered.