Sir Walter Scott: The Lady of the Lake; a Poem. The Lady of the Lake; a Poem. The Lady of the Lake; a Poem. TEXT BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEXES Walter Scott opens his most popular poem with the famous apostrophe to the "harp of the North!," a passage echoed in several later poems in Spenserian stanzas. Compare "An Address to the Harp of Miss C— of Richmond [Virginia]" which opens: "Harp of the South!" The Port Folio S3 6 (December 1811) 604; or George Colman the Younger s's parody, "Lady of the Wreck" in Poetical Vagaries (1812) which begins: "Harp of the Pats! that rotting long hast lain | On the soft bosom of St. Allen's bog." Thirteen prefatory Spenserians stanzas appear in the course of the six cantos of Scott's tangled tale of Highland intrigue. Francis Hodgson : "Why will not Mr. Scott more frequently write in the manly and poetical style of the Introduction to his first canto? 'Harp of the North!

that mouldering long has hung | On the witch-elm of that shades Saint Fillan's spring [...]' This is a measure worthy to try the strength of a poet. The verse of eight feet is boy's play compared to it; although we are happy in bearing testimony to the improvement of the author in the regularity of his verse. His rugged lines are much fewer than in his former poems; — but we must observe a carelessness in suffering similar rhymes to recur much too frequently; and a correct ear would have avoided the homotononous terminations of the first five lines of the above extract" Monthly Review NS 62 (June 1810) 190. Francis Jeffrey: "Of this, upon the whole, we are inclined to think more highly than of either of his former publications. We are more sure, however, that it has fewer faults, than that it has greater beauties; and as its beauties bear a strong resemblance to those with which the public has already been made familiar in these celebrated works, we should not be surprised if its popularity were less splendid and remarkable.

For our own parts, however, we are of opinion, that it will be oftener read hereafter than either of them; and that, if it had appeared first in the series, their reception would have been less favourable than that which it has experienced. It is more polished in its diction, and more regular in its versification; the story is constructed with infinitely more skill and address; there is a greater proportion of pleasing and tender passages, with much less antiquarian detail; and, on the whole, a larger variety of characters, more artfully and judiciously contrasted. There is nothing so fine, perhaps, as the battle in Marmion — or so picturesque as some of the scattered sketches in the Lay; but there is a richness and a spirit in the whole piece, which does not pervade either of these poems, — a profusion of incident, and shifting brilliancy of colouring, that reminds us of the witchery of Ariosto, — and a constant elasticity, and occasional energy, which seem to belong more peculiarly to the author now before us" Edinburgh Review 16 (August 1810) 273-74.

Monthly Anthology and Boston Review: "The Lady of the Lake, if it should not brighten, can never, we think, tarnish the lustre of those armorial bearings, which, as the finest poet of the age, and a lineal descendant in poetick feeling from Spenser, Mr. Scott may justly challenge for his own, by a better title than letters patent or blood" 9 (November 1810) 340. Port Folio: "And are we after all gravely called upon to prove Mr. Scott a true poet? Shall we attempt to silence the cavils of those who while perspiring under the rays of a summer sun, shortly declare in opposition to the evidence of their own senses, that his beams are only icicles? Some indeed have carried their antipathy to Walter Scott so far as to deny to his page any poetical merit. We wish not to handle the gentle insects that alight on the loveliest blossoms of Parnassus, not to inhale their fragrance, or to batten on their blooms; but to turn away their silky wings in quest of more delicate nutriment.

They were not made for the touch, their substance is too fragile and almost dissolves in its own delicacy. The softest hues of the humming-bird are too harsh for their vision, the most delicate gales of Arabia too offensive to their nostrils — a race that seem to hold an intermediate state of existence between a dewdrop and a dream" S3 4 (November 1810) 404. Poetical Register for 1810-11: "As a whole, we think The Lady of the Lake is superior either to The Lay of the Last Minstrel or to Marmion. The tone of it is more uniformly sustained. On Mr. Scott's descriptive powers it is perfectly unnecessary to enlarge; and, after what we have said, it is scarcely necessary even to add, that in The Lady of the Lake he displays those powers to their utmost extent. The story is highly interesting, and is managed with skill; and some of the characters are delineated with a masterly hand" (1814) 548. Sir James Mackintosh : "Finished the Lady of the Lake.

Walter Scott is 'a bard of martial lay.' The disposition to celebrate the chivalrous manners and martial virtues of the middle ages arose principally from the love of contrast, in the refined and pacific period which preceded the French Revolution. Dr. Percy and Tom Warton began it; it was brightened by a ray from the genius of Gray; it has flourished in the seventeen years' war which has followed; you read it in the songs of Burns; it breathes through Hohenlinden and Lochiel [by Thomas Campbell ]. Walter Scott is a poet created by it" 20 January 1811; in Life of Sir James Mackintosh (1853) 2:81. William Hazlitt : "His imagery is gothic and grotesque. The manners and actions have the interest and curiosity belonging to a wild country and a distant period of time.

Few descriptions have a more complete reality, a more striking appearance of life and motion, than that of the warriors in the Lady of the Lake, who start up at the command of Rhoderic Dhu from their concealment under the fern, and disappear again in an instant" Lectures on the English Poets (1818, 1909) 206. Henry Nelson Coleridge : "That to Coleridge and Wordsworth the poetry, the philosophy, and the criticism of the present day, does actually owe its peculiar character, and its distinguishing excellence over that of the last century, those who would trace the origin of the present opinions back for thirty years would find no difficulty in believing.... The author of The Lay of the Last Minstrel can best tell what poem was the motive of his own work, and the Lady of the Lake is indebted almost for the very words of many of its most admired passages to Wordsworth's Poems" The Etonian No. IV (1821); 1823) 1:419.

Charles Burton : "His mode of introducing and terminating the poem by the prologue and epilogue to his harp; and of relieving the cantos by apostrophes to nature, and diversifying them with the song of the Bard and the Huntsman, has an effect by no means inferior to the Chorus of the Greek Tragedy. Before the Lady of the Lake, as far as I can recollect, the same peculiar style and plan had never been adopted. And yet, when we consider the history of Celtic Bards and Border Minstrelsy, we wonder that the Poets of Caledonia had no sooner adopted it" in The Bardiad; a Poem (1823) 104-05n. Allan Cunningham : "The Lady of the Lake, written in 1809, and published in 1810, I have always considered as the most interesting of all the epic stories which Scott told in verse: nor is this all the merit; it is very various and picturesque, full of fine situations, and incident, and character.

I suspect that its success arose mainly from the sort of sett-off, which the highland tartan made against the hoddin gray of the lowlands; the demi-barbarous heroism of the mountains, against the more polished generosity of the vales. All this was new to the world, and novelty is an attractive commodity, and rather a scarce one. The poems of Ossian gave us the feelings and manners of a remote era, but did not contain a single picture of what could be confirmed by tradition or by history; they were also reckoned spurious by very sensible men. Scott had therefore no rival to remove from the people's love; nor had any poet arisen, whose song was so agreeable to the world as his own" The Athenaeum (6 October1832) 644. Henry Augustus Beers: "In the series of long poems which followed the 'Lay,' Scott deserted the Border and brought in new subjects of romantic interest, the traditions of Flodden and Bannockburn, the manners of the Gaelic clansmen, and the wild scenery of the Perthshire Highlands, the life of the Western Islands, and the rugged coasts of Argyle.

Only two of these tales are concerned with the Middle Ages, strictly speaking: The Lord of the Isles (1813), in which the action begins in 1307; and Harold the Dauntless (1817), in which the period is the time of the Danish settlements in Northumbria. Rokeby (1812) is concerned with the Civil War. The scene is laid in Yorkshire. Marmion (1808), and The Lady of the Lake (1810), like The Lay of the Last Minstrel , had to do with the sixteenth century, but the poet imported mediaeval elements into all of these by the frankest anachronisms" Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century (1901) 29. Herbert E. Cory: "What Scott found in Spenser was the dim forest, the furtive flash of armor as the sun stole through at intervals, silent maidens who were to Scott mere vague flowers of mediaeval landscape, and ever and anon a great castle upleaping unexpectedly in the silver winding path. Even in the breathless flow of his narrative Scott delighted to pause and to consider these lovely scenes.

So he hit upon the happy device of using Spenser in a rather novel way. In almost all his narrative poems he introduced Spenserian stanzas, generally at the opening of his cantos, to make a setting before the quick beat of the free tetrameters called to arms. He showed a relic of Augustan-Spenserianism by occasionally employing the stanza of The Faerie Queene for a moralistic prelude or interlude, as the master himself did. Finally he strewed his narrative with allusions to the beautiful pictures in The Faerie Queene. In some of his later poems the influence of Byron's Childe Harold tinged his introductory Spenserian stanzas. But, in general, the landscapes thus introduced are not disturbed by the more personal, stormier note of Byron" "Critics of Edmund Spenser" UCPMP (1911) 174. James Hogg imitates the Lady of the Lake in his "Mador of the Moor" (1816), written in Spenserian stanzas. Harp of the North!

that mouldering long hast hung On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung Till envious ivy did around thee cling, Muffling with verdant ringlet every string,— O minstrel harp, still must thine accents sleep? 'Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep, Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep? Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, Was thy voice must amid the festal crowd, When lay of hopeless love, or glory won, Aroused the fearful, or subdued the proud. At each according pause was heard aloud Thine ardent symphony sublime and high! Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bow'd; For still the burden of thy minstrelsy Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's matchless eye. O wake once more! how rude soe'er the hand That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray; O wake once more!

though scarce my skill command Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay: Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, And all unworthy of thy nobler stain, Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway, The wizard note has not been touch'd in vain. Then silent be no more! Enchantress, wake again! [Canto 1, stanzas 1-3; Robertson (1904) 207] BIBLIOGRAPHY: Edinburgh: Ballantyne, 1810. x, 290, cxxx pp.; 4to. Excerpt in Morning Chronicle (3 September 1810); Observer [New York] 1 (14 October 1810) 2-3; Annual Register (1810) 823-35; Alexandria Herald [Virginia] (18 March 1812). Reprinted 1810 (7) 1811, 1814, 1816, 1819, 1825.

Spenserian stanzas in Halleck, Selections from the British Poets (1840). Poetical Works, ed. J. Logie Robertson (1904). CITATIONS: NSTC S867 Bouchier, "Spenserian Stanza" Notes & Queries (1887) 409; Marsh, "Imitation and Influence of Spenser" (1899) 82; Bohme, Spenser's literarisches Nachleben (1911) 254; Cory, "Critics of Spenser" UC Pub. in Mod. Philology 2 (1911) 174; Reschke, Die Spenserstanze (1918) 142; Aldrich, "Beattie's Minstrel" (1927) 447; Davies, "Check List of Spenserian Stanza" BNYPL 77 (1974) 323.

REVIEWS: American Review of History and Politics 1 (January 1811) 166-74; Anti-Jacobin Review 38 (March 1811) 225-48; British Critic 36 (August 1810) 119-24; Christian Observer 9 (June 1810) 366-89; Critical Review S3 20 (August 1810) 337-57; Eclectic Review 6 (July 1810) 577-602; Edinburgh Review 16 (August 1810) 263-93; La Belle Assemblee NS 1 (May 1810) 245-46; Literary Panorama 8 (November 1810) 1231-43; Monthly Anthology [Boston] 9 (November 1810) 340-44; Monthly Magazine 29 (Supplement, 1810) 631-32; Monthly Mirror NS 

8 (July 1810) 36-51; Monthly Review NS 62 (June 1810) 178-94; Poetical Register for 1810-11 (1814) 548; Port Folio [Philadelphia] S3 4 (November 1810) 396-405; Quarterly Review 3 (May 1810) 492-517; Scots Magazine 72 (May 1810) 359-64; Universal Magazine NS 15 (May 1811) 393-97.

INDEXES: The Lady of the Lake The Lady of the Lake First Edition, First Impression: The Lady of the Lake; A Poem. By Walter Scott, Esq. Edinburgh: Printed for John Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, and William Miller, London; By James Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh 1810. Composition | Synopsis | Reception | Links Composition Scott began writing The Lady of the Lake in August 1809 while holidaying with his wife, Charlotte , and daughter, Sofia, in the Trossachs and along the shores and islands of Loch Katrine, the very scenes that would provide the poem's setting. With this new poem, though, Scott wished to depend less on local colour and spectacular action and to attain greater psychological depth in his characterization. As he worked on the poem, Scott felt that, in this respect, it would only be a partial success.

While he was confident that he had brought King James V and the clan chieftain Roderick Dhu vividly to life, he feared that the romantic hero, Malcolm Graeme would remain 'a perfect automaton' (letter to Lady Abercorn, March 14, 1810). Although initial progress on the poem was rapid, work was delayed when his children Walter, Charles, and Anne fell dangerously ill with an inflammatory fever. Only when they had fully recovered was he able to complete the poem which was published on May 8, 1810. Back to top Synopsis The narrative of the poem concerns the struggle between King James V and the powerful clan Douglas. The King has banished the entire family from his realm, including James of Douglas, the Earl of Bothwell, who had been his protector during his youth. The Earl and his daughter Ellen take refuge with Roderick Dhu in his castle on an island in Loch Katrine. At the beginning of the poem a mysterious knight calling himself James Fitz-James arrives at the castle and is granted hospitality.

During his brief stay, he falls in love with Ellen but finds rivals for her affections in Roderick himself and in Malcolm Graeme, a young knight loyal to the King but moved by sympathy at the plight of Douglases. It is Malcolm that Ellen favours. Facing attack from royal forces for sheltering Douglas, Roderick gathers his clan. Douglas, though, is loath to bring disaster upon his host, and sets out for the royal court at Stirling, determined to surrender. Fitz-James returns and offers to take Ellen to safety but is told that she loves another. He nonetheless presses on her a ring which, he says, will obtain any favour from the King. Travelling to Stirling, Fitz-James meets and quarrels with Roderick. In the ensuing fight, Roderick is mortally wounded and carried to Stirling as a captive. Ellen presents herself at court and, showing the ring, pleads for her father's pardon. She discovers that Fitz-James is no other than the King himself. The King and Douglas are reconciled through her intervention, and Ellen and Malcolm marry. Back to top Reception The Lady of the Lake marked the pinnacle of Scott's popularity as a poet.

With 25,000 copies sold in eight months, it broke all records for the sale of poetry, and Scott's fame spread beyond Great Britain to the United States. The critics almost matched the enthusiasm of the public. In the Edinburgh Review, the habitually glacial Francis Jeffrey felt it far exceeded its predecessors: the story was 'constructed with infinitely more skill and address' and there was 'a larger variety of characters, more artfully and judiciously contrasted'. For the British Critic, the story itself was more interesting than in Scot's earlier poems, but the poem's real charm lay in 'painting real manners; and displaying the character of an interesting because singular people'. Reservations were expressed by the Critical Review which thought Canto III superfluous and by the Rev. Francis Hodgson in the Monthly Review, for whom the composition careless and the language barbaric. The public, though, continued to devour the poem. Sightseers flocked to Loch Katrine, and a hotel was built at Callander catering for those who wished to visit 'Ellen's Isle'. The Lady of the Lake created a vogue for the Trossachs and is primarily responsible for the area's enduring popularity with tourists.

The Lady Of the Lake, a Poem by Scott, Sir Walter THE LADY OF THE LAKE. A POEM. SCOTT, Walter, Sir. 1810. SCOTT, Walter, Sir. THE LADY OF THE LAKE. A POEM. Edinburgh: John Ballantyne and others, 1810. 8vo. Contemporary full decorate and gilt calf, all edges gilt . (x), 433 pages. Fourth edition. Scott wrote The Lady in the Lake in 1810, and this is the fourth edition. It became such a popular work that it went through twelve editions that first ye alone. He was drawing on the romance of the Arthurian legend but with an entirely different story set around Loch Katrine in the Trossachs of Scotland Scott's material furnished subject matters for La Donna del Lago, an opera by Gioachino Rossini. It began a fashion for operas with Scottish settings and based on Scott's works of which Donizetti "Lucia di Lammermoor" is the most familiar. Bookplate from Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library. Tips of spine and hinges worn, else very good.

The Lady of the Lake, A Poem Sir Walter Scott - Edinburgh - Archibald Constable and Co., 1815 Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Two uniformly-bound works of the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. Containing:The Lady of the Lake (1819, twelfth edition)The Lord of the Isles (1815, second edition)The Lady of the Lake has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the lowland Scots (led by James V) and the highland clans (led by Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). The Lord of the Isles is a rhymed, romantic, narrative-poem by Sir Walter Scott, written in 1815. Condition: In calf bindings. Externally, smart, though with some rubbing, and marks to the boards. Internally, firmly bound. Bookplates to front free-endpaper. Pages are bright and clean, with just a few instances of foxing throughout. Ink spill to fore-edge of Lord of the Isles.

Overall: VERY GOOD.. Learn and talk about The Lady of the Lake (poem), 1810 poems, Poetry by Walter Scott, Scottish poems ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) Title page to the eighth edition, 1810 The Lady of the Lake is a narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott , first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos , each of which concerns the action of a single day. [1] The poem has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the lowland Scots (led by James V) and the highland clans (led by Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). The poem was tremendously influential in the nineteenth century, and inspired the Highland Revival . By the late nineteenth century, however, the poem was much less popular. (It continued, however, to be a standard reading in elementary schools until the early twentieth century.

[2] ) Its influence is indirect: Schubert 's Ellens Dritter Gesang (later adapted to use the full lyrics of the Latin Ave Maria), Rossini 's La Donna del Lago (1819), the Ku Klux Klan custom of cross burning , the last name of U.S. abolitionist Frederick Douglass , and the song " Hail to the Chief ", were all inspired by the poem. It shares its name with the Arthurian character, the Lady of the Lake . Other allusions to the legend are scant. Contents Narrative[ edit ] Canto I: The Chase[ edit ] The poem begins with a rapid-moving hunt, chasing a stag in the forests of the Trossachs. The stag outruns the hunt, exhausting all its members until only one huntsman –- who, we later learn, is James Fitz-James –- follows it until his horse falls down dead of exhaustion. 1879 painting of Ellen's Isle The huntsman blows his horn to try to contact someone, and wanders to the shore of Loch Katrine where a young woman, Ellen Douglas, rows across and picks him up in a skiff .

He is then taken to a house, which he suspects is a concealed hide-out of a Highland chief. There he is given dinner by Ellen, the bard Allan Bane, and Lady Margaret, and a bed for the night. That night he dreams of Ellen, only to see her face suddenly change to that of his exiled enemy, James Douglas – leading him to suspect that Ellen and James Douglas are related. Canto II: The Island[ edit ] A Scene from 'The Lady of the Lake' (1849), by Alexander Johnston Since the poem will only work if James Douglas and James Fitz-James do not encounter each other until the sixth canto, this canto has a number of comings and goings. James Fitz-James departs the island first thing in the morning. Ellen and Allan Bane discuss Roderick Dhu, Malcolm Graeme, and James Fitz-James, agreeing that the first is bloodthirsty and homicidal, but the only person who would defend James Douglas, and that James Fitz-James is an attractive person, but may be a secret foe of their kinspeople. Roderick Dhu, James Douglas, and Malcolm Graeme return to the island.

As Clan Alpine escorts Roderick Dhu to the island, they sing the boat song, " Hail to the Chief ". Roderick Dhu asks Douglas for Ellen's hand in marriage, to conclude an alliance between Douglas and Clan Alpine, which can be the basis of a Highland uprising against King James. James Douglas refuses, partly because he will not force Ellen into a loveless marriage, partly also because he remains, despite all the injuries he has suffered, loyal to King James. Roderick Dhu and Malcolm Graeme quarrel over Ellen, and are about to draw their swords against each other, but James Douglas declares that the first to draw will be his foe. James Douglas also says that it is an insult for an exile for his daughter to be the spoil of a battle between two chiefs. Roderick Dhu tells Graeme to leave his territory, which Graeme does, refusing even to borrow a boat; Graeme instead swims across Loch Katrine to the shore. Canto III: The Gathering[ edit ] Ellen's Isle (An t-Eilean Molach) photographed in the 1890s Despite James Douglas' refusal to participate in the uprising, Roderick Dhu decides to commence the rebellion anyway.

With a pagan prophet, Brian the Hermit, Roderick fashions and sets alight the fiery cross , and hands it to his henchman, Malise, to summon the members of the clan to war. The members of the clan drop everything they are doing to respond to the summons of their chief, whether it be a funeral (Angus at the funeral of his father, Duncan) or a wedding (Norman and Mary). Malise runs around the countryside, finally passing the burning cross on to Angus, the son of Duncan, a leading member of the clan who has just died; and Angus, in his turn, passes the summons on to Norman, a bridegroom, interrupting Norman's wedding. James Douglas flees the island for a hermit 's cave so that he will not be associated with the Clan Alpine uprising. As Roderick Dhu is about to leave the island, he overhears Ellen praying to the Virgin, singing " Ave Maria ." Roderick Dhu sadly realizes that this is the last time he will ever hear Ellen's voice, and then prepares to go off to battle. Canto IV: The Prophecy[ edit ] Malise and Norman discuss the upcoming battle.

Roderick Dhu has decided that the women and old men should take shelter on the island in the middle of Loch Katrine. When Norman asks why Roderick is staying apart from the main body of the troops, Malise says it is the result of a prophecy made by Brian the Hermit. Roderick Dhu had consulted Brian as to what will be the outcome of the battle. To determine this, they sacrifice one of the finest animals that the clan had received from one of its cattle raids, a milk-white bull. Brian prophesied, "Which spills the foremost foeman's life, that party conquers in the strife" — lines 2524-25 Rhoderick Dhu asks if any of the local friendly clans will fight on Clan Alpine's side; when he hears that none will, he sheds a tear, but at once masters himself and says that Clan Alpine shall fight in Trossachs glen. Ellen, meanwhile, is worrying about the fate of her father, who stated that they would meet in Heaven next if they met nowhere else. Allan Bane seeks to distract her by singing the ballad of Alice Brand. When the ballad ends, James Fitz-James appears.

He has asked a guide, Murdoch, to bring him back to Loch Katrine. There he pleads with Ellen to leave the highlands and elope with him. Ellen says she cannot marry him; first, she is the daughter of an outlaw; second, her heart is promised to another. James Fitz-James is disappointed, but before he leaves he gives her a ring, saying that if she needs anything from the King of Scotland, she has but to present the ring and it will bring her to him and he will grant her wish. Murdoch guides James Fitz-James further, when they encounter Blanche of Devan. Blanche's bridegroom was slain by Clan Alpine on her wedding day, whereupon she lost her reason. Blanche sings a song of hunting, to warn James Fitz-James that Murdoch and the other Clan Alpine men plan to trap and murder him. James Fitz-James then draws his sword; Murdoch shoots off an arrow, which misses James Fitz-James, but hits Blanche, killing her. James Fitz-James then pursues Murdoch and stabs him to death. He returns to Blanche, who warns him of the ambush.

Blanche has been wearing a lock of her bridegroom's hair ever since his murder. Blanche dies. James Fitz-James cuts off a lock of Blanche's hair, mingles it amidst the hair of her bridegroom, and imbrues it in her blood, promising to imbrue the lock in the blood of Roderick Dhu. He then plans to make his way out of the trap in the highlands by walking out by night. He succeeds in doing this until he turns a rock and suddenly comes upon a mountaineer sitting by a fire. The warrior challenges him, and James Fitz-James says he is not a friend to Roderick Dhu. However, the two men recognize each other as worthy warriors, the warrior shares his dinner with James Fitz-James, and the two go to sleep side by side. Canto V: The Combat[ edit ] Dawn breaks, and the two men start off for the border. They begin to argue about the relations between Highlanders and Lowlanders; Fitz-James condemns the clans' thefts and feuds, while his guide responds by referring to the many appropriations and legalized crimes of the Lowlanders.

Finally, James Fitz-James declares that if he ever encountered the chieftain he would revenge himself in full. On this, the mountaineer whistles, and five hundred men stand up from their hiding places; the mountaineer reveals that he is Roderick Dhu. Wishing to have this combat all to himself, he dismisses the men who were waiting to ambush. On arriving at the border, they begin to fight, the chieftain scorning to settle their differences any other way. Though Roderick is stronger, he is less skilful, and is badly wounded; when Fitz-James stops to address him, the chieftain defiantly seizes him by the throat; but he has lost too much blood, and his strength fails him. Fitz-James wins after a long struggle, and with his bugle summons medical aid for Roderick Dhu before setting off for Stirling , where a festival is taking place. As he approaches the castle, he sees Douglas in the distance. Douglas has come to surrender himself in order to save Roderick and Malcolm Graeme; but before doing so, he stops to participate in the games of the festival.

He wins so many events that he is brought to meet the king, but the king, giving him the purse of prize-money, will not acknowledge him as an acquaintance. Provoked, Douglas names himself, and is immediately seized. A messenger rushes up to announce that the Earl of Mar is about to begin battle against Roderick Dhu, and he is ordered to return with the news that both Roderick and Douglas have been captured and that no battle is needed. Canto VI: The Guard-Room[ edit ] The next morning, Ellen and Allan Bane enter the guard-room at Stirling Castle , hoping to visit Douglas in prison. Ellen is taken to a furnished room upstairs to wait; Allan Bane is shown to the cell of the gravely injured Roderick Dhu, who dies as Allan sings him one last song. Meanwhile, leaning out of the window, Ellen is startled and heartbroken to hear the voice of Malcolm Graeme, singing in one of the turrets. Soon afterwards Fitz-James arrives to tell her that it is time for her audience with the king. Ellen enters the room and looks around for King James.

To her surprise, every man has doffed his hat except for James Fitz-James, and she realises that James Fitz-James is the King himself. Terrified, Ellen collapses, but the king lifts her up and reassures her that her father has been pardoned, and asks whom else she would like released. Her generous first thought is of Roderick Dhu, but James tells her that he has died. Ellen is about to ask for Malcolm, but cannot speak; divining her wish, the king jokingly orders that Malcolm be put in fetters, and after putting a gold chain around the man's neck, gives the clasp to Ellen. Sources[ edit ] The poem is not based upon specific historic events, but has certain elements that occurred in Scottish history: In myth, King James V of Scotland was reputed to travel anonymously among his subjects. Several kings of Scotland quarrelled with the Douglas dynasty. Clan Alpine is a very old Highland clan in re-establishment, whom many clans claim descendant from, e.g. the MacGregors. They represent the Highland people and their power-struggle with the Scots monarchy.

Influences[ edit ] The influences of the poem, The Lady of the Lake, are both extensive and diverse, given that both the last name taken by the leading African-American abolitionist , Frederick Douglass , [3] and the Ku Klux Klan custom of cross burning derive from the influence of the poem (through the film Birth of a Nation .) But, the Fiery cross or Crann Tara was a device for rallying people in Scotland and did not carry racist connotations. Rossini's La Donna del Lago[ edit ] Gioachino Rossini composed an opera , La Donna del Lago , based on the poem. The opera downplays the other plots in favor of the love story. In the opera, James Douglas tells Ellen that she must marry Roderick Dhu. Some of the characters' names are changed slightly: Roderick Dhu becomes Rodrigo, Ellen becomes Elena, and James Fitz-James becomes Uberto.

Schubert's Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts "Fräulein am See"[ edit ] See also: Seven songs from Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake and Ave Maria (Schubert) Walter Scott's poem, in the German translation by Adam Storck, was set to music by Franz Schubert in his work entitled Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts "Fräulein am See" ( Seven songs from Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake ). This includes the three "Ellen songs": "Ellens Gesang I", [4] "Ellens Gesang II", [5] and " Ellens Gesang III ." [6] Owing to its opening words, "Ave Maria", Ellens Gesang III is sometimes also referred to as "Schubert's Ave Maria". However, the music has become more famous in a later adaptation that replaced the Scott/Storck text with the Latin text of the Catholic "Ave Maria" (" Hail Mary ") prayer.

Other songs from the poem set by Schubert are "The Boat-Song" beginning with the famous lines "Hail to the Chief", a mourning song sung for Duncan,"Coronach","Normans Gesang", sung by Norman to Mary when he learns that he must join the Clan-Alpine Muster, and finally "Lied des gefangenen Jägers",(Lay of the imprisoned huntsman) sung by Malcolm Graeme, the betrothed of Ellen Douglas, while captive in Stirling Castle. "Boot Gesang" and "Coronach" are choral pieces, and as the other songs in the cycle are for solo voice, complete performances of the cycle are thus very rare. Cross burning[ edit ] In the third canto of the poem, a burnt cross is used to summon Clan Alpine to rise against King James. This method of rallying supporters and publicizing their attacks was adapted by the second Ku Klux Klan in 1915 after the film, The Birth of a Nation . The Ku Klux Klan used cross burning for dramatic terror as a racist tactic.

And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round.[ edit ] The Chieftain killed a goat, made a cross of light wood, lit the four ends on fire, and extinguished the flames with the sacrifice of the goat's blood. The cross was carried to the first village by a messenger who spoke one word; the place to meet. The village would send a messenger with the cross to the next village and relay the same message. Any man between the ages of 16 and 60 able to bear arms who failed to arrive at the appointed tryst in full battle gear met the same fate as the goat and cross - himself slain and his chattels burnt. [7] The last name of Frederick Douglass[ edit ] Frederick Douglass took his last name from the poem. When Douglass escaped from slavery, he changed his last name to hide from his former master. A friend proposed a new one: “ I gave Mr. Johnson the privilege of choosing me a name, but told him he must not take from me the name of "Frederick." I must hold on to that, to preserve a sense of my identity. Mr.

Johnson had just been reading the Lady of the Lake, and at once suggested that my name be "Douglass." ” Ellen Douglas Birdseye Wheaton[ edit ] Ellen Douglas Birdseye Wheaton (1816–1858), author of The Diary of Ellen Birdseye Wheaton (1923, privately printed, Boston), wife of the abolitionist Charles Augustus Wheaton (1809–1882), was named for the Scott heroine by her parents. Classics Illustrated edition[ edit ] In September 1950, the comic-book publisher, Gilberton Company, Inc., of New York City, issued Classics Illustrated number 75, "The Lady of the Lake". It was illustrated by Henry C. Kiefer, one of Gilberton's best graphic artists for the comic-book genre. The editor was Helene Lecar, who transformed the cantos into a concise narrative that would be interesting to school-age children. It has 44 pages devoted to the story by Sir Walter Scott, plus one page of biography of Sir Walter. Classics Illustrated number 75 originally sold for 15 cents, and tens of thousands of copies were printed on cheap newsprint.

It remains a collector's item more than six decades later, and is widely sold in used comic-book stores. Original courtesy of Wikipedia: — Please support Wikipedia. This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia . A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. We're sorry, but there's no news about "The Lady of the Lake (poem)" right now. Limit to books that you can completely read online Include partial books (book previews) Oops, we seem to be having trouble contacting Twitter Support Wikipedia A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. Please add your support for Wikipedia! Searchlight Group Digplanet also receives support from Searchlight Group. Visit Searchlight Copyright © 2009-2017 Digparty. All rights reserved. Sir Walter Scott | Poetry | Scottish Poetry Library Scottish Poetry Library Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832) Biography Summary Though best known now as the author of The Waverley Novels, Sir Walter Scott's first love and earliest success was as a poet. Full Biography Sir Walter Scott is best known nowadays as the author of The Waverley Novels, but his first love and earliest success was as a poet.

Indeed, it is no understatement to say that he was the best-read, best-reviewed and best-paid poet of the Romantic period: Byron himself placed Scott at the summit of his contemporary Parnassus. Born in 1771 to Walter Scott, a lawyer and Writer to the Signet, and Anne Rutherford, the daughter of Dr John Rutherford, professor of medicine at Edinburgh University, Scott was a sickly child. His childhood was divided between Kelso and Smailholm in the Borders and the emerging ‘New Town‘ in Edinburgh, and his artistic endeavours were nourished by this double legacy of tradition and modernity. In the Borders he first became acquainted with the traditional ballads that would form the core of his first major work, the anthology The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802, subsequently revised and expanded). In Edinburgh, as a young man following in his father’s footsteps as a legal student, he attended the salon of Professor Adam Fergusson and met leading literary figures of the day. As a child, in the same place, he was introduced to Robert Burns.

Scott married Charlotte Charpentier in 1797 after a whirlwind romance, and after his first love, Williamina Belsches, married a banker, Sir John Forbes. Scott became Depute Sheriff of Selkirkshire – rising to being ‘The Shirra’ in 1799. At the same time he began his first attempts at poetry: translations from German of Buchner, Lessing and Goethe, and imitations of both the contemporary German ballad and the traditional ballads of the area. With the assistance of John Leyden, William Laidlaw and James Hogg, Scott produced the Minstrelsy, expanding it with modern day imitations as well as preserving many now-well-known ballads. Spurred on by the success of the Minstrelsy, Scott wrote a long narrative poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), which sought to unite contemporary, experimental, irregular verse forms with the fire and energy of the ‘rude’ ballads.

Such was the success of The Lay that Scott’s publisher offered him 500 guineas, sight unseen, for his next poem, the ‘tale of Flodden Field’, Marmion (1808). In the person of Marmion, the ‘bold, bad man’, Scott created a new kind of anti-hero, one which would profoundly influence Byron. He followed Marmion with The Lady of the Lake (1810), which smoothed out both the moral ambiguities and the elastic verse forms of the previous narrative poems. Scott’s son-in-law, writing in 1838 in his Life of Sir Walter Scott says, The Lay, if I may venture to state the creed now established, is, I should say, generally considered as the most natural and original, Marmion as the most powerful and splendid, The Lady of the Lake as the most interesting, romantic, picturesque, and graceful of his great poems. The depiction of Loch Katrine in The Lady of the Lake generated an upsurge of tourist interest: Sir John Sinclair records that toll-payments for carriages increased by 200 per cent in the wake of The Lady' s publication.

Although no other poetic works reached the fame of his first four publications, Scott continued with verse, writing The Vision of Don Roderick in 1811, the profits from which went to veterans of the Peninsular Campaign, and in which he attempted to use the Spenserian stanza with moderate success. Rokeby followed in 1813, abandoning Scottish settings and attempting a more novelistic form of narrative. In 1813 he also published, anonymously, The Bridal of Triermain, which purported to be an imitation of Scott. He would write two further narrative poems – The Lord of the Isles in 1815 and (again, anonymously) the gothic horror Harold the Dauntless in 1817, as well as a contemporary work, The Field of Waterloo (1815) after touring the site of Napoleon’s defeat. Scott was offered the poet laureateship in 1813 on the death of Henry Pye: he declined, saying he could not ‘write to order’ and already held government sinecures in the form of the office of Sherriff. He suggested instead Robert Southey, who took the position.

Scott turned mostly to novels after 1814, becoming the world’s first best-seller, and inventing the historical novel. He candidly admitted to the Countess Pürgstall that his decision to forgo poetry was partly motivated by the success of the ‘more forcible and powerful’ Lord Byron. He did, however, continue to write poetry, as inset songs in the novels and often as epigraph fragments and chapter headings which he attributed as ‘Old Song’ and ‘Old Play’. Scott’s phenomenally successful career as a novelist continued even after the financial crash of 1825, which left him with debts of over £8.8 million in today’s money. The debt was repaid shortly after his death, in 1832, by the sales of his Complete Works. Scott was one of the most genial and engaging personalities of his age, and was a fundamentally paradoxical individual.

Almost superhumanly well-read, modest to the point of pathological self-deprecation, he was a unionist who believed in preserving Scotland’s distinct identity within Britain and a Tory laird, knighted by George IV as his first act as king, who displayed an unpatronising empathy with the ‘lower orders’ in his creative work. In his lifetime, the only comparison critics could make was to Shakespeare, and they saw in Scott a Shakespearean capacity to animate a broad canvas that included kings and knaves, to disregard neoclassical rules in favour of emotional impact, and the promotion of a genre-defying form that encompassed tragedy, comedy, irony, chivalry, realism and melodrama. We can be blunted, nowadays, to the radical impact of Scott’s poetry. To his contemporaries, even when they were criticising him, it was evident that this was a very modern and new form of poetry. He ended the dominance of the heroic couplet and the pentameter, and introduced a more flexible ‘light horseman sort of stanza’. His work was full of specific place names: to a degree, he invented the idea of a poetry of place rather than a locus classicus.

His poetry was swift, dangerous, uneven, sometimes ragged, suffused with a sense of the gothic and yet rooted in Augustan cadences. Perhaps the most surprising aspect is how little he regarded it himself. While on holiday in Shetland he wrote: it would be a fine situation to compose an ode to the Genius of Sumburgh-head, or an Elegy upon a Cormorant – or to have written or spoken madness of any kind in prose or poetry. But I gave vent to my excited feelings in a more simple way; and sitting gentle down on the steep green slope which led to the beach, I e’en slid down a few hundred feet, and found the exercise quite an adequate vent to my enthusiasm, I recommend this exercise (time and place suiting) to all my brother scribblers, and I have no doubt it will save much effusion of Christian ink. The Lady of the Lake | poem by Scott | Britannica.com The Lady of the Lake poem by Scott The Divine Comedy The Lady of the Lake, poem in six cantos by Sir Walter Scott , published in 1810.

Composed primarily in octosyllabic tetrameter couplets, it mines Gaelic history to retell a well-known legend about the graceful feudal heroine Ellen Douglas. The poem, which is set in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century, recounts the banishment and eventual restoration of the noble Douglas family. Learn More in these related articles: Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode The Lady of the Lake Poem by Scott Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context.

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Published on Apr 30, 2012 Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 -- 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time. Scott was the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary readers in Europe, Australia, and North America. His novels and poetry are still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. The Lady of the Lake is a narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day.

The poem has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the lowland Scots (led by James V) and the highland clans (led by Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). The poem was tremendously influential in the nineteenth century, and inspired the Highland Revival. By the late twentieth century, however, the poem was virtually forgotten. Its influence is indirect: Schubert's Ellens Dritter Gesang (later adapted to use the full lyrics of the Latin Ave Maria), Rossini's La Donna del Lago (1819), the Ku Klux Klan custom of cross burning, the last name of U.S. abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and the song "Hail to the Chief", were all inspired by the poem. It shares its name with the Arthurian character, the Lady of the Lake. Other allusions to the legend are scant.

This audio collection contains a treasury of 100 classic books and includes info on the life and times of the author, the theme of the book, the characters, the story outline, a concise yet detailed abridgement of the story and a discussion of the values that make each book one of the great classical works of literature. © ''IntelliQuest World's 100 Greatest Books'' 1995 Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Category La donna del lago — Productions — Royal Opera House View more news and features On Wikipedia La donna del lago (The Lady of the Lake) is an opera composed by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola (whose verses are described as "limpid" by one critic) based on the French translation of The Lady of the Lake, a narrative poem written in 1810 by Sir Walter Scott, whose work continued to popularize the image of the romantic highlands. Scott's basic story has been noted as coming from "the hint of an incident stemming from the frequent custom of James V, the King of Scotland, of walking through the kingdom in disguise". It was the first of the Italian operas to be based on Scott's romantic works, and marked the beginning of romanticism in Rossini's work. It was "deeply influential in the development of Italian romantic opera" to the extent that by 1840 (barely 20 years after this opera), there were 25 Italian operas based on his works, the most famous being Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor of 1835. Others in German, French and English followed.

Written for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, this was the seventh of nine operas which Rossini wrote for that house between 1815 and 1822. Although the première on 24 September 1819 was not a success, there followed many performances throughout major European venues (as well as being presented in Cuba and by major South American houses) until about 1860, after which the opera disappeared until 1958. In modern times, performances have been given fairly frequently. Abstract taken from the Wikipedia article Sir Walter Scott - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss. Sir Walter Scott Biography of Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish writer and poet and one of the greatest historical novelists. Scott was born on August 15, 1771, in Edinburgh as the son of a solicitor Walter Scott and Anne, a daughter of professor of medicine. An early illness left him lame in the right leg, but he grew up to be a man over six feet and great physical endurance.

Scott's interest in the old Border tales and ballads had early been awakened, and he devoted much of his leisure to the exploration of the Border country. He attended Edinburgh High School and studied at Edinburgh University arts and law. Scott was apprenticed to his father in 1786 and in 1792 he was called to the bar. In 1799 he was appointed sheriff depute of the county of Selkirk. In 1797 Scott married Margaret Charlotte Charpenter. They had five children. In 1802-03 Scott's first major work, Minstrelsy Of The Scottish Border appeared. As a poet Scott rose into fame with the publication of The Lay Of The Last Minstrel (1805) about an old border country legend. It became a huge success and made him the most popular author of the day. It was followed by Marmion (1808), a historical romance in tetrameter. The Lady In The Lake appeared in 1810 and Rokeby in 1813. Scott's last major poem, The Lord Of The Isles, was published in 1815.

In 1806 Scott became clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. To increase his income he started a printing and publishing business with his friend James Ballantyne. The enterprise crashed and Scott accepted all debts and tried to pay them off with his writings. In the 1810s Scott published several novels. From this period date such works as Waverley (1814), dealing with the rebellion of 1745, which attempted to restore a Scottish family to the British throne. Scott continued with Guy Mannering (1815) and Tales Of My Landlord (1816). Rob Roy (1817) a portrait of one of Scotland's greatest heroes, sold out its edition of 10 000 copies in two weeks. The Heart of Midlothianappeared in 1818 followed by The Bride Of Lammermoor (1819) and A Legend Of Montrose (1819). Ivanhoe (1819) set in the reign of Richard I is perhaps the best known of Scott's novels today.

In the 1820s appeared Kenilworth (1821), The Fortunes Of Nigel (1822), Peveril Of The Peak (1823), Quentin Durward (1823), The Talisman (1825), Woodstock (1826), The Surgeon's Daughter (1827), and Anne Of Geierstein (1829). In 1820 Scott was created a baronet. A few years later he founded the Bannatyne Club, which published old Scottish documents. Scott visited France in 1826 to collect material for his Life Of Napoleon, which was published in 9 volumes in 1827. His wife, Lady Scott, died in 1826, and the author himself had a stroke in 1830. Next year Scott sailed to Italy. After his return to England in 1832, he died on September 21. Scott was buried beside his ancestors in Dryburgh Abbey. The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission. Forum Discussions on Sir Walter Scott Recent Forum Posts on Sir Walter Scott

Question: Which poet wrote 'The Lady of the Lake' in 1810?
Answer: Sir Walter Scott