Still linger, in our northern clime,
Some remnants of the good old time;
And still, within our valleys here,
We hold the kindred title dear,
Even when, perchance, its far-fetch'd claim
To Southron ear sounds empty name;
For course of blood, our proverbs deem,
Is warmer than the mountain stream.
And thus, my Christmas still I hold
Where my great-grandsire came of old,
With amber beard, and flaxen hair,
And reverend apostolic air -
The feast and holy tide to share,
And mix sobriety with wine,
And honest mirth with thoughts divine:
Small thought was his, in after time
E'er to be hitched into a rhyme.
The simple sire could only boast,
That he was loyal to his cost;
The banish'd race of kings rever'd,
And lost his land, - but kept his beard.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) is the great poet of the Scottish people, their history and land, yet he wrote at a time when Scottish culture and landscapes were changing rapidly under English pressure. Introducing this selection, James Reed, an authority on ballads and the Border tradition, sets Scott in context as both a European Romantic and a Scottish folk poet. He also illuminates the political and cultural context of his work. This selection, which includes early love poems, songs from the novels, landscape poems from The Lay of the Last Minstrel and The Lady of the Lake, and the complete narrative poems 'William and Helen' and Marmion, reveals Scott as a poet who speaks for a people.

The selection contains notes on the text, suggestions for further reading and a glossary.
 
  

Table of Contents

Introduction

Suggestions for further reading



1 LYRICS

To the Pride of Teviotdale

The Prisoner's Complaint

The Resolve

The Violet

To a Lady

On the Massacre at Glencoe

Farewell to the Muse

From Waverley , 'False love, and hast thou played me this'

Guy Mannering ,

'Canny moment, lucky fit'

'Twist ye, twine ye! Even so'

            The Heart of Midlothian,

'Proud Maisie is in the wood'

            The Bride of Lammermoor,

'Look not thou on beauty's charming'

            Ivanhoe, Rebecca's Hymn

            The Pirate, The Song of the Reim-Kennar

            Redgauntlet, Hope

            Rokeby, Song

            The Doom of Devergoil, Bonny Dundee

Carle, now the King's Come



2 LANDSCAPE

The Dreary Change

From The Lay of the Last Minstrel

II.i 'If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright'

IV.i 'Sweet Teviot! On thy silver tide'

IV.ii 'unlike the tide of human time'

V.i 'Call it not vain; they do not err'

V.ii 'Not that, in sooth, o'er mortal urn'

V.xxx 'After due pause, they bade him tell'

VI.i 'Breathes there the man, with soul so dead'

VI.ii 'O Caledonia! stern and wild'

From The Lady of the Lake

IV.xxix ' The shades of eve come slowly down'

IV.xxx 'Beside its embers red and clear'

IV.xxxi 'He gave him of his Highland cheer'

VI.xxix 'Harp of the North, farewell! The hills grow dark'



3 Narrative

Jock of Hazeldean

William and Helen

Marmion



Notes

Glossary