Other Fan Fiction ❯ Romanticism and Sir Walter Scott ❯ romanticism and Sir Walter Scott ( One-Shot )

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Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement, which initiated in the second half of the 18th century Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution. It was a form of writing in which many writers described love and other emotions in their novels.

Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on August the 15th, 1771. He was a historical novelist and a poet popular throughout Europe during his time. He was the first English-language writer to have an international success during his lifetime. His works remain classics in both English-language and Scottish literature. He died on September the 21st, 1832, at the age of 61 in Melrose, Scotland.

Early Days

Sir Walter Scott was the son of a solicitor. He survived a childhood bout of polio, in 1773, which left him disabled. So to cure his lameness he went to his grandparents' home at Sandyknowe, which was next to the ruin of Smailholm Tower, which used to be the family home. He was taught to read by his aunt Jenny. Thus he also learned the patterns of speech and the tales and legends from his aunt, which influenced in his latter writing career.

In 1778, Sir Walter Scott returned to his home in Edinburgh for private tutoring to prepare for his upper education (or high school). In 1779 he initiated his schooling at the Royal High School of Edinburgh, at which time he had been only 8 years of age. He was then able to walk and explore the city and the surrounding countryside. He had started reading some chivalric romances, poems, history and travel books, among other literary works of the time. Later, James Mitchell gave him private tutoring in arithmetic and writing.

After finishing his schooling he went to live with his Aunt Jane in Kelso. There he continued on to doing grammar school where he met James Ballantyne whom later on was his business partner and helped print his books.

In November 1783, he started studying classics at the University of Edinburgh. He was 12 years old and a year or so younger than is classmates. In 1786 he became an apprentice to his father and then became a writer to the Signet. During his time at the university he had become friends with many writers of his time and learned more on writing and enhanced his passion for reading. At the age of fifteen he met Robert Burns at a salon, which was the only meeting with the famous writer.

Later on his family had decided for him to become a lawyer so then he went back to university and started his studies in Law. He first to the classes of Moral Philosophy and Universal History in 1789-90. After completing his studies in law he became a lawyer in Edinburgh.

Literary Career Launched

When Sir Walter Scott was 25 years of age he started dabbling away with writing. He was translating texts from German to Scottish. His first piece of work was the rhymed ballads of Burger, which was finished in 1796. He then published a three-volume book filled with a set of collected Scottish ballads. It was called “The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border”. From a literary point of view, this was when Sir Walter Scott showed a real interest in Scottish History at that time.

Scott soon after became a volunteer worker in yeomanry and thus in one of his raids Sir Walter Scott met Charlotte Charpantier who was French woman from Lyon. He then married her in 1797 and they had five children together. In 1799 Scott became a deputy-sheriff in the county of Selkirk.

In Walter Scotts earlier days of marriage he and his family lived quite comfortably. He earned a good sum of money from his job with the law, also from his job as a deputy-sheriff among other things.

Sir Walter Scott founded a printing press. Then, his poetry, beginning with “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” in 1805, brought him fame. He then continued writing more poems for the next 10 years, which rendered him even better known. These poems included the well known “The Lady of the Lake”, which was printed in 1810. Later on portion of Sir Walter Scotts work, which had been translated to German was set into music by Franz Schubert.

Another piece of his writing called “Marmion” has been widely quoted and sometime misinterpreted. Here is a part of it:

“Yet Clare's sharp questions must I shun,

Must separate Constance from the nun

Oh! What a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive!

A Palmer too! No wonder why

I felt rebuked beneath his --> eye[Author:MD] ;”

(Canto VI. Stanza 17)

In 1809, Sir Walter Scott's sympathies led him to become a co-founder of the Quarterly Review, a review journal to which he made several anonymous contributions.

The List of Novels

After the press started to have difficulties, Sir Walter Scott started, in 1814, to write a cash cow. This resulted as a novel without the name of an author called “Waverly”. This novel talked about a “Forty-Five” Jacobite rising in the Kingdom of Great Britain with its English protagonist Edward Waverly. The novel Scott ended up having a considerable success.

During the next 5 years he wrote a succession of new novels, each one contained a Scottish historical setting. Yet Scott kept in mind his fame as a poet, thus maintaining his anonymous status as a novelist as he did with his first novel “Waverly”. So every time he published a new novel he signed it under the name Author of Waverly or attributed as “Tales of…” with no author. Even after it was clear that no harm would come from revealing himself as a novelist he kept his façade, just as a fun thing to do.

After some time the nickname The Wizard of the North, which was a popular way to name the new best-selling writer. Sir Walter Scotts name as the author of the novels was widely rumored and in 1815 Scott was given the honor of dining with George, the Prince regent at the time, whom wanted to meet “the author of Waverly”.

In 1819, Scott finally broke the habit of writing about Scotland with the novel “Ivanhoe”, a historical romance set in 12th century England. It was a runaway success and. Like with his first novel, he wrote more books, which were similarly written. The book attracted attention because of its sympathetic Jewish main character Rebecca.

During this period in Sir Walter Scotts career his fame grew. He was then granted the title of baronet and that's when he gained the name we know of now, Sir Walter Scott. This is when he organized the visit of the King George IV to Scotland. Thus when the king actually visited Edinburgh in 1822, there was a brilliant pageantry in which Scott had thought of portraying the king in a rather tubby reincarnation of Bonnie Prince Charlie. He made tartans and kilts fashionable, which ended up being the symbol of the Scottish up to this day.

His Home: Abbotsford House

Conclusion:

I find that Sir Walter Scott became a Romantic writer in his later years. He had started off as a simple poet as a hobby and when he started needing financial aid he became the novelist in which his career and name became most well known. He combined is romantic writing with historical facts or fantasies. Thus it made him a historical-romance writer. His style is well known around the world and his novels became classics. Some may even be good to read in class Mme Bordet!!!!!!!!!!

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scott

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism