The Lady of the Lake

Walter Scott — 2005

A kindly heart had brave Fitz-James;Fast poured his eyes at pity's claims, And now, with mingled grief and ire, He saw the murdered maid expire."God, in my need, be my relief, As I wreak this on yonder Chief!"-from The Lady of the LakeWildly successful with readers and critics on both sides of the Atlantic when it was first published in 1810, this is Scott's renowned romantic poem about love and honor amidst a bitter rivalry between King James V and the powerful Douglas clan of the Scottish Highlands.This revised edition, published in 1899, features an extensive introduction that places Scott and his writings in historical and literary context, as well as explanatory notes, study guides, and suggested selections for class or book-group readings.Scottish novelist and poet SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832), a literary hero of his native land, turned to writing only when his law practice and printing business foundered. Among his most beloved works are Rob Roy (1818), and Ivanhoe (1820).American writer WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY (1869-1910) served as co-editor of the Harvard Monthly and assistant professor of English at the University of Chicago. He authored several verse plays, books of poetry, and histories and criticisms of English literature.

Reviews

Dimitris Papastergiou@s4murai

Jul 1, 2023

Went into this one without any good expectations, and boy was I wrong?! I recently read Ivanhoe and didn't like it. So I decided to give Scott another chance and went with this one here. I was ready for a boring story and I honestly didn't even know it was going to be a poem. What a delight that was, I started reading thinking great, I'm going to love rating this 1 star with all the boring shit happening in. But.. Scott did it, the poetry in this one is a work of art. I loved pretty much all of it. The way he describes a scene and the way everything fits together, from the rhymes to the scenery he's able to make you see and pretty much every interaction between characters, he's basically picking you up and throws you in the middle of the scene happening. Maybe some bits here and there weren't like the beginning which I loved (first 2 cantos) and the end wasn't that exciting but I would definitely recommend if you're into poetry. Especially this old timey kind. This definitely made me wanna read another book of the author and also that I'd love to read a bunch of already established stories from other authors, fantasy or not, as poems witten by Walter Scott. Found out he's written a couple more poems and I'm definitely checking those out too.