SkipCaptcha, Automoderated users, edit
1,631
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 14:
Line 14: + + + + + + + +
Added to page
In 1799, Scott was appointed as a Sheriff-Depute for the county of Selkirk, and a few years later was also made clerk of the Court of Session. The salary from the position of Sheriff-Depute (which generally did not require its holder to be at court full-time) gave Scott the freedom he needed to pursue a more intensive writing career.
In 1799, Scott was appointed as a Sheriff-Depute for the county of Selkirk, and a few years later was also made clerk of the Court of Session. The salary from the position of Sheriff-Depute (which generally did not require its holder to be at court full-time) gave Scott the freedom he needed to pursue a more intensive writing career.
==Literary Career==
Scott had begun entering the literary circles of Edinburgh society while still attending university, during which time he met a number of contemporary Scottish poets and was strongly influenced by James Macpherson's "Ossian" poems. He had his only meeting with Robert Burns in 1786 or 1787, at which time he impressed the older writer with his literary knowledge. During the years in which he was beginning his law practice, however, Scott did not become active in these circles in his own right. His first publication came in 1796 with his translation into English of several German poems; though these works were not his own creation, they were rooted in the folk traditions of their nation, which only encouraged Scott's own interests along those lines for his native Scotland.
Scott's first original poem, ''Glenfinlas'', a supernatural tale based on an old legend of the Scottish Highlands, was written in 1798 and published in 1800, but his first really important work was his ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'', a collection of traditional ballads he had gathered during the previous decade that focused on the history and legends of the Borders region. It was published in two volumes in 1802, with additions the following year, and generally met with very positive reviews among British intellectuals.
Scott followed this success with ''The Lay of the Last Minstrel'' in 1805, another supernaturally-themed poem set in the Borders. More completely his own work, as opposed to the representations in ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'', it too was very well-received, and from 1805 to 1812 at least Scott was arguably the most popular of contemporary British poets. He was also one of the most prolific, producing another collection, ''Ballads and Lyrical Pieces'', in 1806; ''Marmion'', a long narrative poem set in the early 16th century, in 1808; and ''The Lady of the Lake'' in 1810. Set in the 16th-century Highlands, it is often considered the greatest of Scott's poems, and its popularity (more than 25,000 copies were sold in the first year of publication) is credited with helping to inspire the revival of interest in Highland culture during the 19th century.
==References==
==References==