Walter Alva Scott is a Scottish poet who wrote many novels throughout his life. Even in the twenty-first century many novelists and authors are taking inspiration from him. Sometimes the Scottish people used to call him a historical novelist. Except for novels he also wrote many poems and drama. Even the historical events that he wrote are written in the Scottish historical books.
Early Age
He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 15th August 1771. It is said he was a child of a lawyer where becoming a lawyer in the future was a tradition. When he was in his childhood he suffered from Polio and later he has transformed into lame. So, later he was sent to Scottish borders where his grandparents used to live. But Scott remains as usual and his childhood was not that happy days. During this time he started reading letters. His aunt gave him his education at that time he started growing up. In 1775 he came back to his own parents in Edinburgh.
He was not cured properly so his treatment keeps on happening. When he was six, seven years old the parents prepared him for schooling. He joined Royal High School in Edinburgh. At that time he could walk well and he visited many places in the city during his school life. Along with that his passion for reading and writing gradually risen. Later, he got private tuition and from his teacher, he learned so many things regarding the Church of Scotland. Then he went to his aunt, Jenny, and met his brother John. In his, after ages, he becomes a business partner of printing. After completing his school life he joined Edinburgh college for Law though he was in literature and history more than law.
Later Life
When he was in college he started loving Classical Literature. He joined his father’s office to write articles. But he did not like the work very much and left that job on somedays. His friend Adam Ferguson helped him to be a writer because his father was the head of a literary publication. Thus, his life as a historian and a writer gets started. He met the blind poet Thomas Blacklock who had given him books and Scott took inspiration from that. Later he met Robert Burns on that literary center and read a poem called “The Justice of the Peace”. At that time Burns encourage him very much and aspired for him. On that day, Scott stated about his imagination and dreams. Though his motive was to become a lawyer and go for that. Though his passion was history. After completing his study he becomes a librarian. But he becomes an advocate also. Whatever he had done in his life was for passion.
Literary Career
In the year 1805, he wrote narrative poems. This period of writing was from 1805 to 1817. With this time he wrote a total of five poems that are consist of six cantos. Lord Byron published the poem on his “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”. These poems made him very famous at that time. The verse and rhymes are awesome to utter. “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” is a very famous poem that he published in 1805 which consists of a total of six cantos and here Scott follows the Medieval Romantic Form. Even some of his poems are written using the footsteps of Coleridge.
“Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned,”
These lines are taken from his poem.
After that, he keeps on publishing many poems and novels. “Marmion” is a short story that had written which is based on the battle of Flodden of 1513. In 1810 he published another narrative poem called “The Lady of the Lake”. By this poem, Scott reaches the highest peak of success as a poet. 20,000 copies were sold in the first year. The rhyme that they used to put is ‘Iambic Tetrameter’. In the last ages he had written many novels and some of them are historical. “The Fortunes of Nigel”, “Peveril of the Peak”, and “Woodstock” are his famous novels. The “Waverley” is also a very famous work of Scott where a storyteller tells all the facts and dialogs are equally written expressively.
The process of composition was nice and he gains clap from his readers. After the death of Scott a journal called “The Journal of Sir Walter Scott” was published in 1890. Scott was buried in Dryburgh where his own wife was also buried. He had fallen sick in 1831 and due to a health issue, he passed away. So, Walter Alva Scott is a successful man who could place himself in the world of literature.