Tag Archives: Sir Walter Scott

Eternally Damned after Reading a Book

In which I compare Austen’s Marianne and Willoughby to Dante’s Paulo and Francesca.

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A Man with Soul so Dead

Sir Walter Scott describes Trump perfectly in “My Native Land.” “Living shall forfeit fair renown, and doubly dying shall go down.”

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A Wretch Concentered All in Self

Look to Sir Walter Scott, not to Shakespeare, to sum up Donald Trump’s exit.

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The Case for Memorizing Poetry

To bolster yourself against this age of anxiety, memorize robust poetry. Other poetry works as well.

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How Sleep the Brave

Memorial Day Looking back over the blog, I’m surprised that I have never posted William Collins’s “How Sleep the Brave” on Memorial Day. According to Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, Collins “loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters,” and we see him merging fantasy, nature imagery, and high-minded allegory in this tribute to fallen soldiers. […]

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Dickens Returned Xmas to Medieval Roots

Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” didn’t so much invent Christmas as we have come to know it as take it back to its medieval roots.

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Our Christmas Owes Much to Walter Scott

While Charles Dickens can be credited with resurrecting Christmas, Sir Walter Scott paved the way in “Marmion” with his depiction of Christmas and pre-Christmas banquets.

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Soldier, Rest, Thy Warfare O’er

In “Soldier Rest,” Sir Walter Scott captures how inviting death can look to those caught up in battle’s throes.

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A Holiday Gathering of the Bates Clan

The holiday gathering of our family has me thinking of Sir Walter’s Scott’s poem about the gathering of the MacGregor clan.

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