SOURCE: "The Dilemma of History: A Reading of Scott's Bridal of Triermain, " in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. XII, No. 4, Autumn, 1972, pp. 721-34.

Rubenstein is the author of Sir Walter Scott: A Reference Guide (1978), as well as other writings on Scott. In the following essay, she maintains that The Bridal of Triermain addresses the reconciliation of tradition with progress.

Most critics of Scott have followed the poet's own lead in regarding The Bridal of Triermain (1813) as little more than a trifle, but it is a much more serious and noteworthy poem than it initially appears, and Scott's relatively frivolous attitude toward it has tended to obscure its very real significance and merit. It illustrates, to a greater extent than any other of Scott's narrative poems, his continuing preoccupation with the conflicting values of tradition and progress. The theme of The Bridal of Trier-main is the difficulty and...