SOURCE: "The Poetry of the Early Waverly Novels," in Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. LXI, 1976, pp. 315-36.

In the following lecture, delivered in 1975, Lamont studies the function, characteristics, and effectiveness of verse passages within Scott's early Waverly novels.

My subject this evening is the lyrics, songs, and ballad snatches in the early novels of Sir Walter Scott. I shall say a little about the songs in his longer poems, but talk primarily about the poetry of the novels, up to The Bride of Lammermoor of 1819. It has often been pointed out that Scott's novels contain some of his finest poetry. John Buchan, for instance, claimed [in Sir Walter Scott, 1932] that it is there that Scott attained 'his real poetic stature', and added 'in his greater lyrics Scott penetrated to the final mystery of the poet.' The short poems in the novels are quite different from Scott's...