Qarshi davlat universiteti xorijiy tillar fakulteti ingliz tili va adabiyoti kafedrasi

 
SIR WALTER SCOTT 
(1771 - 1832) 
Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish romantic writer, the first great writer of historical novels. He was 
born in Edinburgh on August 15, 1771. His father was an Edinburgh lawyer and had a large 
family. Walter, the future writer, was the ninth of his twelve children. When he was about two 
years old, the boy fell ill with a disease that left him lame. His parents thought country air would 
be good for him and sent him to his grandparents’ farm. It was a place with hills, crags and 
ruined tower. Walter soon became a strong boy. In spite of his lameness he climbed the hills and 
rode his pony at a gallop. Walter’s grandparents told him thrilling Scottish tales. He learned to 
love the solemn history of Scotland and liked to recite Scottish ballads and poems. 

---

59 
Scott enjoyed taking trips into the Scottish countryside. These trips gave him profound 
knowledge of the life of rural people, and provided material for his first major publication, 
“Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border” (1802-1803). This book was a collection of popular songs 
and ballads and consisted of three volumes. 
At the suggestion of his father, Scott became a lawyer and practiced for fourteen years. During 
his business trips he visited the places of famous battles and collected old ballads. Like many 
writers belonging to the Romantic trend, Scott, too, felt that all the good days were gone. He 
wished to record all the historical facts he knew before they were forgotten. 
At the age of 26 Scott married, and bought a large estate not far from Edinburgh. There Scott 
built a fine house in the style of a castle. His house became a sort of museum of Scottish history 
and culture. 
In 1805 he began to publish his own romantic poems, which attracted the attention of the reading 
public. The best were “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” (1805), “Marmion” (1808) and “The Lady 
of the Lake” (1810). These poems reproduce old legends and combine them with historical 
material. They were written with great poetic skill and poet became very famous. But when 
Byron’s wonderful poems appeared, Scott, to quote his own words, “left the field of poetry to his 
rival” who by that time was already a friend of his. He took to writing novels. It marked a new 
period in Scott’s creative work. He declined the honor of poet-laureate in 1813 because he 
understood that writing official verses and odes on the birthdays of members of the royal family 
would interfere with his creative work. 
In 1814 Scott published his “Waverley, or ‘The Sixty Years Since”. This novel describes a 
Scottish rebel against England in 1745. As he had an established reputation as a poet, Scott 
decided to print his first novel anonymously. The book was a great success, and everybody 
wanted to know who the author was. Scott published many of his novels under the name of “The 
Author of Waverley”. During the next seventeen years (1815 - 1832) Scott wrote more than 27 
other novels, four plays and many stories and tales besides. All of his novels were referred to as 
part of the Waverley series, because the author was identified on the title page as “The Author of 
Waverley”. Scott’s authorship was officially revealed in 1827, but it had been known for years. 
Despite his success and fame, Scott’s last years were sad. They were marked by illness and 
financial difficulties brought on by the failure of a publishing company in which he had an 
interest. At that time his health was broken down. His doctors sent him to Italy; but it was too 
late. Before reaching Italy he had to turn back, and on his arrival at his estate he died.
Literary critics divide Scott’s works into three groups: