Sir Walter Scott, born in Edinburgh on 15 August 1771 and dead at Abbotsford on 21 September 1832, became one of the most influential writers in the English language: a poet who dominated the reading public before Byron, a novelist who effectively established the modern historical novel, an editor and antiquarian who preserved Scottish oral traditions, a lawyer and public official, a conservative political figure, an…
“I half grieve to take up my pen, and doubt if it is worth while to record such an infinite quantity of nothing, but hang it! I hate to be beat, so here goes for better behaviour.”
Neighbourhood:
Folk & Ballad Poets, Romantic Poets, Scottish Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Wonder, Longing
John Gibson Lockhart was born on 12 June 1794 at the manse of Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire, into a world in which Scottish religious discipline, intellectual ambition, and political controversy were closely entwined. His father, the Reverend Dr John Lockhart, was minister of Cambusnethan parish, and his mother, Elizabeth Gibson, came from a family whose name Lockhart later adopted as his middle name. The future writer g…
“It is an old belief that on some solemn shore beyond the sphere of grief dear friends shall meet once more.”
Neighbourhood:
Romantic Poets, Scottish Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Spirituality, Longing