The Lady of the Lake (poem)
The Lady of the Lake is a narrative poem by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1810. Set in the Trossachs region of Scotland, it is composed of six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day. There are voluminous antiquarian notes. The poem has three main plots: the contest among three men, Roderick Dhu, James Fitz-James, and Malcolm Graeme, to win the love of Ellen Douglas; the feud and reconciliation of King James V of Scotland and James Douglas; and a war between the Lowland Scots and the Highland clans. The poem was tremendously influential in the nineteenth century, and inspired the Highland Revival.
Title page of 1811 edition with engraving by John Pye based on Richard Westall's design
Ellen's Isle (Gaelic: Eilean Molach, 'shaggy island') on Loch Katrine was a stronghold of Clan McGregor.
Ellen Douglas – Lady of the Lake. 'In listening mood, she seemed to stand, / The guardian Naiad of the strand.' (Canto I, stanza 17)
1879 painting of Ellen's Isle
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He had a major impact on European and American literature.
Portrait by Thomas Lawrence, c. 1820s
Scott's childhood at Sandyknowes, in the shadow of Smailholm Tower, introduced him to the tales and folklore of the Scottish Borders
The Scott family's home in George Square, Edinburgh, from about 1778
Sketch of Scott c.1800 by an unknown artist