ROMANTICISM

The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Walter Scott

Genre: Poem

                           

Lay of the Last Minstrel (Extract)

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 

Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, my native land! 

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, 

As home his footsteps he hath turn'd, 

From wandering on a foreign strand! 

If such there breathe, go, mark him well; 

For him no Minstrel raptures swell; 

High though his titles, proud his name, 

Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; 

Despite those titles, power, and pelf, 

The wretch, concentred all in self, 

Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 

And, doubly dying, shall go down 

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, 

Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.

O Caledonia! stern and, wild, 

Meet nurse for a poetic child! 

Land of brown heath and shaggy wood 

Land of the mountain and the flood, 

Land of my sires! what mortal hand 

Can e'er untie the filial band, 

That knits me to thy rugged strand! 

Still, as I view each well-known scene, 

Think what is now, and what hath been, 

Seems as, to me of all bereft, 

Sole friends thy woods and streams were left; 

And thus I love them better still 

Even in extremity of ill. 

By Yarrow's streams still let me stray, 

Though none should guide my feeble way., 

Still feel the breeze down Ettrick break, 

Although it chill my wither'd cheek; 

Still lay my head by Teviot Stone, 

Though there, forgotten and alone, 

The Bard may draw his parting groan.

 

Analysis:

              This poem deals with a sixteenth-century border feud. it was told by an aging minstrel who receives hospitality at Newark Castle from Ann, Duchess of Buccleuch. To return back the hospitality, he recites a tale concerning the Duchess's family. The poem is intended to show the customs and manners of England and Scotland. The scenery and manner's description was more the object of the poet thus the plan of the Ancient Metrical Romance was adopted that gives greater latitude.