An American educator and critic, Goslee is the author of a study about Scott's poetry, Scott the Rhymer (1988). In the following essay, she contends that while most of the female characters in Scott's narrative poems are cast in narrow roles, a few of his women undermine gender stereotypes.

Below, Johnson detects a preoccupation with pugilism in "The Two Drovers, " showing the relevance of eighteenth-century pugilism to the narrative and suggesting that the story may in part satirize topical debates and controversies surrounding the acceptibility of pugilism.

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

Pikoulis is a Zimbabawean critic and educator. In the following essay, Pikoulis maintains that Marmion serves as a "poetic autobiography" for Scott. The critic analyzes the introductory epistles in the poem as well as the central tale of Marmion, concluding that the two parts work together to present the primary elements of the poet's identity.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Scott's Poetry:

In the essay below, Overton explores the implications of the "historical short story" as a genre through a close reading of "The Two Drovers, " summarizing the principal points of criticism of the story and relating them to the historical development of the English short story form.

Crawford is a Scottish critic and educator and the author of Scott (1965), a book-length study of Sir Walter Scott. In the following essay, Crawford extends the ideas presented by Donald Davie in his 1961 lecture. Like Davie, Crawford finds much of Scott's poetry to be innovative and finely crafted, though Crawford emphasizes the manner in which Scott is able to "ad-lib" on the folk song and popular lyric forms, as well as the interesting textures that are created in the scenes of the ...

An English poet, critic, educator, and translator, Davie is well-respected for both his creative and critical contributions to literature. In his first critical work, The Purity of Diction in English Verse (1952), he argued for a return to the prose-like syntax, formal structures, and conservative metaphors of the eighteenth-century Augustan poets. During the 1950s Davie was associated with the Movement, a group of poets whose number included Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, and Thorn Gunn, who believed in th...

In the following essay, Parsons discusses the folkloric and legendary sources that inform "Donnerhugel's Narrative" and "Wandering Willie's Tale."

Below, Doubleday analyzes the narrative point of view and the function of the narrator in "Wandering Willie's Tale, " linking the historical sense conveyed by the story to Scott's use of "preternatural" material.

Here, the reviewer complains about the "impertinent intervention" of the various epistles included in Marmion, but finds other passages in the poem exciting and entertaining, despite several flaws that are detected in Scott's writing.

In the following essay, Cooney reveals a contradiction between the overt and covert meanings of "The Two Drovers " to suggest that a nascent though subconscious ideology of cultural relativism informs the tale.

In the following essay, Riese compares the narrative structure of Scott's short stories to that of his novels, focusing on "Wandering Willie's Tale," "The Highland Widow," and "The Two Drovers."

In the essay below, Robb explains the function and effect of the Judge's charge to the jury in 'The Two Drovers."

Rubenstein is the author of Sir Walter Scott: A Reference Guide (1978), as well as other writings on Scott. In the following essay, she maintains that The Bridal of Triermain addresses the reconciliation of tradition with progress.

Symons was a critic, poet, dramatist, short story writer, and editor who first gained notoriety in the 1890s as an English decadent. Eventually, he established himself as one of the most important critics of the modern era. Symons provided his English contemporaries with an appropriate vocabulary with which to define the aesthetic of symbolism in his book The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1899); furthermore, he laid the foundation for much of modern poetic theory by discerning the importance of the sym...

Courthope was an English educator, poet, literary critic, and biographer whose most notable work is his six-volume History of English Poetry (1895-1910). Described by Stuart P. Sherman as a confirmed classicist in poetical theory, Courthope reacted against Romantic theory and practice and advocated a return to the heroic couplet and the satiric poetry characteristic of the age of Alexander Pope, whose collected works he edited. Courthope's criticism tends to center on the extent to which authors ref...

Jeffrey was a founder and editor of the Edinburgh Review, one of the most influential magazines in early nineteenth-century England and a periodical that Scott was also involved with for a time. Jeffrey was a liberal Whig who often allowed his political beliefs to color his critical opinions. He is nevertheless considered an insightful contemporary critic of Scott's work, though Scott's political views were more conservative than Jeffrey's. In the following review, which was originally...

Below, Parsons supplies both literary and factual sources for narrative elements of "The Two Drovers " and traces the critical reception of the story.

In the essay below, Cooney examines the blend of historical analysis and emotional engagement in "The Highland Widow" that combine to raise the story to the level of tragic art.

In the following excerpt from a review that reprinted "The Highland Widow" almost in its entirety, Wilson admires the introduction to Chronicles of the Canongate and comments on the linguistic style of the tales.