And each evanescent letter
Shall be clearer, firmer, better,
And more permanent, I ween,
Than the thing those letters mean.

I have strain'd the spider's thread
'Gainst the promise of a maid;
I have weigh'd a grain of sand
'Gainst her plight of heart and hand;
I told my true love of the token,
How her faith proved light, and her word was broken:
Again her word and truth she plight,
And I believed them again ere night.

~ Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott is one of Scotland’s most famous writers and considered one of the most popular novelists of the 19th century.  But unlike some of the other beloved poets we’ve highlighted, Scott was able to enjoy his success and popularity during his own lifetime. 

In addition to being a poet and playwright, he wrote such classic novels as Waverley (after which Edinburgh’s main railway station was named), Rob Roy, Ivanhoe, The Lady of the Lake, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor.

Interestingly, it was during his childhood that he befriended the two men, James and John Ballantyne, who would later print his books for him.  Another little known fact about Scott is that the composer Franz Schubert set German translations of Scott’s work into music, such as his “Ellens dritter Gesang”, which is commonly called “Schubert's Ave Maria”.

Though Scott’s immediate and enduring success is undoubted, some historians have speculated that it was later in the 20th century when Scott’s work became less popular in the wake of Jane Austen’s rising fame, even though the two writers were both working in the same time period.  Scott, however, was one of the few male writers of his time to recognize Austen’s genius.

Photo: "The Bride of Lammermoor" by William Powell Frith