Marmion a Tale of Flodden Field

Sir Walter Scott

Standard Publications, Incorporated, 2008 - Poetry - 232 pages

Sir Walter Scott (1771 ¿ 1832) was a popular Scottish historical novelist and poet. Scott was the first English language author to have international popularity during his lifetime. His novels remain popular today. His most famous works include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of The Lake, Waverely, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. Marmion is an epic poem about the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Lord Marmion, a favorite of Henry VIII of England, lusts for Clara de Clare, a rich woman. Marmion and his mistress Constance De Beverley forge a letter implicating Clara¿s fiancé in a plot of treason. One of the most famous quotations from the poem is ¿Oh, what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive!¿

About the author

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on August 15, 1771. He began his literary career by writing metrical tales. The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, and The Lady of the Lake made him the most popular poet of his day. Sixty-five hundred copies of The Lay of the Last Minstrel were sold in the first three years, a record sale for poetry. His other poems include The Vision of Don Roderick, Rokeby, and The Lord of the Isles. He then abandoned poetry for prose. In 1814, he anonymously published a historical novel, Waverly, or, Sixty Years Since, the first of the series known as the Waverley novels. He wrote 23 novels anonymously during the next 13 years. The first master of historical fiction, he wrote novels that are historical in background rather than in character: A fictitious person always holds the foreground. In their historical sequence, the Waverley novels range in setting from the year 1090, the time of the First Crusade, to 1700, the period covered in St. Roman's Well (1824), set in a Scottish watering place. His other works include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, and The Bride of Lammermoor. He died on September 21, 1832.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Marmion a Tale of Flodden Field
• Author: Sir Walter Scott
• Publisher: Standard Publications, Incorporated, 2008
• ISBN: 1438507224, 9781438507224
• Length: 232 pages
• Subjects: Poetry / General