"I am of course aware that there were other influences on Scott besides medieval literature and that sometimes there are alternative sources for a particular motif or detail or point of style. I cannot always pin Scott down to a medieval source to the exclusion of other possible sources. In such cases it is altogether conceivable that three or four or more literary works from different periods of literary history were on his mind at the same time. If so, I am inclined to believe that medieval romance weighed most heavily because of his utter fascination with literature of this sort during his formative years. Although he also read widely in other literature at an early age, ballads and old romances were his passion. ...I point out what Scott has borrowed and show how he has used the borrowing. When he has covered his tracks, I cannot always say which romance is involved... but the accumulation of interesting parallels provides good circumstantial evidence in support of my belief that medieval romance is the most important source for the Waverly Novels."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jerome Mitchell, Scott, Chaucer, and Medieval Romance: A Study in Sir Walter Scott's Indebtedness to the Literature of the Middle Ages (1987)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Middle Ages
64 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Middle Ages →
Related Quotes
"Thou sayst: 'I see the air, I see the fire, The water, and the earth, and all their mixtures Come to corruption, and …"
"The existence of God may be proved in five ways. The first and most manifest way is the argument from motion. ...What…"
"We know Chaucer in the only way in which the greater authors generally have cared to be known. ...All we need further…"
"Music historians have learned that the language and approach of musical theory in the Middle Ages were borrowed direc…"
"[...] there are things in the media that can be spoken ill of with impunity: the Middle Ages is one of them. And this…"
"My own case for Christianity is rational; but it is not simple. It is an accumulation of varied facts, like the attit…"
"No two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese t…"
"I do not mean to say... that these love discussions... were without their influence upon the conduct and ideals of co…"
"This volume, it is believed, contains all the most important tales which formed the great body of mediaeval legend or…"
"Thou sayest, 'Well discern I what I hear; But it is hidden from me why God willed For our redemption only this one mo…"