Lay of the Last Minstrel

"The Lay of the Last Minstrel" (1805) is a long narrative poem by Walter Scott. (It should not be confused with The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, also by Walter Scott, compiled three years previously.)

Scott had spent considerable time in compiling a collection of traditional ballads. He began The Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1802 and intended it as part of The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Scott was kicked by a horse, while on maneuvers with his cavalry regiment. He worked on the first Canto while recuperating. When the Countess of Dalkeith suggested he include the local legend of the goblin Gilpin Horner in his original tale of Border rivalries, he realized it would be too long for The Minstrelsy, and decided to publish it as a separate work. It was eventually finished in 1804 and published in early 1805.

"The Poem, now offered to the Public, is intended to illustrate the customs and manners which anciently prevailed on the Borders of England and Scotland. ...As the description of scenery and manners was more the object of the Author than a combined and regular narrative, the plan of the Ancient Metrical Romance was adopted, which allows greater latitude, in this respect, than would be consistent with the dignity of a regular Poem. ...For these reasons, the Poem was put into the mouth of an ancient Minstrel, the last of the race, who, as he is supposed to have survived the Revolution, might have caught somewhat of the refinement of modern poetry, without losing the simplicity of his original model. The date of the Tale itself is about the middle of the sixteenth century, when most of the personages actually flourished. The time occupied by the action is Three Nights and Three Days."

An aging minstrel who seeks hospitality at Newark Castle and in recompense tells a tale of a sixteenth-century Border feud. In the poem, Lady Margaret Scott of Buccleuch, the "Flower of Teviot" is beloved by Baron Henry of Cranstown an ally of the Ker Clan, but a deadly feud exists between the two border clans of Scott and Carr/Ker, which has resulted in the recent murder of Lady Margaret's father, Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch by the Kers on the High Street in Edinburgh. Maragaret's widowed mother – Lady Janet – hates the Ker clan as a result, and is adamant in refusing her consent to any suggestion of marriage between the lovers.

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