‘Out-of-the-way Reading and Hoary-headed Tradition’: Walter Scott’s Supernatural Scholarship and Poetry
Thursday 2nd October 2025
Summary of the Talk:
Dr. Natalie Harris discusses Sir Walter Scott's methodology for incorporating the supernatural into his poetry, specifically in The Lay of the Last Minstrel and The Lady of the Lake.
Scott's approach is rooted in his extensive "out of the way reading" and collection of "hoary-headed tradition" (Scottish folklore, witchcraft, and demonology), which he preferred over classical studies. He viewed this material as a crucial part of Scotland's unique historical record.
Scott's Dual Approach
Scott used a "half and half" technique that balances scepticism and belief between the main poetic text and the accompanying, detailed notes.
- Authorial Responsibility and Gatekeeping: Scott was acutely aware of the social danger of sensationalized supernatural beliefs (a lesson from the witch trials). He maintained two reading circles: an inner circle of "initiated ghost seers" who could access his raw, restricted source material (like Kirk's Secret Commonwealth), and the "general class of readers" who received a "filtered" version in his published works. He ensured his public sources met scholarly criteria for intent and integrity.
- Legitimizing the Supernatural: Scott argued that the "Marvellous" (supernatural) in poetry is legitimate only when it is "engrafted upon some circumstance of popular traditional belief" and is "peculiar to and characteristic of the country in which the scene is laid."
- The Notes as Authentication: The notes are an integral "parallel narrative." They cite both scholarly texts and popular tradition (oral tales, local legends) as equivalent authoritative sources, thereby authenticating the supernatural elements (like the wizard Michael Scott, the goblin Gilpin Horner, and Brian the Hermit) and localizing the setting.
- Creative Mediation: Scott used this technique to "entice and authorize" the reader to believe the improbable. For example, he grounds the magical setting of Melrose Abbey in descriptions of its intricate Gothic architecture viewed by "pale moonlight," making a natural phenomenon (light/mist) the catalyst for the supernatural transformation. This interweaving of natural reality with the supernatural keeps the marvellous "to an undercurrent" to avoid exhausting the reader's interest.
In essence, Scott rejected classical models to preserve and re-cast Scottish tradition, using his scholarly authority to elevate local folklore to the level of legitimate historical record, creating an evocative and nationally distinct poetic world.
Interesting Points Worth Mentioning
- The "Witch's Cauldron" vs. "Roman Patera": Scott explicitly rejected classicism, confessing he stuffed his brains with readings "as was never read," preferring a "witch's cauldron" in his memory to a "Roman patera." This signifies his conscious choice to draw his poetic "machinery" from native Scottish folklore and history rather than the established Greek and Roman traditions, distinguishing him from many of his contemporaries.
- The Elitism of Authentication: Scott authenticated local superstitions by noting their belief by "persons of very good rank and considerable information." While he valued "vulgar tradition," this method suggests he needed the endorsement of the educated elite to formally establish the folklore's validity, reflecting the hierarchical standards of his time.
- The Gritty Source of Brian the Hermit: The legend of Brian's birth, only fully detailed in the notes to The Lady of the Lake, is a horrifying and cynical "obscene inversion of the Virgin Birth," where his mother is impregnated by ashes from a fire built over dead men's bones. Scott's decision to relegate this gruesome tale to the notes, while merely alluding to it in the poem, suggests a form of filtering; the implied social critique of an illegitimate pregnancy is made palatable by replacing it with a fantastic, yet dark, supernatural origin.
- The Power of the Setting's Lighting: Scott recognized that the supernatural effect was often tied to natural conditions. To see "Fair Melrose a right," one must view it "by the pale moonlight," and the Trossachs are transformed into fairyland by the "ethereal properties of the summer evening light." This blending of reality and myth allows him to create a world where the magical capacity of the landscape is contingent upon perfect, but natural, lighting.
- Coleridge's Accusation of "Half and Half": Scott's "half and half" technique, where he allows the possibility of a rational solution to a supernatural event, drew criticism from Coleridge. Coleridge argued Scott used this method to
"preserve the full effect of superstition for the reader and yet the credit of unbelief for the writer." This highlights the fine line Scott walked: attempting to be both a credible, rational scholar and an effective purveyor of the marvellous.
Download the [powerpoint]
Introduction by Prof. Penny Fielding:
Dr Natalie Tal Harries is a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen, and Assistant Director of the Walter Scott Research Centre, working on the AHRC funded project, The Edinburgh Edition of Walter Scott’s Poetry: Engaging New Audiences. She is also a Research Associate on the 21st Century Oxford Authors edition of the work of Percy Bysshe Shelley at the University of Sheffield, and she completed an Early Career Research Fellowship at the Institute of English Studies (University of London) last year. Her published research examines Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s engagement with aspects of Neoplatonic, Hindu and Indian philosophy and symbolism, and Walter Scott’s supernatural scholarship and poetry. She is co-editing a collection of essays on the figure of the Angry Woman in literature and culture with colleagues from Aberdeen, and her next research project focuses on the out-of-the-way reading of Romantic poets and writers, starting with Walter Scott.
