Exercises

1. Tell the story of Scott’s life.

2. The following themes may be given to pupils for individual reports, or the teacher may discuss each theme in class using the following questions:

A. Scott, the writer.

1) Why did Walter Scott collect old ballads and legends?

2) Speak about the subject-matter in Scott’s poetry.

3) Say something about the three groups of novels written by Walter Scott.

4) What was peculiar about Scott’s conservatism?

5) What chief idea forms the subject-matter in the writer’s Scottish cycle of novels?

B. The novel “Ivanhoe”.

1) Where and when is the scene set?

2) Comment on the conflict of the plot.

3) Dwell on the characters in the novel. Which were the characters created by Scott’s historical investigations?

4) Which were the characters created in the romantic manner?

5) Which were the characters created in the folklore tradition?

6) In what social class did the novelist see the motivating force in the struggle for liberty?

7) What was Scott’s attitude to the nobles that appear in the novel?

C. Scott, the creator of the historical novel.

1) What was Scott’s historical approach to life?

2) Mention the most essential feature of the historical novel.

3) What was Scott’s model for the historical novel?

4) Why did Scott use so many details in his descriptions?

5) What makes his novels so picturesque? Describe a mass scene from one of Scott’s novels which you have read.