Walter Scott, Kenilworth

Sharon Anne Ragaz (Independent Scholar - North America)
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Kenilworth; A Romance

(1821) is the second of Sir Walter Scott’s novels to treat of English rather than Scottish history (the first is

Ivanhoe

). Chronologically it followed Scott’s composition of

The Abbot

(1820), which features Mary, Queen of Scots, one of Scott’s most memorable and moving tragic figures. It was Scott’s Edinburgh publisher, Archibald Constable, who suggested a novel about Elizabeth, proposing the Armada as a suitably celebratory subject for 1820, the year of George IV’s coronation. Scott agreed that a novel about Elizabeth would be successful and set to work at the task from September to December 1820. However, despite including elaborate set pieces of pageantry and Elizabeth’s royal progresses, the novel he eventually wrote is one of just three tragedies…

2060 words

Citation: Ragaz, Sharon Anne. "Kenilworth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4250, accessed 02 December 2024.]

4250 Kenilworth 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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