The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Walter Scott's narrative poem in six cantos, sung by an old minstrel, of a sixteenth-century feud on the Scottish Borders.

Start reading8 cantos, about 20,000 words

Famous lines

• I cannot tell how the truth may be;
  I say the tale as ‘twas said to me.

  Canto II, stanza 22.In context

  • Truth & Lies

• Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,
  And men below, and saints above;
  For love is heaven, and heaven is love.

  Canto ThirdIn context

  • Love

• True love’s the gift which God has given
  To man alone beneath the heaven

  Canto V, stanza 13.In context

  • Love

Contents

1. Preface
2. Introduction
3. Canto First
4. Canto Second
5. Canto Third
6. Canto Fourth
7. Canto Fifth
8. Canto Sixth