The main focus of this study is Scott's fiction. However, it is worth beginning any exploration of it by taking a step backwards to consider his early narrative poetry since it is here that Scott formulates his first theories on the nature and purpose of literature, the role of the modern writer and the relationship of both to history and national identity. If Scott's fiction has undergone something of a renaissance in recent years his poetry, sadly, remains neglected. There is no modern edition of the poetry and very little criticism. Many reasons for this neglect might be proposed. Among them, there is the simple fact that long narrative poems are out of fashion. In addition, Scott dismissed his own poetic career as eclipsed by the work of Byron, a perception which has to some extent become embedded in modern constructions of Romanticism. Perhaps above all, however, the surface simplicity of Scott's narrative poetry and its romance modes and themes has led to virtual neglect when compared to his fiction; while Nancy Moore Goslee suggests that developments in narrative theory clear the way for new responses to Scott's poems they have remained relatively untouched by readings in modern critical terms. Yet Scott's poetry lends itself to such analysis since it is in fact far more complex than its seemingly narrative driven cantos initially imply. They are vexed by questions of form and genre and as such not only reveal the relationship of the modern poet to history and society but also gesture towards an anxiety concerning the nature of the poetic medium which foreshadows Scott's later, more troubled relationship with language.