Poetry Review – Sir Walter Scott – Lullaby Of An Infant Chief

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I discovered this poem by accident when I opened a completely different book and this very small slim undated selection of Scott’s verse fell out. The poem is a lament to a new-born infant for his life will be lived in perpetual war. His father is a knight, and his peaceful sleep will constantly be interrupted by bugle calls and he has a whole army of archers to protect him until he comes of age. Only his childhood innocence protects him from the war that will dominate his adulthood. It takes just three four-line verses to paint a very evocative picture of a short period of joy in very troubled times. Arthur Chappell