Walter Scott - sempre presente ou desconhecido e esquecido?

When we think about Walter Scott there are unavoidable questions, such as if he is still present among us, is "the great unknown" or if we have already forgotten him. In this article, besides some references to his biography and to the reception of his work, focusing the poem The Lady of the Lake, we attempt to answer those queries while being conscious that the works remain even when their authors are gone. The narrative poem The Lady of the Lake was published in 1810, when Scott was at the top of his career as a poet. It contains ballads, cantos, romances and a prayer, which inspired the famous Ave Maria to Schubert. It reports funereal ceremonies, an archery scene and references to a prophet and to a dream. Besides this epic facet, there is still the essential element of the love idylll. After our reflexion, we concluded that Scott's work should not be seen as a fad from the past and that we need not regret the vanishing of interest for this writer for we determined that he is still with us, but in a different way, and that now we have a more problematizing vision of his work that makes us understand that he was reacting to changes in his society and expressing his opposition to the dominant culture, themes that, after all, are post-modern.