Lochinvar is a brave knight who arrives unannounced at the bridal feast of Ellen, his beloved, who is about to be married to “a laggard in love and a dastard in war.” Lochinvar claims one dance with the bride and dances her out the door, swooping her up onto his horse, and they ride off together into the unknown. The poem characterizes the hero as follows: “O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, Through all the wide Border his steed was the best; And save his good broadsword, he weapons had none, He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone. So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.” Marmion was a success with the public and remained popular for over a century. The stanzas telling the story of “young Lochinvar” from Canto 5 particularly caught the public imagination and were widely published in anthologies and learned as a recitation piece.
First Appearance Marmion: A Tale Of Flodden Field (1808)
First Publisher ○
Appearance List Marmion: A Tale Of Flodden Field (1808). Reissues: Young Lochinvar (c. 1828) — Scottish chapbook printing of the Lochinvar ballad; Young Lochinvar (19th c.) — Stirling chapbook; Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field (1839); Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field (1893–1897 school editions) — U.S. school/annotated reissues. Collections: My Book of Stories from the Poets — Told in Prose (1920) by Christine Chaundler [Internet Archive]. Film: Lochinvar (Short film, 1911) — U.S. silent short; Lochinvar (Short film, 1915) — U.K. silent short, dir. Leslie Seldon-Truss; Young Lochinvar (Feature film, 1923/UK release 1924) — British silent historical drama, dir. W. P. Kellino, based on J. E. Muddock’s novel derived from Scott’s Lochinvar. Comics: Conquest #1.
Description Lochinvar is a brave knight who arrives unannounced at the bridal feast of Ellen, his beloved, who is about to be married to “a laggard in love and a dastard in war.” Lochinvar claims one dance with the bride and dances her out the door, swooping her up onto his horse, and they ride off together into the unknown. The poem characterizes the hero as follows: “O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, Through all the wide Border his steed was the best; And save his good broadsword, he weapons had none, He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone. So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.” Marmion was a success with the public and remained popular for over a century. The stanzas telling the story of “young Lochinvar” from Canto 5 particularly caught the public imagination and were widely published in anthologies and learned as a recitation piece.
