Commentary
Introduction
DGR began writing this ballad in 1840 and nearly finished it that year. But he lost interest in the work and laid it aside. Later his grandfather Polidori promised to have it printed if he completed it, so he did, and the poem was duly printed in a small run for private circulation in 1843. DGR later had most of the copies of the work destroyed, though a few still survive.
WMR gives a plot summary in his
<xref doc="a.pr5246.a43.rad" from="84" to="85">
<hi rend="i">Family Letters</hi>
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(vol. 1, 84-85). DGR wrote a note for the poem sometime in the 1870s. In it he expresses his hope that the ballad never be published. Although DGR claims that when he wrote Sir Hugh he had read no English poetry other than Sir Walter Scott, certain formal features of the work indicate greater awareness of ballad tradition.
Textual History: Composition
Textual History: Revision
Literary
The poem is based on Allan Cunningham's prose tale
<xref doc="a.acunningham001.raw" link="dead">“The Elfin Miller of Croga Mill,”</xref>
which DGR read in the second (1840) edition of the collection, originally published in 1826,
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<xref doc="a.pz.1446.1840.rad" link="dead">Legends of Terror ...</xref>
</hi>
(181-192).
Bibliographic
Gregory,
“Life and Works of DGR” vol. 2
101-102.
WMR,
<xref doc="a.pr5246.a43.rad" from="84" to="85">
<hi rend="i">Family Letters</hi>
</xref>
, vol. 1, 84-85.