Editing Blind Harry (section)

===Criticism===
Harry's depiction of Wallace has been criticised by Major and others as being fictionalized. Some parts of it are at variance with contemporary sources, ''e.g.'', the work describes Wallace leading an army to the outskirts of London, and it includes some episodes of doubtful accuracy before Wallace enters history with the [[action at Lanark]]. It also describes him adopting the disguises of a monk, an old woman, and a potter while a fugitive, and travelling to France to enlist support for the Scottish cause, there defeating two French champions, as well as a lion.  "Are there any more dogs you would have slain?", Wallace asks the French king.

Harry is often considered inferior to [[John Barbour (poet)|Barbour]] as a poet, and has little of his moral elevation, but he surpasses him in graphic power, vividness of description, and variety of incident. He occasionally shows the influence of [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]], and is said to have known Latin and French.

Blind Harry's words were made more accessible by a translation written by [[William Hamilton of Gilbertfield]] (c. 1665–1751) published in 1722. In this form they met the notice of poets such as [[Robert Burns]], [[Lord Byron]], [[Robert Southey]], [[John Keats]], [[Joanna Baillie]], and [[William Wordsworth]]. It was also an important source for [[Randall Wallace]] in his writing of the screenplay of ''[[Braveheart]]'', the award-winning Hollywood film.<ref name = anderson>Anderson, Lin. ''Braveheart: From Hollywood to Holyrood''. Luath Press Ltd. (2005), p.&nbsp;27.</ref> Most recently, in 1998, Elspeth King published Hamilton's text amended for modern readers as ''Blind Harry's Wallace''.