William Dunbar: The Complete Works

A Middle Scots poet or “Makar,” William Dunbar’s verses come to us from the turn of the sixteenth century. A talented lyricist and social critic, the cleric Dunbar possessed close associations to the court of James IV of Scotland, a fact which imbues his poetry with the vibrant color of the northern court. This volume covers Dunbar’s eighty-four still extant poems, covering poetic approaches ranging from courtly to comic to devotional to political, arranged thematically with notes for the reader unfamiliar to Middle Scots poetry. As the first edition of Dunbar’s work published in the twenty-first century, this volume provides readers new to Scots poetry with Dunbar’s complete corpus, making it a valuable first step into the world of satire, courtly lyrics, financial struggle, and moral meditation that characterized the court of James IV.