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The Poems of Robert Henryson

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William Dunbar, poet laureate at the court of King James IV of Scotland, lived from around 1460 to around 1520, a period during which Scotland provided many of the leading poets writing in Britain. Dunbar and his contemporaries Robert Henryson and Gavin Douglas are often grouped together as the "Scottish Chaucerians" because of the supposed influence of Chaucer on them. Dunbar wrote in the language which has today become known as "Middle Scots", although he himself referred to his native tongue as "Inglissche". (His contemporary Douglas, however, did refer to it as "Scots").

Around a hundred poems are attributed to Dunbar; this volume presents a selection of over forty, which give a good idea of the range of his work. The description of Dunbar as a "Chaucerian" has been disputed, but there is clear evidence of the earlier English poet's influence. (Dunbar himself described his predecessor as "of makaris flour"- the "flower of poets"). Like Chaucer, Dunbar was equally at home with an elevated, courtly style or a very earthy one, and had two very different vocabularies to suit each style.

The Chaucer who had the greatest influence on him was not the author of narrative poems like the "Canterbury Tales" or "Troilus and Criseyde" but the early Chaucer who wrote courtly allegories like "The Book of the Duchess" or "The Parliament of Fowls". Dunbar's own efforts in this genre, like "The Thistle and the Rose" which celebrates the marriage of James IV to the English Princess Margaret Tudor, are written in what has been called the "aureate style", characterised by elaborate descriptions of nature and by the use of an elevated, Latin-derived vocabulary. The word "aureate", from the Latin for "golden", is itself one of Dunbar's favourite words when writing in this vein. The theme of "The Thistle and the Rose" is a "beast-parliament" similar to that in "The Parliament of Fowls", which celebrated another royal wedding, that of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia, and its opening lines:-

"Quhen Merche wes with variand windis past,
And Appryll had with hir silver schouris...."

seem like a deliberate echo of the opening lines of the Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales",

"Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote....".

Another Chaucerian influence can be seen in the poem "The Two Married Women and the Widow", a debate on love reminiscent of the Wife of Bath's Prologue, with the Widow having a certain resemblance to the Wife of Bath herself. Parts of this poem are written in the aureate style, but it also contains many examples of Dunbar's other literary style, characterised by earthy Scots words and used by him in his bawdy or satirical verse. One of the married women characterises her husband as a "wallidrag" (weakling), a "bumbart" (idler) and a "skabbit skarth" (a scabby monster), together with a number of other choice epithets.

Dunbar's satire, in fact, is much coarser than Chaucer's, and his language can be much filthier than the gentle ribaldry of something like "The Miller's Tale". Whereas Chaucer's satire is generally social, directed against abuses in church and state, Dunbar's can be crudely personal, directed against individuals to whom he had taken a dislike. A good example is the "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy", a literary duel between Dunbar and a rival poet, Walter Kennedy, who exchange a series of scurrilous insults. Dunbar also holds the dubious distinction of being the earliest writer to use the so-called "f-word". It occurs in his poem "In secreit place this hyndir nycht", a comic account of the wooing of two lovers, who address each other with all sorts of bizarre endearments such as "curldodie" ("ribwort plantain") and "possodie" ("sheep's head broth").

Another influence on Dunbar is the alliterative tradition found in Chaucer's Midland and Northern contemporaries, such as Langland and the "Pearl Poet". "The Two Married Women and the Widow", for example, is written in unrhymed alliterative verse:-

"I have ane wallidrag, ane worme, ane auld wobat carle
A waistit wolroun, na worth bot wourdis to clatter...."

In other places he combines alliteration with rhyming verse; an example is his poem commemorating the visit of Queen Margaret to Aberdeen in 1511. This poem also exemplifies another common poetic device used by Dunbar, the use of the same line to conclude every stanza. (In this case "Be blyth and blisfull, Burgh of Aberdein"). Perhaps his most famous poem to use this device is his "Lament for the Makaris", with its recurring refrain "Timor Mortis Conturbat Me". ("The Fear of Death Disturbs Me").

There is more to Dunbar than a combination of chivalrous courtly poet and vituperative satirist; he also wrote in various other poetic genres, including love poetry and religious poetry. Some of his religious verse is highly conventional in theme, like "Rorate celi desuper", a Christmas hymn, and "Hale, sterne superne", a hymn to the Virgin Mary, both written in the "aureate style". At other times, however, it can be much more personal and imaginative, such as the nightmare vision of "The Dance of the Sevin Deidlie Synnis". It was probably poems like this that the critic W.L. Renwick had in mind when he described Dunbar as "possessed of a riotous and fantastic devil".

Dunbar's language is not easy for modern readers- at least those born south of the Tweed- to understand, and even modern Scots may have occasional problems. Fortunately, the book comes complete with an extensive vocabulary list and notes which make it quite possible for anyone familiar with Middle English to understand all but the most obscure passages. (The editor, James Kinsley, has to admit that the meaning of some vocabulary items has become obscure).

This particular edition is now out of print. I came across it in a second-hand bookshop, and am glad that I did, because it serves as an excellent introduction to the work of one of Britain's strangest and most imaginative, if sometimes neglected, poets.