Poetry
Lament for the Makaris
William Dunbar · 1508
Synopsis
The poet, ill, draws up the list of those who died before him. Twenty-five names pass by, court poets and clerics, English and Scottish, some famous and others of whom nothing remains but this line. After each stanza the same Latin refrain returns: the fear of death troubles me. Illness takes knights in arms, children, ladies, churchmen and men of law. At the end the poet counts himself among those awaiting their turn.
Context
The poem was printed in 1508 in Edinburgh by the first printers established in the country: it is therefore one of the first Scottish texts whose date is certain, whereas its neighbours in the catalogue have only approximate dates. Its list mixes English and Scottish names, those of the chapel and those of the court; it names John Barbour, dead more than a century before, and the blind minstrel of whom almost nothing is known. For several of the twenty-five, no work survives.
Who it is for
One hundred lines in Scots, with a Latin refrain that need not be understood. It is the most accessible text by its author.
Prizes and reception
Printed by the very first presses set up in Scotland, and the only document to preserve the names of some of the country's medieval poets.