Product Description
Book Description
Dunbar's genius has been recognised not only by critics but by modern poets such as Auden and Eliot. This critical study examines Dunbar's view of himself as a poet, or `makar', and the way he handles various poetic genres. New emphasis is placed on the petitions, or begging-poems, and their use for poetic introspection. There is also a particularly full study of Dunbar's under-valued comic poems, and of the modes most congenial to him - notably parody, irony, `flyting', or
invective, and black dream-fantasy. Priscilla Bawcutt takes account of recent scholarship on Dunbar and also the literary traditions available to him, both in Latin and the vernaculars, including `popular' and alliterative poetry as well as that of Chaucer and his followers. In contesting the over-simple and reductive views purveyed by some critics that Dunbar is primarily a moralist, or no more than a skilled virtuoso, she has written a well-informed, critically searching, and balanced
account of
the poetry.
Synopsis
Dunbar's genius has been recognized not only by critics but by modern poets such as Auden and Eliot. This critical study examines Dunbar's view of himself as a poet, or "makar", and the way he handles various poetic genres. Emphasis is placed on the petitions, or begging-poems, and their use for poetic introspection. There is also a study of Dunbar's undervalued comic poems, and of the modes most congenial to him - notably parody, irony, flyting, or invective and black dream-fantasy. Priscilla Bawcutt takes account of recent scholarship on Dunbar and also the literary traditions available to him, both in Latin and the vernaculars, including "popular" and alliterative poetry as well as that of Chaucer and his followers. In contesting the over-simple and reductive views purveyed by some critics, that Dunbar is primarily a moralist, or no more than a skilled virtuoso, she has written a balanced account of the poetry. This book is intended to be of interest to scholars, graduates, third-year undergraduates studying late Medieval/early Renaissance literature, particularly Scottish literature and Chaucer.
