William Dunbar
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William Dunbar was a Scottish makar, or court poet, active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of w
Statue of William Dunbar, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Lament for the Makaris
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"I that in Heill wes and Gladnes", also known as "The Lament for the Makaris", is a poem in the form of a danse macabre by the Scottish poet William Dunbar. Every fourth line repeats the Latin refrain
William Dunbar
…clear his comparative value to the king and country. Elsewhere, Dunbar seemed to reveal other aspects of his private life. His famous Memento mori poem Lament for the Makaris eulogised his fellow Scottish poets who had died. Meditatioun In Wyntir considers ageing and the poet's frustrated ambitions while On His Heid-Ake is…
Breughel, The Triumph of Death (detail)