Lament for the Makaris

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 remorselessly repeats the latin refrain timor mortis conturbat me (fear of death distroubles me) a litanic phrase from the Office of the Dead.

The poem is important for the roll call of makars it contains, some of whom we know of only from their citation in this work. It thus stands, in part, as a poetic testimony to historic loss in literature. Yet the poem is more than simply a historical record, but is an effective and moving work of personal meditation with a highly compressed emotionally stark expression.

The makars listed, chiefly but not exclusively Scottish, are cited as having died by the time of compostion (with the two exceptions of Patrick Johnston and Walter Kennedy). Most of the names can be traced to either the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. From internal evidence the lament is thought to have been composed c.1505.

[edit] Leet of names in the Lament

In order and form of citation, the poets Dunbar mourns in The Lament are:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Tasioulas, J.A. The Makars Canongate 1999, p.788-9.
  2. ^ Priscilla Bawcutt
  3. ^ Lament for the Makaris See notes section.

[edit] See also