Selected Poems of Robert Henryson And William Dunbar (Penguin Classics S.) - Softcover

Robert Henryson and William Dunbar are the most powerful and individual voices in the Scottish poetry of the Middle Ages. Writing in Lowland Scots, both were influenced by Chaucer and fascinated by the frailty of human life, sexual relations, and Christian hopes of salvation. Henryson is a master of narrative verse, so this edition includes 'The Fables' and 'The Testament of Cresseid' in full, as well as extracts from 'Orpheus and Eurydice' and three shorter pieces. Dunbar's work is far more personal, vividly evocative of Edinburgh streets and smells, and often celebrates or satirizes real people and events. Over a third of his 83 poems appear here, ranging from religious devotion to bawdy, parody and courtly allegory.

Robert Henryson (1420-1505) was an outstanding poet of late Medieval Scotland and a graduate of Dunfermline. William Dunbar (c.1460-1513) was Henryson's younger contemporary and a priest and member of the royal household. Douglas Gray born in 1930 and educated in New Zealand, continued his studies at Oxford, where he taught Medieval literature for many years, becoming a member of the council of the Early English Text Society and a Fellow of the British Academy.