Hugh MacDiarmid hailed William Dunbar (1461?-1520?) as "in many ways the most modern, as he is the most varied, of Scottish poets". This fully annotated edition makes the richness of Dunbar's language accessible to the modern reader.

This collection of medieval poems is full of the same virility, elegiac power, eroticism, and satire that colored the life of celebrated Scottish poet William Dunbar. An introduction and extensive notes on his life and works, including his career as a priest and his royal employment, are also included.