Значение слова DUNBAR в Литературной энциклопедии

WILLIAM (1465?-1530?).-Poet, is believed to have been _b._ in Lothian, and _ed._ at St. Andrews, and in his earlier days he was a Franciscan friar. Thereafter he appears to have been employed by James IV. in some Court and political matters. His chief poems are _The Thrissil and the Rois (The Thistle and the Rose_) (1503), _The Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins_, a powerful satire, _The Golden Targe_, an allegory, and _The Lament for the Makaris_ (poets) (_c._ 1507). In all these there is a vein of true poetry. In his allegorical poems he follows Chaucer in his setting, and is thus more or less imitative and conventional: in his satirical pieces, and in the _Lament_, he takes a bolder flight and shows his native power. His comic poems are somewhat gross. The date and circumstances of his death are uncertain, some holding that he fell at Flodden, others that he was alive so late as 1530. Other works are _The Merle_ and _The Nightingale_, and the _Flyting_ (scolding) of Dunbar and Kennedy. Mr. Gosse calls D. "the largest figure in English literature between Chaucer and Spenser." He has bright strength, swiftness, humour, and pathos, and his descriptive touch is vivid and full of colour.