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William Dunbar Quotes (1460-1520)
Writer, Poet
About William Dunbar
William Dunbar (c. 1460 β c. 1520) was a makar or Scottish Chaucerian poet. He was taken as a model by those writers of the Scottish Renaissance who followed Hugh MacDiarmid's slogan "Dunbar β not Burns!"
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βMy deathe chasis my lyfe so besalie
That wery is my goist to fle so fast.β
That wery is my goist to fle so fast.β
βMan, pleis thy makar and be mirry, And sett not by this warld a chirry;
(Man please thy maker and be merry, And set not by this world a cherry).
from "Of Covetyce".β
βI that in heill wes and gladness,
Am trublit now with gret seiknes,
And feblit with infermitΓ©;
Timor mortis conturbat me.
Our plesance heir is all vane glory,
This fals warld is bot transitory,
The flesche is brukle, the Fend is sle;
Timor mortis conturbat me.β
Am trublit now with gret seiknes,
And feblit with infermitΓ©;
Timor mortis conturbat me.
Our plesance heir is all vane glory,
This fals warld is bot transitory,
The flesche is brukle, the Fend is sle;
Timor mortis conturbat me.β
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Misattributed Quotes
Quotes mistakenly credited to William Dunbar
βStrong be thy wallis that about the standis;
Wise be the people that within the dwellis;
Fresh is thy ryver with his lusty strandis;
Blith be thy chirches, wele sownyng be thy bellis;
Riche be thy merchauntis in substance that excellis
Fair be thy wives, right lovesom, white and small;
Clere be thy virgyns, lusty under kellis:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.β
Wise be the people that within the dwellis;
Fresh is thy ryver with his lusty strandis;
Blith be thy chirches, wele sownyng be thy bellis;
Riche be thy merchauntis in substance that excellis
Fair be thy wives, right lovesom, white and small;
Clere be thy virgyns, lusty under kellis:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.β
About William Dunbar
William Dunbar (c. 1460 β c. 1520) was a makar or Scottish Chaucerian poet. He was taken as a model by those writers of the Scottish Renaissance who followed Hugh MacDiarmid's slogan "Dunbar β not Burns!"