Little is certain about the life of William Dunbar. Yet, unusually for a medieval poet, and in contrast with his older contemporary, Robert Henryson, Dunbar’s work is characterised by moments of self-reflection. While we must regard poetic self-revelation with some scepticism – especially in the Middle Ages when poets worked under the auspices of patronage – it is possible to construct an image of Dunbar from the limited historical and literary evidence of the period.

There is much debate over Dunbar’s birth date, but the consensus is that he was born around 1460, making him a generation younger than Robert Henryson, his fellow Scots ‘makar’. He appears to have been, like Henryson, university-educated, possibly taking a degree from the University of St. Andrews in the late 1470s.

Critics speculate – as a result of the information Dunbar provides in his work and the evidence of legal documents – that he was a priest and legal clerk, and poet to James IV’s royal court. The nature of his relationship with his royal patron is clear when we consider that Dunbar helped to promote James’s marriage with Margaret Tudor, the event being commemorated in his poem, 'The Thrissill and the Rois'. From his work, it is also apparent that he was a favourite of the Queen, and his poetry contains many snapshots of court life.

Life as a sponsored writer had, conversely, its negative aspects. Conventionally, a patronised court poet was forced, by financial necessity, to deliver what his patron required; to provide a voice which both flattered the monarch and endorsed the contemporary status quo. Dunbar, however, is less than predictable in his courtly role, taking opportunities to criticise the excesses of James’s position as monarch.

Dunbar’s life as a cleric was fraught, and he often bewails what he sees as his unfair treatment by James IV. During his career, Dunbar appears to have made many requests for a ‘benefice’, which was a regular income based on his priestly work, all of which seem to have been unsuccessful. Unafraid to air his distaste at this treatment, Dunbar’s corpus is sprinkled with poetic lamentations which expose his economic uncertainty.

Dunbar’s poetry is among the greatest in the Scots language. His work in the lyric is superlative, and his use of Scots is sophisticated, versatile and stylish. The self-reflection in his work reveals a sensitive and complex man. But this self-reflection is of secondary importance – whatever we know of Dunbar the man, Dunbar the poet is a virtuoso master craftsman of considerable literary genius.