DUNBAR, William. - Scottish poet, b. c. 1460 (?), d. c. 1520 (?). Of noble family, he belonged for a time to the Franciscan Order. He spent a period in Paris, divided between study and worldly amusements.
An epigone of Chaucer and a precursor of Burns, he is more notable for the realism and sense of the grotesque in his satirical works (Tidings from the Session, Sitire on Edinburgh, The Dance of the Seven Deidly) than for his allegorical poems (The Thrissill and the Reis; The Freiris of Berwick; The Tretis of the Twa Maryit We-men and the Wedo).