Welcome to Litsy!

This assortment of William Dunbar's extraordinary and impressive poems is presented in an easily accessible form. The poems are set forth so that the reader can know the poems, as they were intended, and better enjoy their beauty, spirit, and contribution to Western Literature. Standard editions of Middle English and Scotch works are published with select obsolete words and some variant spellings, translated either at the bottom of the page, adjacent to the text, or in an appendix. When the poems are presented this way, the full pleasure of this historic, artistic, and delightful literature is made more remote and cumbersome to read. In contrast, an interlinear presentation provides a clearer and more immediate view of the poem itself. It speaks better, more effortlessly, and more directly to readers, and should be the standard of presentation for such poetry.