Makar
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2008-07-14T11:15:06Z
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/* The Makars */
[[Image:St Andrews Cathedral Ruins Front.jpg|right|150px|thumb|[[St Andrew's Cathedral]], one of Scotland's key buildings in the classic period of the Makars and a possible presence in some of Dunbar's spiritual works.]]
A '''makar''' is a term from [[Scottish literature]] for a [[poet]] or [[bard]], often thought of as [[noble court|royal court]] poet, although the term can be more generally applied. The word is a [[calque]] from [[Greek language|Greek]] of the term {{polytonic|ποιητής}} ''(poiētēs)'' which means both ''maker'' and ''poet''. It especially highlights the role of the poet as someone skilled in the crafting or ''making'' of controlled, formal poetry with intricate or involved [[diction]] and effects<ref>[http://www.cityofliterature.com/ecol.aspx?sec=3&pid=11 makar] UNESCO City of Literature</ref>. The term is normally applied to poets writing in [[Scots]] although it need not be exclusive to Scottish writers. [[Dunbar]] for instance referred to the English poets [[Chaucer]], [[John Lydgate|Lydgate]] and [[John Gower|Gower]] as makars.<ref>For example in ''[http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/769.html The Lament]'' (ll.50-1):
:''The noble Chaucer of makaris flour,''
:''The Monk of Bery, and Gower, al thre.''</ref>.
In literary history the term '''The Makars''' is specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth century [[Scotland]], in particular [[Robert Henryson]], [[William Dunbar]] and [[Gavin Douglas]], who wrote a diverse [[literary genre|genre]] of works in [[Middle Scots]] in the period of the [[northern renaissance]], a time of transition between medieval and renaissance sensibilities in the kingdom. Qualities in verse especially prized by many of these writers included the combination of skilful artifice with natural diction, concision and "quickness" of expression<ref>For example Dunbar praises his peer, [[Lament for the Makaris|Merseir]] in ''[http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/769.html The Lament]'' (ll.74-5) as one
:''That did in luf so lifly write,''
:''So schort, so quyk, of sentence hie''...
:who wrote such vivid love poetry,
:quick and concise, using exalted diction...</ref>. One word that expresses these qualites in combination is the Scots term [[Wiktionary:gleg|glegness]]. Some of the Makars, such as Dunbar, also featured an increasing incorporation of Latinate terms into Scots prosody, or [[aureation]], heightening the creative tensions between the ornate and the natural in [[poetic diction]].
The Middle Scots plural is ''makaris''.
==The Makars==
The work of the Makars of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries was in part marked out by an adoption in [[vernacular]] languages of the new and greater variety in [[scansion|metrics]] and [[prosody (poetry)|prosody]] current across Europe after the influence of such figures as [[Dante]] and [[Petrarch]] and similar to the route which [[Chaucer]] followed in England. Their work is usually distinguished from the work of earlier Scottish writers such as [[Barbour]] and [[Wyntoun]] who wrote [[Romance (genre)|romance]] and [[chronicle]] verse in octosyllabic couplets and it also perhaps marked something of a departure from the medieval [[alliterative]] or [[troubador]] traditions; but one characteristic of poetry by the Makars is that features from all of these various traditions, such as strong alliteration and swift narration, continued to be a distinctive influence.
[[Image:Rosslyn Chapel.jpg|right|thumb|150px|[[Rosslyn Chapel]]. Built in the century of the makars, its intricate carving shares much in spirit with the [[aureation]] in their poetic language.]]
The first of the Makars proper in this sense, although perhaps the least Scots due to his education predominantly in captivity at the English court in [[London]], is generally taken to be [[James I of Scotland|James I]] ([[1394]]-[[1437]]) the likely author of the [[Kingis Quair]]. Apart from other principal figures already named, writing by makars such as [[Richard Holland]], [[Blind Hary]] and [[Walter Kennedy]] also survives along with evidence that suggests the existence of a substantial body of lost work. The quality of extant work generally, both minor and major, demonstrates a thriving poetic tradition in Scotland throughout the period. [[Henryson]], who is generally seen today as one of the foremost makars, is not known to have been a court poet, but the Royal Palace of [[Dunfermline]], the city in which he was based, was one of the residences of the [[House of Stuart|Stewart]] court.
A high point in cultural patronage was the Renaissance Court of [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] ([[1488]]-[[1513]]) now principally associated in literary terms with [[William Dunbar]]. The pinnacle in writing from this time was in fact Douglas's ''[[Eneados]]'' ([[1513]]), the first full and faithful translation of an important work of classical antiquity into any [[Anglic language]]. Douglas is one of the first authors to explicitly identify his language as ''[[Middle Scots|Scottis]]''. This was also the period when use of Scots in poetry was at its most richly and successfully [[aureation|aureate]]. Dunbar's ''[[Lament for the Makaris]]'' (c.1505) contains a [[Wiktionary:leet|leet]] of makars, not exclusively Scottish, some of whom are now only known through his mention, further indicative of the wider extent to the tradition.
The new plane of achievement seet by Douglas in [[Epic poetry|epic]] and [[translation]] was not followed up in the subsequent century, but later makars, such as [[David Lyndsay]], still drew strongly on the work of fifteenth and early sixteenth century exponents. This influence can be traced right through to [[Alexander Scott]] and the various members of the [[Castalian Band]] in the Scottish court of [[James I of England|James VI]] ([[1567]]-[[1603]]) which included [[Alexander Montgomerie]] and, once again, the king himself. The king composed a treatise, the [[Reulis and Cautelis]] (1584), which proposed a formalisation of Scottish prosody and consciously strove to identify what was distinctive in the Scots tradition<ref>[http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/RDSJack.html Professor Ronald Jack on the Castalian Band] This group of poets drew their name from the term [[Castalian Spring]]</ref><ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4I6F4O2QUesC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=rules+and+cautelis&source=web&ots=V_D0avziFS&sig=h-FvtPJCXrs8IxiQPJ2Gac-h5vY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result] ''Written in the Language of the Scottis Nation'', p.64 (online source)</ref>. The removal of the Court to London under James after 1603 is usually regarded as marking the eclipse of the distinctively Scottish tradition of poetry initiated by the Makars, but figures such as [[William Drummond of Hawthornden|William Drummond]] might loosely be seen as forming a continuation into the seventeenth century.
The Makars have often been referred to by literary critics as ''Scots Chaucerians'' although the term is not helpful. Chaucer was certainly an important influence, but the makars drew strongly on a native tradition predating Chaucer, exemplified by [[Barbour]], as well as the courtly literature of France.<ref>Kinsley, James. ''William Dunbar: Poems'' Oxford clarendon Press, 1958. (Introduction, p.xiii)</ref>
In the more general application of the term which is current today the word can be applied to poets of the Scots revival in the eighteenth century, such as [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]] and [[Robert Fergusson]].
==Modern usage==
In 2002 the City of [[Edinburgh]], Scotland's capital, instituted a post of makar, known as the Edinburgh Makar<ref>[http://www.cityofliterature.com/ecol.aspx?sec=3&pid=11 Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature]</ref>. Each term lasts for three years and the first two incumbents were [[Stewart Conn]] (2002) and [[Valerie Gillies]] (2005). The current incumbent (starting June 2008) is [[Ron Butlin]].
A position of national [[Poet laureate|laureate]], entitled ''The Scots Makar'', was established in [[2004]] by the [[Scottish Parliament]]. The first appointment was made directly by the Parliament in that year when [[Edwin Morgan]] received the honour to become Scotland's first ever official [[national poet]].<ref>[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/02/5075 Edwin Morgan announced as the first Scots Makar, 2004]</ref><ref>[http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/Poet_for_Scotland.html ASLS: A National Poet for Scotland]</ref>
In modern times, other examples of poets that seem to particularly exemplify the traditions of the makars include [[Robert Garioch]], [[Sydney Goodsir Smith]], [[George Campbell Hay]] and [[Norman MacCaig]] among many others.
==Other uses==
*''Makar'' is the name of a fictional character in the video game "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker", see [[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker characters#Makar|The Wind Waker characters]].
==See also==
*[[Makars' Court]]
*[[scop]]
*[[bard]]
*[[Robert Burns]]
*[[Ollamh rígh]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External Links==
*[http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1682 Edwin Morgan]
*[http://www.booksfromscotland.com/News/Roddy-Lumsdens-Blog/22122005-Stewart-Conn Stewart Conn]
*[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth02D2L120512627176 Valeris Gillies]
*[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth02C19L040412626885 Ron Butlin]
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[[Category:Scots language]]
[[Category:Scottish literary movements]]
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