# Makar

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Makar
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Makar.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makar
> Source revision: 1343824473
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard

This article is about the Scottish poetical term. For other uses, see [Makar (disambiguation)](/source/Makar_(disambiguation)).

[St Andrews Cathedral](/source/St_Andrews_Cathedral), [St Andrews](/source/St_Andrews), now in ruins: 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** ( [/ˈmækər/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English) [ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sco-makar.oga)) is a term from [Scottish literature](/source/Scottish_literature) for a [poet](/source/Poet) or [bard](/source/Bard), often thought of as a [royal court](/source/Noble_court) poet.

Since the 19th century, the term *The Makars* has been specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth century [Scotland](/source/Scotland), in particular [Robert Henryson](/source/Robert_Henryson), [William Dunbar](/source/William_Dunbar) and [Gavin Douglas](/source/Gavin_Douglas), who wrote a diverse [genre](/source/Literary_genre) of works in [Middle Scots](/source/Middle_Scots) in the period of the [Northern Renaissance](/source/Northern_Renaissance).

The Makars have often been referred to by literary critics as *Scots Chaucerians*. In modern usage, poets of the Scots revival in the 18th century, such as [Allan Ramsay](/source/Allan_Ramsay_(poet)) and [Robert Fergusson](/source/Robert_Fergusson) are also makars.

Since 2002, the term "makar" has been revived as the name for a publicly funded poet, first in Edinburgh, followed by the cities of Glasgow, Stirling and Dundee. In 2004 the position of [Makar](/source/Makar_(National_Poet_for_Scotland)), was authorized by the [Scottish Parliament](/source/Scottish_Parliament).

## Etymology

[Middle Scots](/source/Middle_Scots) *[makar](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/makar#Scots)* (plural *makaris*) is the equivalent of Middle English *[maker](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maker)*. The word functions as a [calque](/source/Calque) (literal translation) of [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) term [ποιητής](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%B9%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%82#Ancient_Greek) (*poiētēs*) "maker; [poet](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poet)". The term is normally applied to poets writing in [Scots](/source/Scots_language) although it need not be exclusive to Scottish writers. [William Dunbar](/source/William_Dunbar) for instance referred to the English poets [Chaucer](/source/Geoffrey_Chaucer), [Lydgate](/source/John_Lydgate) and [Gower](/source/John_Gower) as *makaris*.[1]

## The Makars in history

This section needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The work of the Makar of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries was in part marked out by an adoption in [vernacular](/source/Vernacular) languages of the new and greater variety in [metrics](/source/Scansion) and [prosody](/source/Prosody_(poetry)) current across Europe after the influence of such figures as [Dante](/source/Dante) and [Petrarch](/source/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](/source/John_Barbour_(poet)) and [Wyntoun](/source/Wyntoun) who wrote [romance](/source/Romance_(heroic_literature)) and [chronicle](/source/Chronicle) verse in octosyllabic couplets and it also perhaps marked something of a departure from the medieval [alliterative](/source/Alliterative) or [troubador](/source/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.

[Rosslyn Chapel](/source/Rosslyn_Chapel); built in the century of the makars, the famed intricacy of its carving shares much in spirit with the aureation in their 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](/source/London), is generally taken to be [James I](/source/James_I_of_Scotland) (1394–1437) the likely author of the [Kingis Quair](/source/Kingis_Quair). Apart from other principal figures already named, writing by makars such as [Richard Holland](/source/Richard_Holland), [Blind Hary](/source/Blind_Hary) and [Walter Kennedy](/source/Walter_Kennedy_(poet)) 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](/source/Henryson), who is generally seen today as one of the foremost makars, is not known to have been a [court poet](/source/Court_poet), but the Royal Palace of [Dunfermline](/source/Dunfermline), the city in which he was based, was one of the residences of the [Stewart](/source/House_of_Stuart) court.

A high point in cultural patronage was the Renaissance Court of [James IV](/source/James_IV_of_Scotland) (1488–1513) now principally associated in literary terms with [William Dunbar](/source/William_Dunbar). The pinnacle in writing from this time was in fact Douglas's *[Eneados](/source/Eneados)* (1513), the first full and faithful translation of an important work of classical antiquity into any [Anglic language](/source/Anglic_language). Douglas is one of the first authors to explicitly identify his language as *Scottis*. This was also the period when use of Scots in poetry was at its most richly and successfully aureate. Dunbar's *Lament for the Makaris* (c.1505) contains a [leet](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/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.

Qualities in verse especially prized by many of these writers included the combination of skilful artifice with natural diction, concision and quickness (*[glegness](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gleg&action=edit&redlink=1)*) of expression. For example, Dunbar praises his peer, [Merseir](/source/Lament_for_the_Makaris) in *[The Lament](https://web.archive.org/web/20090406023759/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/769.html)* (ll.74-5) as one

- *That did in luf so lifly write, So schort, so quyk, of sentence hie*...

- "That did in love so lively write, So short so quick, of sentence high..."

Some of the Makars, such as Dunbar, also featured an increasing incorporation of Latinate terms into Scots prosody, or [aureation](/source/Aureation), heightening the creative tensions between the ornate and the natural in [poetic diction](/source/Poetic_diction).

The new plane of achievement set by Douglas in [epic](/source/Epic_poetry) and [translation](/source/Translation) was not followed up in the subsequent century, but later makars, such as [David Lyndsay](/source/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](/source/Alexander_Scott_(16th_century_poet)) and the various members of the [Castalian Band](/source/Castalian_Band) in the Scottish court of [James VI](/source/James_I_of_England) (1567–1603) which included [Alexander Montgomerie](/source/Alexander_Montgomerie) and, once again, the king himself. The king composed a treatise, the [Reulis and Cautelis](/source/Reulis_and_Cautelis) (1584), which proposed a formalisation of Scottish prosody and consciously strove to identify what was distinctive in the Scots tradition.[2][3] 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](/source/William_Drummond_of_Hawthornden) 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*. While Chaucer's influence on fifteenth-century Scottish literature was certainly important, the makars drew strongly on a native tradition predating Chaucer, exemplified by Barbour, as well as the courtly literature of France.[4]

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](/source/Allan_Ramsay_(poet)) and [Robert Fergusson](/source/Robert_Fergusson). In recent times, other examples of poets that have seemed to particularly exemplify the traditions of the makars have included [Robert Garioch](/source/Robert_Garioch), [Sydney Goodsir Smith](/source/Sydney_Goodsir_Smith), [George Campbell Hay](/source/George_Campbell_Hay) and [Norman MacCaig](/source/Norman_MacCaig) among many others.[*[clarification needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify)*]

## Modern usage

### The Scots Makar

Main article: [Makar (National Poet for Scotland)](/source/Makar_(National_Poet_for_Scotland))

Nicola Sturgeon and the new 2021 Makar [Kathleen Jamie](/source/Kathleen_Jamie) outside the [Scottish Poetry Library](/source/Scottish_Poetry_Library)

A position of national [laureate](/source/Poet_laureate), entitled *The Scots Makar*, was established in 2004 by the [Scottish Parliament](/source/Scottish_Parliament). The first appointment was made directly by the Parliament in that year when [Edwin Morgan](/source/Edwin_Morgan_(poet)) received the honour to become Scotland's first ever official [national poet](/source/National_poet).[5][6] He was succeeded in 2011 by [Liz Lochhead](/source/Liz_Lochhead).[7] [Jackie Kay](/source/Jackie_Kay) was announced as the third holder of this post in 2016.[8] Before Kay was appointed, it was suggested that the role might now only be referred to as the National Poet for Scotland, because of concerns that the word makar had to be explained outside of Scotland.[9] Kay states that she argued for retaining the Makar name, which is still used.[10][11] In August 2021 [Kathleen Jamie](/source/Kathleen_Jamie) was announced as the fourth holder of the post.[12]

### The city Makars

In 2002 the City of [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh), Scotland's capital, instituted a post of makar, known as the Edinburgh Makar.[13] Each term lasts for three years and the first three incumbents were [Stewart Conn](/source/Stewart_Conn) (2002), [Valerie Gillies](/source/Valerie_Gillies) (2005), and [Ron Butlin](/source/Ron_Butlin) (2008, 2011). The current incumbent (as of 2021) is [Hannah Lavery](/source/Hannah_Lavery).[14] The previous Edinburgh makars were [Alan Spence](/source/Alan_Spence)[15] and Shetlandic dialect writer and advocate [Christine De Luca](/source/Christine_De_Luca).

Other cities to create Makar posts include [Glasgow](/source/Glasgow) ([Liz Lochhead](/source/Liz_Lochhead)),[16] [Stirling](/source/Stirling) ([Magi Gibson](/source/Magi_Gibson),[17] [Laura Fyfe](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laura_Fyfe&action=edit&redlink=1))[18] [Aberdeen](/source/Aberdeen) ([Sheena Blackhall](/source/Sheena_Blackhall))[19] and [Dundee](/source/Dundee) ([W.N. Herbert](/source/W.N._Herbert)).[20]

## Other uses

- American poet [John Berryman](/source/John_Berryman) uses the word in [The Dream Songs](/source/The_Dream_Songs) #43 and #94.

- *Makar* is the name of a fictional character in the video game *The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker*, see [*The Wind Waker* characters](/source/The_Legend_of_Zelda%3A_The_Wind_Waker_characters#Makar).

- Makar is a New York indie rock band formed in 2002 by singer/songwriters Mark Purnell and Andrea DeAngelis.[21]

- The Edinburgh Makars is an Amateur Drama Group founded in 1932 by [Christine Orr](/source/Christine_Orr), the well-known Scottish actress, broadcaster and playwright.[22]

## See also

- [Makars' Court](/source/Makars'_Court)

- [Scop](/source/Scop)

- [Robert Burns](/source/Robert_Burns)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** For example in *[The Lament](http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/769.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090406023759/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/769.html) 2009-04-06 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)* (ll.50–1): 1. *The noble Chaucer of makaris flour,* 1. *The Monk of Bery, and Gower, al thre.*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Scottish Literature: 1600 and All That"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120211125608/http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/RDSJack.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/RDSJack.html) on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [\[1\]](https://books.google.com/books?id=4I6F4O2QUesC&dq=rules+and+cautelis&pg=PA64) *Written in the Language of the Scottis Nation*, p.64 (online source)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Kinsley, James. *William Dunbar: Poems* Oxford clarendon Press, 1958. (Introduction, p.xiii)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["The Scots Makar"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120204042020/http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/02/5075) (Press release). Scottish Government. 16 February 2004. Archived from [the original](https://www.gov.scot/News/Releases/2004/02/5075) on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["ASLS: A National Poet for Scotland"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080926023920/http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/Poet_for_Scotland.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/Poet_for_Scotland.html) on 26 September 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Liz Lochhead confirmed as new Scots Makar"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-12227515). *BBC News*. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Jackie Kay named as new Scottish makar"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/15/jackie-kay-becomes-the-new-makar-scotlands-national-poet). *The Guardian*. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Search for new national poet will dispense with 'lovely old Scots name' Makar"](https://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/235965/search-for-new-national-poet-will-dispense-with-lovely-old-scots-name-makar/). *The Courier*. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Jackie Kay"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lldb). *Saturday Live*. 8 August 2020. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 8 August 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Scotland's new Makar"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160315171958/http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Scotland-s-new-Makar-23dd.aspx). Scottish Government. 15 March 2016. Archived from [the original](http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Scotland-s-new-Makar-23dd.aspx) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Kathleen Jamie announced as Scotland's new Makar"](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-58256647). *BBC News*. 18 August 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Meet the Makar"](http://www.cityofliterature.com/the-literary-city/meet/meet-the-makar/). *Edinburgh City of Literature*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Award-winning poet and playwright is new Edinburgh Makar | Museums and Galleries of Edinburgh |"](https://literaturealliancescotland.co.uk/alan-spence-new-edinburgh-makar). *literaturealliancescotland.co.uk*. Retrieved 1 September 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Alan Spence – new Edinburgh Makar | Literature Alliance Scotland | Caidreabhas Litreachais Alba"](https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/award-winning-poet-and-playwright-new-edinburgh-makar#:~:text=Award%2Dwinning%20poet%2C%20playwright%20and,work%20has%20been%20published%20widely). 28 November 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["Word on Street: Top Scottish writer Liz Lochhead is unveiled as Poet Laureate"](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-14304763.html).[*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["Magi is Stirling's Makar"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110606044912/http://www.stirling.gov.uk/news?id=191826). Archived from [the original](http://www.stirling.gov.uk/news?id=191826) on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["Stirling Makar"](https://www.stirling.gov.uk/community-life-and-leisure/libraries-and-archives/libraries/stirling-makar/stirling-makar/). *Stirling Council*. 3 November 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Makar Making"](http://www.wordfringe.co.uk/Wordfringe2009/E0018R.aspx). *www.wordfringe.co.uk*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Cowing, Emma (15 September 2013). ["Dundee appoints WN Herbert as first makar"](http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/news/dundee-appoints-wn-herbert-as-first-makar-1-3094134). *www.scotsman.com*. Retrieved 30 August 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["MAKAR"](http://www.makarmusic.com). *www.makarmusic.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** ["Edinburgh Makars History of the Club"](http://www.edinburghmakars.com/about.html). *www.edinburghmakars.com*.

## External links

- The full text of [Lament for the Makaris](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/en:The_Poems_of_William_Dunbar/Volume_1/Lament_for_the_Makaris), a poem by William Dunbar, at Wikisource

- [Edwin Morgan](http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1682)[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

- [Stewart Conn](https://web.archive.org/web/20080524212922/http://www.booksfromscotland.com/News/Roddy-Lumsdens-Blog/22122005-Stewart-Conn)

- [Valeris Gillies](https://web.archive.org/web/20070203150008/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth02D2L120512627176)

- [Ron Butlin](https://web.archive.org/web/20070410081527/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth02C19L040412626885)

- [The Edinburgh Makars](http://www.edinburghmakars.com/index.html)

- [Makar Allmusic](http://www.allmusic.com/artist/makar-p517976)

v t e Scots makars c. 1370 – c. 1460 John Barbour Huchoun James I Sir Gilbert Hay Andrew of Wyntoun Richard Holland c. 1460 – c. 1560 Blind Harry Robert Henryson Walter Kennedy William Dunbar Gavin Douglas David Lyndsay Richard Maitland John Stewart of Baldynneis William Stewart c. 1560 – 17th century Castalian Band Robert Aytoun William Drummond Alexander Scott Alexander Montgomerie James VI William Fowler Christian Lindsay Elizabeth Melville Alexander Hume Robert Sempill Robert Sempill the younger Francis Sempill John Stewart of Baldynneis 18th century – 20th century Allan Ramsay Robert Fergusson Robert Burns Robert Louis Stevenson Alicia Ann Spottiswoode William Soutar Robert Garioch Sydney Goodsir Smith Tom Scott George Campbell Hay Alexander Scott Hamish Henderson William Neill Makar or National Poet for Scotland (from 2004) Edwin Morgan Liz Lochhead Jackie Kay Kathleen Jamie Pàdraig MacAoidh

v t e Scottish literature Eras Medieval Early modern 18th century 19th century 20th century Movements Makars Renaissance in Scotland Castalian Band Enlightenment Romanticism Kailyard school Scottish Renaissance Scottish Gaelic Renaissance Tartan Noir Forms Drama Novel Poetry By language English Lowland Scots Scottish Gaelic Norn Lists Writers Dramatists Novelists Poets Short story writers Science fiction writers Related articles British literature Celtic literature (mythology) Irish literature Opera in Scotland Theatres Welsh literature Scotland portal

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Makar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.