The Christis Kirk Tradition: Scots Poems of Folk Festivity

The twenty poems included, ranging from the fifteenth century up to the climactic work of Robert Burns, are presented in slightly modern-ised texts, with on-the-page glosses for ease of understanding, and with full introductions and notes. Each poem describes, not without satirical intent, a festive occasion involving many people engaged in all kinds of revelry, wooing, drunken-ness, horseplay, ribaldry, brawling and bungling. The loose narrative, based on the actions of rapidly-sketched characters, is swift-paced and full of robust movement and details.
These poems are not however folk poetry but the work of highly sophisticated literary artists, writing in a verse form which is both traditional and complex. The poems in this book are in themselves a delight to read but they also represent a vital, major strand in the history of Scots poetry.