The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo

E160555

The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo is a Middle Scots poetic dialogue, often attributed to William Dunbar, in which two married women and a widow candidly discuss love, marriage, and sexuality with satirical wit.

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Label Occurrences
The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo canonical 1

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Middle Scots poem
satirical poem
verse dialogue
associatedWith Scottish royal court
surface form: court of James IV of Scotland
attributedTo William Dunbar
audience courtly and educated readers
authorshipStatus attribution uncertain
centuryOfComposition 15th–16th century
circulation manuscript tradition
countryOfOrigin Scotland
criticalReception noted for bold treatment of female sexuality
explores gender roles in late medieval Scotland
tension between idealized and actual marriage
form narrative poem
frameNarrator a male observer-poet
genre poetic dialogue
satire
language Scots
surface form: Middle Scots
literaryForm dialogue
literaryPeriod Scottish Renaissance
literarySignificance important example of Middle Scots comic narrative
literaryTradition Scottish literature
surface form: Middle Scots literature
mainCharacters a widow
two married women
meter irregular rhymed stanzas
narrativeMode first-person framed narration
notableFeature explicit discussion of sexuality
use of female voices to critique social norms
primaryTheme love
marriage
sexuality
relatedConcept antifeminist and profeminine debate tradition
relatedWorkByAttribution The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy
rhetoricalMode confessional monologue within dialogue
setting an outdoor May-time gathering
studiedIn courses on medieval and Renaissance Scottish literature
style alliterative and rhymed verse
subjectMatter critique of husbands
female perspectives on marriage
sexual frankness
titleLanguage Middle Scots
titleMeaning The Treatise of the Two Married Women and the Widow
tone comic
satirical
uses colloquial speech
hyperbole
irony

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Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

William Dunbar notableWork The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo