The Goldyn Targe

E160556

The Goldyn Targe is a celebrated allegorical dream-vision poem by Scottish makar William Dunbar, noted for its rich imagery and exploration of love, reason, and the power of the senses.

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The Goldyn Targe canonical 1

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Middle Scots poem
allegorical poem
dream vision
approximateCompositionDate early 16th century
approximateLineCount 189
author William Dunbar
centralConflict assault of Love and his forces on Reason
conclusion dreamer awakens and reflects on the vision
countryOfOrigin Scotland
exploresConcept limits of rational defense against love
relationship between imagination and reality
featuresCharacter personified Beauty
Cupid
surface form: personified Cupid

personified Danger
personified Fair Calling
personified Patience
personified Pleasure
personified Prudence
personified Reason
personified Venus
form dream-vision narrative
genre allegorical poetry
courtly love poetry
influencedBy French courtly love poetry
Geoffrey Chaucer
language Scots
surface form: Middle Scots
literaryPeriod Scottish Renaissance
literarySignificance important example of early Scottish Renaissance poetry
major work of William Dunbar
literaryTradition courtly allegory
mainTheme conflict between reason and passion
courtly love conventions
love
power of the senses
manuscriptSource The Bannatyne Manuscript
surface form: Bannatyne Manuscript
meter rhyme royal
narrativeFrame dream vision at dawn on May Day
narrator first-person dreamer
notedFor elaborate personification
exploration of sensory experience
ornate rhetorical style
rich visual imagery
numberOfStanzas 27
openingMotif May morning nature description
rhymeScheme ababbcc
setting idealized garden by the sea
symbol golden target representing human reason

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

William Dunbar notableWork The Goldyn Targe