William Dunbar, The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo [The Treatise of the Two Married Women and the Widow]

Wendy A. Matlock (Kansas State University)

Ed. by J. Derrick McClure, University of Aberdeen
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1508

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

Overview:

The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo is the Scottish poet William Dunbar’s longest and, in some ways, most provocative poem. The artful and lewd Tretis explores the relationships between men and women, voyeurism and eavesdropping, appearance and conduct, romance and fabliau, gossip and confession, and orality and literacy. It both satirizes women’s duplicity and subverts male authority, and also evokes conflicting responses about which one of these is more central to the poem’s substance. The poem is written in alliterative long lines and combines elements of the medieval debate poem, the flyting, the chanson de mal mariée, and the mock confession (like Chaucer’s Wife of …

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2359 words

Citation: Matlock, Wendy A.. "The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 November 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7976, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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