self-positioning midway through the poem. A more complex version of
such doubling appears in“This hinder nycht, halff sleiping as I lay”(B 75 ).
The dreamer–once again the plain speaker doomed to fail at a deceitful
court–becomes the prone, passive scene of a debate among personifica-
tions. One of these is“Inoportunitie”(Importunity), who presents his
suit at unseasonable moments, yet has an enviable record of success.
His apparent blundering is both calculated and profitable:
ʒe sall not all gar him speid without me,
For I stand ay befoir the kingis face.
I sall him deiff or ellis my self mak hace, deafen, hoarse
Bot gif that I befoir him seruit be.
Ane besy askar soonner sall he speid
Na sall twa besy servandis, out of dreid... Than
( 77 – 82 )The two“befoirs”produce ambiguity; does the second simply echo thefirst
(so that both mean“in the king’s presence”) or is Inoportunitie pressing to
be served before (ahead of) the dreamer of whom he is also a personified
facet? The hesitation between these alternatives wryly implies that
“Inoportunitie”is afigure for the subject of these petitionary texts, one
simultaneously indulged and disavowed. Their Dunbar is the ultimate, and
yet the most insidious,“besy askar.”
Overt simplicity, covert duplicity andthe writing that comprehends both of
them shape“Schir,ʒe haue mony seruitouris”(B 67 ). It opens with a catalogue
of those who at court work legitimately for rightful reward, ending with the
poet’s claim for the enduring value of his own“making.”Although, he says
with mock humility, he may be unworthy compared to“the laif”[the rest],
Als lang in mynd my work sall hald,
Als haill in everie circumstance, whole, respect
In forme, in mater and substance,
But wering or consumptioun, without
Roust, canker or corruptioun,
As ony of thair werkis all,
Suppois that my rewarde be small. Although
( 28 – 34 )Dunbar’s words may appear a more forceful, less compromised apology for
poetry than others in his canon.^29 But heavy irony (“ʒesagraciousarandmeik,/
That onʒour hienes followis eik / Ane vthir sort,” 35 – 37 ) introduces another long
list of court parasites–a bravura display piece comparable in spirit and in verbal
invention to that in“Complane I wald, wist I quhome till”(B 9 ). And as payoff,
the speaker advertises a readiness to join the self-seekers. If he were given reward,
“My panefull purs so priclis me” 69