“The Wyf of Auchtermuchty” is a fifteen stanza poem, extant in the Bannatyne manuscript (c. 1568). Categorised as one of Bannatyne’s “[b]allatis mirry and vther salacious consaittis [conceits] set furth be Ancient Poyettis”, the poem has enjoyed an afterlife in prints from the eighteenth century onwards, the first of which was Allan Ramsay’s
Ever Green(1724). A bucolic poem, located in an otherwise primarily urban manuscript, the poem is a curious one. It describes a day in the life of a typical rural Scottish household, in which the master of the house trades places with his wife, suspecting that she has too little to do. Framed as a story “tawld” to an anonymous narrator, the tale is a comedic one, which reflects not only on gender roles, but on the structures of…
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Citation: Hinnie, Lucy R.. "Wife of Auchtermuchty, The". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 June 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39027, accessed 22 November 2024.]
