SOURCE: Schweitzer, Edward C. “The Allegory of Robert Henryson's ‘The Bludy Serk.’” Studies in Scottish Literature XV (1980): 165-74.

In the following essay, Schweitzer examines the moral facets of “The Bludy Serk,” maintaining that the work exemplifies Henryson's poetic style.

“The Bludy Serk” is a minor poem even within the canon of Robert Henryson's work, but although it lacks the imaginative detail and complex interaction of particular and general truth of his Morall Fabillis¹—for Henryson, after all, its general truth is absolute—“The Bludy Serk,” in its concern with moralities and in the craftsmanship of its execution, typifies Henryson's art. Since it is, as A. M. Kinghorn notes,² an early example of the literary ballad, since its lack of narrative complexity and precise detail follows from the simplicity and abstractness of ballad style, and since comparison with other versions of the story will show that Henryson did what...