Sir Robert Sangster Rait was a distinguished Scottish historian and literary scholar, focusing primarily on Scottish history and literature. His academic career included a professorship at the University of Glasgow and leadership during the challenging years of the Depression. Rait contributed significantly to the development and administration of university institutions, as well as the National Library of Scotland. His work and leadership left a lasting legacy in the field of Scottish historical research and university life.
This seminal work of literary criticism examines one of the greatest works of Scottish medieval poetry, The Kingis Quair. Brown and Rait use new historicist and formalist techniques to analyze the poem's themes, structure, language, and cultural context. Their insights shed new light on this complex and beautiful work, and earned The Kingis Quair a place among the most important works of literary criticism of the modern era.