The "Cherrie and the Slae", which he probably revised and completed shortly before his death, is an ambitious religious allegory, employing a demanding, lyrical form which suggests that it was intended for singing, despite its considerable length. The Cherry and the Sloe in the title may derive from an illusion to the cherry being virtuous and the sloe being easily plucked but bitter to the taste and representing vice. His poetry reaches back to the earlier Makars, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, and some of his work invites comparison with Baroque writers. Alexander was one of the last court poets to write in Scots. A later poem was entitled a 'Spring Morning' and described one of the royal palaces, probably Linlithgow, on such a morning.