Address to the Deil
Encyclopedia
Address to the Deil is a poem by Scottish
poet Robert Burns
. It was written in Mossgiel
in 1785
and published in the Kilmarnock volume
in 1786
. It is generally considered one of Burns' best poems.
and the pulpit oratory of the Presbyterian Church. The poem starts by quoting from Milton's
Paradise Lost
as a contrast with the first two lines of the poem itself:
These lines are also a parody of a couplet in Alexander Pope's
satire The Dunciad
.
The poem was written in a Habbie stanza with the stanza six lines long and the rhyme aaabab. Burns used a similar stanza in Death and Doctor Hornbrook.
The poem is also skeptical of the Devil's existence and of his intentions to punish sinners for all eternity as in the stanza.
This contrasts with the views contained in works such as Paradise Lost and the preachings of the Church.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
poet Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
. It was written in Mossgiel
Mossgiel
Mossgiel can refer to:*Mossgiel Farm, Ayrshire, Scotland - home of poet Robert Burns*Mossgiel, New South Wales, named after Burns's farm...
in 1785
1785 in literature
-Events:* January 1 - First publication of the Daily Universal Register * Thomas Warton becomes Poet Laureate* The first steam powered cotton spinner was made by Matthew Bolton and James Watt....
and published in the Kilmarnock volume
Kilmarnock volume
The Kilmarnock volume, also known as Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, — printed and issued by John Wilson, Kilmarnock, on 31 July 1786, was the first edition of poet Robert Burns' work. It cost 3 s and 612 copies were printed. The volume was dedicated to Gavin Hamilton...
in 1786
1786 in literature
-Events:*January 19 - Franziska Stading plays the female lead in Gustav Vasa at the Royal Swedish Opera.* The Story of the Learned Pig, a satire based on the idea that the learned pig was the reincarnation of Romulus, Brutus, the Duke of Marborough and wrote William Shakespeare's plays.-New...
. It is generally considered one of Burns' best poems.
Overview
The poem was written as a humorous portrayal of the DevilDevil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
and the pulpit oratory of the Presbyterian Church. The poem starts by quoting from Milton's
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
as a contrast with the first two lines of the poem itself:
- "O thou! Whatever title suit thee,
- Auld Hornie, SatanSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
, Nick or Clootie"
These lines are also a parody of a couplet in Alexander Pope's
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
satire The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
.
The poem was written in a Habbie stanza with the stanza six lines long and the rhyme aaabab. Burns used a similar stanza in Death and Doctor Hornbrook.
The poem is also skeptical of the Devil's existence and of his intentions to punish sinners for all eternity as in the stanza.
- Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee,
- An’ let poor damned bodies be;
- I’m sure sma’ pleasure it can gie,
- Ev’n to a deil,
- To skelp an’ scaud poor dogs like me,
- An’ hear us squeel!
This contrasts with the views contained in works such as Paradise Lost and the preachings of the Church.
Online References
- The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes Volume XI Chapter X on Burns
- The Burns Encyclopedia article on Address to the Deil
Other References
- Robert Burns Robert Burns Penguin Classics 1994 ISBN 0-14-042382-6
- David Punter, A Companion to the Gothic Blackwell Publishing 2001 ISBN 0-631-23199-4 page 73
- Robert Burns, The Works of Robert Burns Wordsworth Editions 1998 ISBN 1-85326-415-6 especially page 571
- Jerome J McGannJerome McGannJerome McGann is a textual scholar whose work focuses on the history of literature and culture from the late eighteenth-century to the present.-Career:Educated at Le Moyne College , Syracuse University Jerome McGann (born July 22, 1937) is a textual scholar whose work focuses on the history of...
, Byron and Romanticism Cambridge University Press 2002 ISBN 0-521-00722-4 page 269