Address to the Deil by Robert Burns

Name: Address to the Deil
Author: Robert Burns

“Address to the Deil” speaks directly to Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, Clootie, Hangie, and Cloots, asking him to spare damned bodies from harsh torment. The speaker acknowledges his great power and wide fame, portraying him as a prowler who hunts like a roaring lion, rides tempests, rattles kirks, and lurks unseen within human bosoms. Tales from the speaker’s graunie place him in lonely glens and near ruin’d castles, frightening night wanderers with eldritch sounds; she has heard him beyond the dyke and moving through the boortrees. The speaker recalls a winter-night fright by the lough, when a looming shape seemed fearsome until it flew away like a drake. Warlocks and hags are said to ride with him over muirs and crags and renew their leagues in kirk-yards. Through witchin’ skill, household labour and property suffer: the kirn yields no butter, a dawtit hawkie vanishes, and a young guidman’s best wark-lume becomes useless. Water-kelpies, acting by his direction, lure travellers at flooded fords to destruction, while moss-traversin Spunkies mislead late, drunken people into miry sloughs. When masons’ mystic word and grip raise him in storms, a cock or cat must stop his rage, lest he whip the youngest brither straight to hell. The speaker accuses him of coming incog to Paradise, deceiving man, shaking the infant warld, and nearly ruining all. He recalls his spiteful treatment of the man of Uzz, whom he brought into thrall, stripped of house and hall, and afflicted with scabs and botches. His snares and fierce struggles since Michael pierced him are too numerous to recount. Though Auld Cloots may expect the rantin, drinkin bard to reach his black pit, the speaker claims he will evade him, then bids Auld Nickie-ben farewell and hopes he may yet mend and retain a stake, expressing sorrow even for him in yon den.

By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Scottish Dialect Poetry · 1,357 words

First lines

O Prince! O chief of many throned Pow'rs / That led th' embattl'd Seraphim to war- / Milton.

O Thou! whatever title suit thee- / Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie, / Wha in yon cavern grim an' sootie, / Clos'd under hatches, / Spairges about the brunstane cootie, / To scaud poor wretches!

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Genres

Narrative Poetry — The work is a verse monologue that develops through successive anecdotes, folk beliefs, biblical episodes, and imagined encounters involving the Devil.
Satirical Poetry — Burns uses comic exaggeration, irreverent address, and mock-serious moral reflection to ridicule conventional depictions of Satan, superstition, and religious severity.
Scottish Dialect Poetry — It is written predominantly in Scots vernacular, using regional vocabulary, speech rhythms, and rural cultural references central to Burns's poetic style.
Comic Poetry — Despite its infernal subject, the poem repeatedly produces humor through grotesque imagery, colloquial insult, absurd incidents, and the speaker's familiar treatment of the Devil.

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Address to the Deil is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1786 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Robert Burns
Date: 1786 CE
Language: English
Genres: Narrative Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Scottish Dialect Poetry, Comic Poetry, Mock-Heroic Poetry
Length: 1,357 words
Structure: 1 section, 24 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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