Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux
Robert Ruisseaux, called Robin, lies dead and free at last from poverty, hunger, anxiety, and corrosive care. Though such troubles sometimes bore down upon him, he quickly answered them with songs and rhymes, treating resistance through verse as a kind of sport. Raised for hard country work and known as strong and able-bodied, Robin did not regard physical labour as the measure of a man; he was most pleased when praised for being learned and clerical.
By Robert Burns · First published 1793 · Genre: Elegy, Funeral Poetry, Mock Elegy · 210 words
First lines
Ruisseaux is French for rivulets or "burns," a translation of his name.
Now Robin lies in his last lair, / He'll gabble rhyme, nor sing nae mair; / Cauld poverty, wi' hungry stare, / Nae mair shall fear him; / Nor anxious fear, nor cankert care, / E'er mair come near him.
To tell the truth, they seldom fash'd him, / Except the moment that they crush'd him; / For sune as chance or fate had hush'd 'em / Tho' e'er sae short. / Then wi' a rhyme or sang he lash'd 'em, / And thought it sport.
Tho'he was bred to kintra-wark, / And counted was baith wight and stark, / Yet that was never Robin's mark / To mak a man; / But tell him, he was learn'd and clark, / Ye roos'd him then!
Similar titles
- Poor Mailies Elegy by Robert Burns
- Second Epistle To Davie by Robert Burns
- O Tibbie I Hae Seen The Day by Robert Burns
- Epitaph For James Smith by Robert Burns
- Green Grow The Rashes by Robert Burns
- A Grave by Walt Whitman
Genres
- Elegy — The poem mourns the death of a figure named Robin Ruisseaux, reflecting on his final rest and release from poverty, anxiety, and care.
- Funeral Poetry — Its subject is death and burial, using the conventional elegiac situation of addressing or commemorating the deceased.
- Mock Elegy — The deceased Robin Ruisseaux is a humorous self-referential version of Burns, and the solemn form is tempered by comic phrasing, self-deprecation, and playful treatment of hardship.
- Satirical Poetry — The work satirizes social judgments about labor, education, poverty, and poetic ambition, especially through its ironic portrait of Robin's preferences and failings.
Tags
elegy · funeral poem · death · poverty · hunger · anxiety · care and hardship · rural labor · country work · Scottish rural life · vernacular Scots · song and rhyme
What this Textopian page supports
Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1793 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1793 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Elegy, Funeral Poetry, Mock Elegy, Satirical Poetry, Dialect Poetry
- Length: 210 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux by Robert Burns
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph