Epigram on the Said Occasion by Robert Burns
The speaker addresses Death, lamenting a man who has died and declaring that everyone would gladly have exchanged his wife for his life. Even after the man’s burial, the speaker proposes a bargain: Death may take away the old woman’s body and receive her soul as an added bonus.
By Robert Burns · First published 1787 · Genre: Epigram, Satirical Poetry, Comic Verse · 80 words
First lines
O Death, had'st thou but spar'd his life, / Whom we this day lament, / We freely wad exchanged the wife, / And a' been weel content.
Ev'n as he is, cauld in his graff, / The swap we yet will do't; / Tak thou the carlin's carcase aff, / Thou'se get the saul o'boot.
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Epigram on the Said Occasion is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1787 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1787 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Epigram, Satirical Poetry, Comic Verse, Scottish Dialect Poetry, Elegy Parody
- Length: 80 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
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Genres
- Epigram — A very short, pointed poem ending in a sharp comic reversal: the mourners would exchange the dead man for his wife, even adding his soul as a bonus.
- Satirical Poetry — The poem uses bitter humor and exaggeration to mock insincere mourning and hostile marital feeling.
- Comic Verse — Its central joke depends on the grotesquely humorous proposal to trade the deceased husband and his soul for the disliked wife.
- Scottish Dialect Poetry — Burns writes substantially in Scots dialect, using words such as 'wad,' 'a','weel,' 'graff,' 'carlin,' and 'o'boot.'
Tags
death · mourning · bereavement · funeral · graveyard · lament for a dead man · wife exchange · marital satire · dark humor · gallows humor · comic insult · old woman