Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry
In “Requesting a Favour,” the speaker imagines Nature creating the varied kinds of humanity: industrious workers, peasants, farmers, merchants, mechanics, knights, squires, soldiers, philosophers, lawyers, physicians, politicians, divines, and women. As a whimsical final experiment, she creates the Poet from volatile, insubstantial matter. The poet is made to entertain and earn praise from graver people, yet is poorly suited to Fortune’s struggles: he enjoys pleasure but may lack the means to live, wishes to relieve others’ suffering while often receiving no help for his own. Nature, regretting the poet’s helplessness, seeks a strong and generous supporter for him and attaches him to “bounteous Graham.” The speaker appeals to Graham as a friend, patron, and support for his hopes, contrasting the open-hearted generosity of poets with the cold calculations of prudence. He praises those who possess the godlike capacity to give freely and gracefully. Though he knows his need and trusts Graham’s kindness, the speaker is ashamed to seem like poets whose lofty verse disguises begging, dependence, and importunate demands upon patrons. He rejects such hypocrisy and insists he would rather return to hard manual labour, patching his old jacket and living on eighteenpence a week. Yet he asks Graham to place him where his Muse may strengthen her wings and rise to a more sublime poetic flight.
By Robert Burns · First published 1793 · Genre: Epistolary Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Satirical Poetry · 1,197 words
First lines
Requesting a Favour
When Nature her great master-piece design'd, / And fram'd her last, best work, the human mind, / Her eye intent on all the mazy plan, / She form'd of various parts the various Man.
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Genres
- Epistolary Poetry — The work is a verse epistle directly addressed to Robert Graham of Fintry, combining personal appeal, praise, and a request for patronage.
- Lyric Poetry — Its first-person voice, emotional candour, rhythmic verse, and meditation on the poet's condition give it a strongly lyric character.
- Satirical Poetry — Burns humorously and sharply satirizes social types, including squires, professionals, prudent rationalists, and poets who beg hypocritically for patronage.
- Occasional Poetry — The poem was composed for a particular practical occasion: Burns's appeal to Graham for assistance and advancement.
Tags
Scottish poetry · eighteenth-century literature · verse epistle · patronage · appeal for patronage · poet as supplicant · Robert Graham of Fintry · Nature personified · creation of humanity · social classes · labor and poverty · manual labour
What this Textopian page supports
Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry 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: Epistolary Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Occasional Poetry, Patronage Poetry
- Length: 1,197 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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