Kirk and State Excisemen by Robert Burns
The speaker asks those who sneer at excisemen to hear their case, comparing landlords’ rent rolls to tax ledgers and rulers to revenue officers. Priests are mockingly compared to spiritual excisemen.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Epigram, Satirical Poetry · 80 words
First lines
Ye men of wit and wealth, why all this sneering / 'Gainst poor Excisemen? Give the cause a hearing: / What are your Landlord's rent-rolls? Taxing ledgers! / What Premiers? What ev'n Monarchs? Mighty Gaugers! / Nay, what are Priests? (those seeming godly wise-men,) / What are they, pray, but Spiritual Excisemen!
Genres
- Epigram — Six rhyming lines build toward the pointed comparison of priests to spiritual excisemen.
- Satirical Poetry — The speaker turns contempt for excisemen against landlords, political rulers, and supposedly godly priests.
Tags
tax collectors · landlords · political authority · clergy · satire · epigram
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Kirk and State Excisemen is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Epigram, Satirical Poetry
- Length: 80 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
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