Man was Made to Mourn: a Dirge by Robert Burns
On a bleak November evening beside the banks of Ayr, the speaker meets an aged, care-worn man who asks why the young stranger wanders and invites him to mourn the miseries of humankind. The old sage says that, over many years, he has repeatedly seen proof that man was made to mourn. He condemns the waste and unruly passions of youth, then contrasts the usefulness and strength of manhood with the suffering of old age, when care, poverty, and weakness unite. Though some appear favoured by fate and live amid wealth and pleasure, he insists that multitudes everywhere are wretched and forlorn. Human beings are burdened by natural ills and deepen their suffering through regret, remorse, shame, and especially cruelty toward one another. The sage points to an overworked poor man who must beg permission to labour from a proud fellow mortal, only to be refused while his wife and helpless children grieve. He questions why a person would be given an independent will if Nature intended him to be another man’s slave, and why any man should possess the power to inflict sorrow on his fellow. Yet he tells the youth not to be overwhelmed, because this unjust condition cannot be the final portion of the poor, oppressed, honest man. He believes there must be some recompense for those who mourn. For the aged and burdened poor, Death is presented as a kind and welcome friend, bringing rest and relief from the weariness that the rich and powerful fear to lose.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Dirge, Lyric Poetry, Philosophical Poetry · 830 words
First lines
When chill November's surly blast / Made fields and forests bare, / One ev'ning, as I wander'd forth / Along the banks of Ayr, / I spied a man, whose aged step / Seem'd weary, worn with care; / His face furrow'd o'er with years, / And hoary was his hair.
"Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou? " / Began the rev'rend sage; / "Does thirst of wealth thy step constrain, / Or youthful pleasure's rage? / Or haply, prest with cares and woes, / Too soon thou hast began / To wander forth, with me to mourn / The miseries of man.
What this Textopian page supports
Man was Made to Mourn: a Dirge is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1786 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: 1786 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Dirge, Lyric Poetry, Philosophical Poetry, Social Protest Poetry, Political Poetry
- Length: 830 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Man was Made to Mourn: a Dirge 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
Similar titles
- Hillcrest by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- The Auld Mans Prayer by George Macdonald
- To A Mouse On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough by Robert Burns
- Ultima Thule by John Galsworthy
- God Of The Open Air by Henry Van Dyke
- Quanto Piu M Avvicino Al Giorno Estremo by Francesco Petrarca
Genres
- Dirge — The poem explicitly identifies itself as a dirge and adopts a mournful meditation on suffering, age, poverty, injustice, and death.
- Lyric Poetry — It is a verse work structured in regular stanzas, using emotional expression, reflective voice, and recurring refrains to convey its central feeling of sorrow.
- Philosophical Poetry — The aged speaker considers enduring questions about human nature, fate, free will, mortality, suffering, and the meaning of social inequality.
- Social Protest Poetry — The poem condemns class oppression, exploitative labor, aristocratic indifference, and the cruelty through which people make their fellow humans suffer.
Tags
Scottish poetry · eighteenth-century literature · Ayrshire · November landscape · dialogue poem · dirge · elegiac verse · social criticism · human suffering · mortality · old age · poverty