On a Suicide by Robert Burns (1787)
"On a Suicide" is a four-line epitaph about a man buried as an imp of hell, planted by Satan's dibble. The speaker calls him a poor silly wretch who damned himself, which saved the Lord the trouble.
By Robert Burns · First published 1787 · Genre: Epigram, Satire, Mock epitaph · 44 words
First lines
Earth'd up, here lies an imp o' hell, / Planted by Satan's dibble; / Poor silly wretch, he's damned himsel', / To save the Lord the trouble.
Genres
- Epigram — The poem is a very short, witty, couplet-based verse with a sharp closing line ("To save the Lord the trouble"), which is the defining form of the epigram.
- Satire — It mocks a dead man's damnation and the reader's assumed piety, using irony and ridicule to attack religious hypocrisy and the harsh judgment of suicides.
- Mock epitaph — It is framed as a gravestone inscription ("here lies", "earth'd up"), a common Burns form where the epitaph mocks the deceased instead of praising them.
- Black humour — It finds comedy in death and damnation, with the deceased's self-destruction treated as a joke that makes the reader uncomfortable.
Tags
epitaph · suicide · self-damnation · damnation · hell · Satan · the devil · divine judgement · religious satire · dark humour · mock elegy · burial
What this Textopian page supports
On a Suicide is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1787 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: 1787 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Epigram, Satire, Mock epitaph, Black humour, Anticlerical verse
- Length: 44 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
Good citation fit
- Work identity for On a Suicide by Robert Burns
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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