Prologue, Spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh
The speaker thanks a generous public whose favour grants the actor both honest fame and personal regard, stirring deep gratitude. He contrasts this cultivated audience with a “barb’rous throng,” declaring that Caledonia is renowned for genius, learning, and courage in war. Its people honour sciences and noble arts that enlighten the mind and improve the heart: Philosophy pursues truth through Reason, History traces the changing course of empire, Douglas shapes Shakespeare’s wildness into form, and Harley awakens divine feeling in humanity. Before such discerning judges, whose taste, wit, learning, and beauty make them formidable, the speaker admits his anxious apprehension but trusts their candour and willingness to forgive. He praises their orderly freedom, which neither descends into riot nor disguises insolence. The speech ends as a prayer that Caledonia retain her ancient spirit, produce sons worthy of their fathers, resist tyranny and corrupting pleasure, remain self-dependent, and face danger boldly until the end of all worlds.
By Robert Burns · First published 1787 · Genre: Occasional Poetry, Theatrical Prologue, Panegyric · 526 words
First lines
Spoken by Mr. Woods on his benefit-night, Monday, 16th April, 1787.
When, by a generous Public's kind acclaim, / That dearest meed is granted-honest fame; / Waen here your favour is the actor's lot, / Nor even the man in private life forgot; / What breast so dead to heavenly Virtue's glow, / But heaves impassion'd with the grateful throe?
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Genres
- Occasional Poetry — The poem was composed and performed for actor Mr. Woods's benefit-night in Edinburgh, making it a verse work tied to a specific public occasion.
- Theatrical Prologue — It functions as an introductory address delivered by an actor before a performance, directly engaging the theatre audience and reflecting on acting, judgment, and applause.
- Panegyric — The work praises the Edinburgh audience, Scottish learning, artistic achievement, civic order, and Caledonia's national character.
- Patriotic Poetry — Its central emotional movement is an affectionate celebration of Scotland, invoking Caledonia's history, independence, courage, and resistance to tyranny.
Tags
prologue · occasional poem · theatre · actor's benefit night · public acclaim · gratitude · honest fame · Edinburgh · Scotland · Caledonia · eighteenth century · Scottish national identity
What this Textopian page supports
Prologue, Spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh 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: Occasional Poetry, Theatrical Prologue, Panegyric, Patriotic Poetry, Public Address
- Length: 526 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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