Sonnet on Receiving a Favour by Robert Burns
The speaker addresses Robert Graham of Fintry with intense personal gratitude for repeated favours and ever-renewed goodness. Rejecting any need for a fabled Muse, he declares that his own ardent spirit and heart supply his poetic tribute. He values the gifts all the more because of the character of their giver. Calling on the sun, moon, and stars as witnesses, he curses himself if he should ever forget Graham or dishonour his generosity: the passing heavens would then merely count the years of a villain. Overwhelmed by feeling, he places his hand on his swelling breast and admits that gratitude exceeds his power of speech.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Occasional Poetry · 185 words
First lines
10 Aug., 1979.
Addressed to Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintry.
I call no Goddess to inspire my strains, / A fabled Muse may suit a bard that feigns: / Friend of my life! my ardent spirit burns, / And all the tribute of my heart returns, / For boons accorded, goodness ever new, / The gifts still dearer, as the giver you. / Thou orb of day! thou other paler light! / And all ye many sparkling stars of night! / If aught that giver from my mind efface, / If I that giver's bounty e'er disgrace, / Then roll to me along your wand'rig spheres, / Only to number out a villain's years! / I lay my hand upon my swelling breast, / And grateful would, but cannot speak the rest.
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, highly personal verse expression of intense feeling, centered on the speaker's gratitude toward his benefactor.
- Sonnet — It is explicitly titled a sonnet and follows the compact, elevated form associated with a fourteen-line poetic address.
- Occasional Poetry — The poem was composed for a specific social circumstance: acknowledging favors received from Robert Graham of Fintry.
- Epistolary Poetry — Addressed directly to a named recipient, it functions as a poetic letter of thanks and loyalty.
Tags
gratitude · patronage · friendship · benefaction · generosity · tribute poem · address poem · Scottish poetry · eighteenth-century poetry · sonnet · lyric poetry · direct address
What this Textopian page supports
Sonnet on Receiving a Favour 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: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Occasional Poetry, Epistolary Poetry, Panegyric
- Length: 185 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Sonnet on Receiving a Favour by Robert Burns
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