Stanzas on Naething by Robert Burns
The speaker summons Gavin Hamilton while admitting he wants “naething,” then reflects on how people of all ranks devote themselves to empty pursuits. Moneylenders, courtiers seeking coronets, religious quarrellers, lovers, poets seeking laurels, and swaggering bullies all discover that their rewards, disputes, courage, or ambitions amount to nothing. The speaker recounts charming a woman who distrusted poets, giving her affection and promises of nothing, and dismisses priestly threats as powerless. Facing a voyage that may bring death by drowning, he treats even a watery grave as nothing to a poet, then bequeaths Gavin his service while he has anything and his friendship when he has nothing.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Satirical Poetry, Comic Poetry, Epistolary Poetry · 509 words
First lines
Extempore Epistle to Gavin Hamilton, Esq.
To you, sir, this summons I've sent, / Pray, whip till the pownie is freathing; / But if you demand what I want, / I honestly answer you-naething.
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Stanzas on Naething is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1786 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1786 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Satirical Poetry, Comic Poetry, Epistolary Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Social Satire
- Length: 509 words
- Structure: 1 section, 14 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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Similar titles
- Epistle To Davie A Brother Poet by Robert Burns
- A Dedication To Gavin Hamilton Esq by Robert Burns
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Genres
- Satirical Poetry — The poem uses recurring irony and ridicule to expose the emptiness of wealth, ambition, religious quarrels, social status, bravado, and poetic reward.
- Comic Poetry — Its playful treatment of serious subjects, comic reversals, bawdy episode, and repeated punchline of 'naething' create a deliberately humorous effect.
- Epistolary Poetry — Framed as an extempore epistle addressed to Gavin Hamilton, the work adopts the form of a personal poetic letter.
- Scottish Vernacular Poetry — Burns writes extensively in Scots diction and idiom, including words such as 'a'', 'wi'', 'bonie,' 'hurdies,' and 'graithing,' grounding the poem in Scottish literary tradition.
Tags
Scottish vernacular poetry · verse epistle · eighteenth-century Scotland · satire · mock-philosophical reflection · nothingness · vanity of ambition · social satire · class and rank · moneylending · courtly ambition · religious sectarianism