The Calf by Robert Burns (1787)
Robert Burns’s poem mockingly addresses the Rev. James Steven by treating the biblical image of calves growing up as a literal prophecy about him. The speaker calls Steven an unusual calf, predicts that even if he receives a kirk he will remain a stirk, and jokes that romantic or married life might make him a stot or give him horns. His loud speech is compared to the roaring and lowing of cattle, supporting his supposed claim to belong among the nowt. The satire imagines that, after his death beneath a grassy hillock, his grave could be marked with the inscription, “Here lies a famous bullock!”
By Robert Burns · First published 1787 · Genre: Satirical Poetry, Mock-Elegy, Epigram · 280 words
First lines
To the Rev. James Steven, on his text, Malachi, ch. iv. vers. 2. "And ye shall go forth, and grow up, as Calves of the stall."
Right, sir! your text I'll prove it true, / Tho' heretics may laugh; / For instance, there's yourself just now, / God knows, an unco calf.
And should some patron be so kind, / As bless you wi' a kirk, / I doubt na, sir but then we'll find, / Ye're still as great a stirk.
But, if the lover's raptur'd hour, / Shall ever be your lot, / Forbid it, ev'ry heavenly Power, / You e'er should be a stot!
What this Textopian page supports
The Calf 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: Satirical Poetry, Mock-Elegy, Epigram, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Clerical Satire
- Length: 280 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Calf by Robert Burns
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Genres
- Satirical Poetry — The poem is a sustained mockery of Reverend James Steven, using the biblical image of calves to ridicule his character, prospects, and supposed dignity.
- Mock-Elegy — Its closing imagined epitaph, 'Here lies a famous bullock,' humorously anticipates the subject's death in a parody of commemorative verse.
- Epigram — The work is brief, pointed, and structured around a single witty conceit: extending the comparison between the minister and livestock.
- Scottish Vernacular Poetry — Burns uses Scots vocabulary and idiom, including terms such as 'unco,' 'kirk,' 'stirk,' 'lug,' 'nowt,' and 'hillock.'
Tags
Scots vernacular poetry · satirical verse · clerical satire · Rev. James Steven · biblical parody · Malachi · calves of the stall · cattle imagery · mock praise · religious hypocrisy · church patronage · Scottish kirk