Third Epistle to J. Lapraik by Robert Burns
Robert Burns’s speaker sends Johnie wishes for good health, fair weather, successful farming, and enough brandy to revive him while he works. He hopes harsh winds will not damage Johnie’s crops or scatter his grain, but that the fullest harvest will safely reach the sack. The speaker says he too is busy at work, struggling to write after soaking rain, and explains that he has been two months in debt for Johnie’s fine but unsigned and undated letter. Johnie had accused him of harsh ill-nature toward holy men, though the speaker retorts that Johnie is no better and even more profane. Rather than heed kirk-folk, the speaker proposes that they celebrate themselves without calling on heathen powers for aid or praise: browster wives and whisky stills are their muses. He declares he will not abandon Johnie’s friendship. If Johnie objects, they can clasp hands, take witnesses, and seal their bond with usquabae. The speaker hopes to spend a winter night guarding Johnie’s fireside once the animals, food, and shelter are secure. Aqua-vitae will make them cheerful and witty enough for Johnie to forget his age and feel as lively as when he was twenty-one. Seeing the stooks blown down and the sun setting, the speaker must leave off writing and signs himself Rab the Ranter.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Epistolary Poetry, Scottish Dialect Poetry, Satirical Poetry · 540 words
First lines
Guid speed and furder to you, Johnie, / Guid health, hale han's, an' weather bonie; / Now, when ye're nickin down fu' cannie / The staff o' bread, / May ye ne'er want a stoup o' bran'y / To clear your head.
May Boreas never thresh your rigs, / Nor kick your rickles aff their legs, / Sendin the stuff o'er muirs an' haggs / Like drivin wrack; / But may the tapmost grain that wags / Come to the sack.
Similar titles
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- Reply To An Announcement By J Rankine by Robert Burns
- Poor Mailies Elegy by Robert Burns
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- Heres To Thy Health by Robert Burns
Genres
- Epistolary Poetry — The work is a verse letter addressed directly to John Lapraik, responding to his earlier correspondence and closing with Burns's personal subscription.
- Scottish Dialect Poetry — It is written predominantly in Scots vernacular, using rural idiom, Scots spellings, and colloquial speech to create its distinctive voice.
- Satirical Poetry — Burns lightly mocks religious strictness, mutual accusations of profanity, and conventional ideas of poetic inspiration, especially in the stanza about kirk-folk and muses.
- Comic Poetry — Its affectionate teasing, exuberant drinking imagery, self-deprecating references to writing, and playful tone make humor central to the poem.
Tags
Scots vernacular poetry · verse epistle · poetic letter · rural Scotland · eighteenth-century Scotland · farming and harvest · agricultural labor · weather and wind · grain and crops · friendship · male camaraderie · whisky
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Third Epistle to J. Lapraik 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: Epistolary Poetry, Scottish Dialect Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Comic Poetry, Friendship Poetry
- Length: 540 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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