To Ruin by Robert Burns (1786)
The speaker addresses Ruin as an inexorable lord whose destructive command brings down even the greatest empires, attended by ministers of grief and pain. Having suffered the loss of a dearest bond, the speaker sees Ruin’s attacks plainly and no longer fears the gathering storm of sorrow. Instead, he appeals to the grim power of death for release from a life made joyless by care, longing for his heart to cease and for peaceful burial in cold clay, beyond fear and tears.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Ode, Elegiac Poetry · 262 words
First lines
All hail! inexorable lord! / At whose destruction-breathing word, / The mightiest empires fall! / Thy cruel, woe-delighted train, / The ministers of grief and pain, / A sullen welcome, all!
With stern-resolv'd, despairing eye, / I see each aimed dart; / For one has cut my dearest tie, / And quivers in my heart. / Then low'ring, and pouring, / The storm no more I dread; / Tho' thick'ning, and black'ning, / Round my devoted head.
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To Ruin 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: Lyric Poetry, Ode, Elegiac Poetry, Death Poetry, Gothic Poetry
- Length: 262 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a highly personal, first-person expression of grief, despair, and longing for release from suffering, emphasizing emotional intensity rather than narrative action.
- Ode — It directly addresses an abstract, personified power—Ruin—in elevated, apostrophic language, praising and imploring it in the formal manner of an ode.
- Elegiac Poetry — The speaker mourns the loss of a beloved connection and meditates on pain, mortality, burial, and the hoped-for end of emotional suffering.
- Death Poetry — Death is treated as a desired refuge from grief and worldly care, with imagery of the grave, lifelessness, silence, and cold earth.
Tags
lyric poem · elegy · meditation on death · grief · bereavement · despair · loss of a loved one · mortality · suicidal longing · death as release · personification of Ruin · personification of Death