View source for Address to the Devil

{{Short description|Poem by Robert Burns}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{No footnotes|date=July 2022}}

"'''Address to the Devil'''" is a poem by [[Scotland|Scottish]] poet [[Robert Burns]]. It was written in [[Ayrshire|Mossgiel]] in [[1785 in literature|1785]] and published in the ''[[Kilmarnock volume]]'' in [[1786 in literature|1786]]. The poem was written as a humorous portrayal of the [[Devil]] and the pulpit oratory of the [[Presbyterian Church]]. 

== Content ==
It begins by quoting from [[John Milton|Milton's]] ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' as a contrast with the first two lines of the poem itself:

{{blockquote|text=<poem>O thou! Whatever title suit thee,
Auld Hornie, [[Satan]], Nick or Clootie</poem>}}

These lines are also a parody of a couplet in [[Alexander Pope|Alexander Pope's]] satire ''[[The Dunciad]]''.

The poem was written in a [[Habbie stanza]] with the stanza six lines long and the [[rhyme scheme]] AAABAB. Burns used a similar stanza in ''[[Death and Doctor Hornbook]]''.

The poem is also skeptical of the Devil's existence and of his intentions to punish sinners for all [[eternity]] as in the stanza.

:Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee,
:An’ let poor damned bodies be;
:I’m sure sma’ pleasure it can gie,
::Ev’n to a deil,
:To skelp an’ scaud poor dogs like me,
::An’ hear us squeel!

This contrasts with the views contained in works such as ''Paradise Lost'' and the preachings of the Church.

==See also==
*[[The Holy Tulzie]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Robert Burns ''Robert Burns'' Penguin Classics 1994 {{ISBN|0-14-042382-6}}
* David Punter, ''A Companion to the Gothic'' Blackwell Publishing 2001 {{ISBN|0-631-23199-4}} page 73
* Robert Burns, ''The Works of Robert Burns'' Wordsworth Editions 1998 {{ISBN|1-85326-415-6}} especially page 571
* [[Jerome McGann|Jerome J McGann]], ''Byron and Romanticism'' Cambridge University Press 2002 {{ISBN|0-521-00722-4}} page 269

==External links==
{{wikisourcepar|Address to the Deil}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/221/1007.html ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes'' Volume XI Chapter X on Burns]
* [http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/AddresstotheDeil.2.shtml The Burns Encyclopedia article on ''Address to the Deil'']

{{Robert Burns}}

[[Category:Poetry by Robert Burns]]
[[Category:1786 poems]]
[[Category:Fiction about the Devil]]


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