Address to the Devil

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

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It begins by quoting from Milton's Paradise Lost as a contrast with the first two lines of the poem itself:

"O thou! Whatever title suit thee, Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick or Clootie"

These lines are also a parody of a couplet in 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.