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Description: | Poem written by Burns in the aftermath of the farcical unveiling of a memorial to Thomson by Lord Buchan. Burns appears to have copied it to Mrs Graham of Fintry as this version is on the same sheet of paper as his letter (no 531) to her dated 5th Jan 1793. (poem no 332)
James Thomson the poet died in 1748 and in 1791 Lord Buchan had a bust cast to erect on a memorial on the hill of Ednam where the poet was born. Burns had been commissioned to write and ode for the occasion which he did. (poem no 331) The bust got broken before the ceremony making the event something of a farce.
Robert Burns starts off his poem by addressing Thomson's spirit, asking if he has a wry smile. He alludes to the fuss made of him now he is dead but did not receive any help during his life. He finishes with a dig at the rich and the despair of the poor. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1791-01-01 - 1791-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Poem by Robert Burns: 'Extempore - on so | Go to resource |
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