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Description: | In this poem Burns first informs the devil of his forthcoming incumbent. He then describes Mrs. Oswald and her selfish habits. Next he addresses her late husband, already in hell, and finally he revels in the fact that while their money could not save them, an honest beggar would go up to heaven.
Mrs Oswald owned the Auchencruive estate after her husbands death but lived in London. When she died her funeral cortege stopped at the Inn in Sanquhar where Burns had a room but was forced to give it up and move 12 miles on to New Cummnock on a wild January night. Incensed Burns wrote this poem that evening.
In this first page Burns advises the devil to look out for Mrs Oswald. Burns then describes how mean spirited Mrs Oswald has been in life and how she goes unpitied and unblest to hell. He asks hells fiends to let Mr Oswald look up to greet his mate. This page contains an introductory verse, Strophe and Antistrophe. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1789-01-01 - 1789-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Poem by Robert Burns: 'Ode, sacred to th | Go to resource |
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