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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 last page, the Epode, Burns asks cynically if riches can really not ensure a comfortable hereafter? While a beggar living in a cave with a clear conscience will go straight to heaven. | 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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