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Description: | This elegy, or poem written in memory of the dead, was written by Burns on his friend Matthew Henderson, who died in 1788. Burns uses an old elegiac tradition of calling upon all animals and natural bodies, such as the sun and moon, to mourn his friend. The poem continues with an epitaph, describing Henderson's many virtues.
Captain Matthew Henderson was part of 'a genteel profligate society' in Edinburgh, who had inherited property from his father but been forced to sell due to his spending. Henderson had much in common with Burns - he enjoyed convivial company, was a Mason, an antiquarian and had radical politics.
The migrating birds should carry word of Henderson's death to the world, while the owls wail the news all night. The land has often heard Burns' country tunes, but now will only get sad tales and tears. Spring and summer should mourn for his dead friend. | 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: | The Afton Manuscripts, a volume containi | Go to resource |
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