Address to the Deil

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"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.

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