Man was made to Mourn

Man was made to Mourn
Man was made to Mourn
by Robert Burns
Genre(s)	Dirge
Publication date	1784
Lines	88 (11 stanzas)
Metre	Common metre
Full text
	Aloway Kirk, or, Tam o' Shanter (1817)/Man was Made to Mourn at Wikisource

Last updated October 07, 2023

"Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge" is a dirge of eleven stanzas by the Scots poet Robert Burns, first published in 1784 and included in the first edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect in 1786. The poem is one of Burns's many early works that criticize class inequalities. It is known for its line protesting "Man's inhumanity to man", which has been widely quoted since its publication.

Composition

The origin of this poem is alluded to by Burns in one of his letters to Frances Dunlop: "I had an old grand-uncle with whom my mother lived in her girlish years: the good old man was long blind ere he died, during which time his highest enjoyment was to sit and cry, while my mother would sing the simple old song of 'The Life and Age of Man'".^[1] "The Age and Life of Man" that Burns wrote about hearing his mother sing was a 17th-century ballad. it served as the basis of "Man was made to Mourn".^[2] An early draft of the poem was included in The First Commonplace Book , a work that was largely texts intended to be sung to the tunes of existing songs.^[3]

Synopsis

"Man was made to Mourn" is an eleven stanza dirge by Robert Burns, first published in 1784.^[4]^[2] The poem was originally intended to be sung to the tune of the song "Peggy Bawn". It is written as if it were being delivered by a wiser old man to a "young stranger" standing in the winter on "the banks of Aire".^[2] It includes the stanza:

Many and sharp the num'rous ills
    Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
    Regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav'n-erected face
    The smiles of love adorn,—
Man's inhumanity to man
    Makes countless thousands mourn!

Analysis and reception

Despite being based on a 17th-century folk song, the idiom of "man's inhumanity to man" is a distinctly neoclassical rhetorical expression, according to scholar David Daiches, who cites the poem as one of Burns's English works that "use a Scots literary form but are otherwise English in inspiration".^[5]

"Man was made to Mourn" is one of Burns's many early poems that protest class inequalities.^[6] The scholar Nigel Leask writes that the poem includes "surprisingly contemporary themes", noting its "lament for the harshness and brevity of human life" and direct criticism of "hundreds labour[ing] to support / a haughty lordling's pride". It does not offer these poor hope, emphasising the negative sentiment that "man was made to mourn". Leask also notes that the poem supports a right to work by criticising a lord who will not hire a former farmer looking for work.^[2]

Critic and author Edwin Muir described "Man was made to Mourn" as one of Burns's few poems that clearly expresses his own emotions, describing it as "obviously composed under the stress of deep personal emotion," in contrast to his works that express the personas of other people or groups. Muir considers that this makes the poem "among the worst he [Burns] wrote".^[7] McGuirk argues that the poem is representative of Burns's inability in his early poems to conceive of an end other than death to the struggles and injustices of life.^[8]

Burns initially wrote the poem in response to pervasive "economic and social injustices" in society.^[9] It was well received. The author Thomas De Quincey was deeply impacted by a stanza in the poem about a struggling peasant who was not allowed to work by Cassilis, a wealthy man:^[6]

See, yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight,
So abject, mean and vile,
Who begs a brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil.

De Quincey wrote that "I had for ever ringing in my ears... those groans which ascended to heaven from his over-burdened heart— those harrowing words, "to give him leave to toil".^[6] The poem also influenced poet William Wordsworth, most notably in his Lines Written in Early Spring (1798) and "Resolution and Independence" (1802).^[10] McGuirk describes the poem and "Despondency: An Ode" as serving as a touchstone "for later poets in and out of Scotland."^[11]^: 68 However, in the years since its publication, the poem has been more broadly applied to wars and genocides.^[9]

"Man's inhumanity to man"

The line "man's inhumanity to man" has been widely quoted since Burns' poem was first published, in reference to wars, mistreatment of indigenous peoples and nations, and, according to historian Mark Celinscak, other "acts of extreme violence".^[12]^[13] In his 2009 biography on Burns, Robert Crawford wrote that Burns was influenced by the poet Edward Young's Night-Thoughts , which includes discussion on "Man's...endless inhumanities on Man".^[14] In 1798 the English poet William Wordsworth adapted it in his Lines Written in Early Spring.^[15]

The line is still broadly associated with Burns' poem.^[9] Celinscak writes that the phrase has become banal due to "decades of overuse", noting that it was commonly used to describe the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Second World War.^[12] The line was cited six times by Martin Luther King Jr. in his autobiography.^[16]

Illustrations

Related Research Articles

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Robert Burns came to know James Cunninghamme, Earl of Glencairn in Edinburgh in 1786 through a 'Letter of Introduction' provided by Dalrymple of Orangefield who was married to Lady Glencairn's sister. The Earl received the poet warmly in his house and introduced him to his friends. One of several gifts from the earl to the poet was a diamond point pen, stylus, or cutter which he used to write upon many windowpanes and glasses, scribing verse, his signature, epigrams, or other writings for posterity. Many of these diamond-point engravings survive, some however are contentious as regards either their authenticity, meaning, or both.

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Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was issued during the poet's lifetime In Two Volumes. The Second Edition Considerably Enlarged. It is a collection of poetry and songs by the poet Robert Burns, printed for T. Cadell, London, and W. Creech, Edinburgh. M,DCC,XCIII The date of publication for this edition was 16 February 1793 as advertised in the Edinburgh Courant. The successful demand for the 1787 Edinburgh Edition seems to have encouraged Creech to publish this new edition as the 1787 volume had been sold out since around 1791.

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'The Holy Tulzie', 'The Twa Herds' or 'An Unco Mournfu' Tale was a poem written in 1784 by Robert Burns whilst living at Mossgiel, Mauchline, about a strong disagreement, not on doctrine, but on the parish boundaries, between two 'Auld Licht' ministers, John Russel and Alexander Moodie It was followed by "The Holy Fair", "The Ordination", "The Kirk's Alarm", "Holy Willie's Prayer", etc.

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John Ballantine (1743–1812), was a Scottish merchant and banker and one of the greatest friends, admirers and closest confidants of Robert Burns. Significantly Ballantine gave the poet advice on the selection of poems for his First Kilmarnock Edition as well as being asked for his opinion on the bard's poems.

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Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was the second "pirated" issue of Robert Burns's work, being published in Ireland at Belfast without permission from or payment to the author or publisher. It is a so-called Stinking Edition, carrying the error Stinking for the Scots word Skinking (watery) in the poem "To a Haggis" because the type setters copied from a 1787 Stinking Edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. It has been shown to be from the same print setting as the Belfast Edition but with a different title page.

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was a 'pirated' edition of Robert Burns's work, being published in Ireland without permission from or payment to the author or publisher. It is a so-called 'Stinking Edition', carrying the error 'Stinking' for the Scots word 'Skinking' (watery) in the poem "To a Haggis" because the type setters copied from a 1787 'Stinking Edition' of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect .

References

↑ Cunningham, ed. 1855, pp. 95–96.
1 2 3 4 Leask 2010.
↑ McGuirk 2015, pp. 46–47.
↑ Robert Burns (2005). "Burns Country". Man was made to mourn: A Dirge. robertburns.org. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
↑ Broadhead 2014, p. 21.
1 2 3 Weston 1982, p. 40.
↑ Jack & Noble 1982, p. 16.
↑ McGuirk 2015, p. 27.
1 2 3 Roth 2018, p. 159.
↑ McGuirk 2015, pp. 76, 85.
↑ McGuirk 2015, p. 68.
1 2 Celinscak 2015, p. 11.
↑ Hughey 2016, pp. 55.
↑ Crawford 2009, p. 193.
↑ Dabundo 2009, pp. 68.
↑ McGuirk 2015, p. 190.

Bibliography

Broadhead, Alex (2014). The Language of Robert Burns: Style, Ideology, and Identity. Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-1-61148-528-8.
Celinscak, Mark (2015). Distance from the Belsen Heap: Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Nazi Concentration Camp. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-1570-0.
Crawford, Robert (2009). The Bard. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 9780224077682.
Cunningham, Allan, ed. (1855). The Complete Works of Robert Burns . Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company. pp. 95–96.
Dabundo, Laura (2009). Encyclopedia of Romanticism (Routledge Revivals): Culture in Britain, 1780s-1830s. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-23235-1.
Hughey, Michael W. (2016). New Tribalisms: The Resurgence of Race and Ethnicity. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-26403-2.
Jack, R. D. S.; Noble, Andrew, eds. (1982). "Introduction". The Art of Robert Burns. Vision Press. pp. 7–21. ISBN 0389202037.
Leask, Nigel (2010). "Pastoral Politics". Robert Burns and Pastoral: Poetry and Improvement in Late Eighteenth-Century Scotland. pp. 115–143. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572618.003.0005. ISBN 978-0-19-957261-8.
McGuirk, Carol (2015). Reading Robert Burns: Texts, Contexts, Transformations. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-31734-0.
Roth, Hans Ingvar (2018). P. C. Chang and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-9547-4.
Weston, John C. (1982). "Robert Burns's Satire". In Jack, R. D. S.; Noble, Andrew (eds.). The Art of Robert Burns. Vision Press. pp. 36–58. ISBN 0389202037.

v t e Robert Burns
Poems	"Comin' Thro' the Rye" (1782) "John Barleycorn" (1782) "Man was made to Mourn" (1784) "Address to the Deil" (1785) "Epitaph for James Smith" (1785) "Halloween" (1785) "Handsome Nell" (1774) "Holy Willie's Prayer" (1785) "To a Mouse" (1785) The Kilmarnock volume (1786) "To a Louse" (1786) "To a Mountain Daisy" (1786) "The Cotter's Saturday Night" (1786) "The Battle of Sherramuir" (1787) "The Birks of Aberfeldy" (1787) "The Holy Tulzie" (1784) "Auld Lang Syne" (1788) "My Heart's in the Highlands" (1789) "Tam o' Shanter" (1790) "Ae Fond Kiss" (1791) "Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation" (1791) "Ye Jacobites by Name" (1791) "Sweet Afton" (1791) "The Slave's Lament" (1792) "Oh, whistle and I'll come to you, my lad" (1793) "Scots Wha Hae" (1793) "A Red, Red Rose" (1794) "Ca' the yowes" (revised, 1794) "A Man's A Man for A' That" (1795)
Places	Alloway Brownhill Inn Burns Cottage Drukken Steps Ellisland Farm Friars Carse The Hermitage, Friars Carse Irvine Irvine Burns Club Lochlea Millmannoch Mossgiel Farm Robert Burns and the Eglinton Estate Writers' Museum
Family	Jean Armour (wife) John Burns (brother) Adam Armour (brother-in-law) James Armour (Master mason) (father-in-law) Agnes Broun (mother) Elizabeth Riddell Burns (daughter) Robert Burns Junior (son) William Burnes (father) Gilbert Burns (brother) Annabella Burns (sister) Isabella Burns (sister) Agnes Burns (sister) William Burns (brother) William Nicol Burns (son) Robert Burnes (uncle) Elizabeth 'Betty' Burns (natural daughter) Francis Wallace Burns (son) James Glencairn Burns (son)
People	Robert Aiken Robert Ainslie John Anderson John Bacon (landlord) John Ballantine Alison Begbie Thomas Blacklock Nelly Blair Richard Brown May Cameron Mary Campbell Margaret Chalmers Jenny Clow Alison Cockburn Alexander Cunningham (lawyer) Lord Glencairn Frances Dunlop Robert Fergusson Alexander Findlater Jean Gardner Jean Glover Robert Graham of Fintry Gavin Hamilton Helen Hyslop Nelly Kilpatrick John Lewars Janet Little Jean Lorimer (Chloris) James McKie John MacKenzie Agnes Maclehose John McMurdo William Maxwell John Murdoch William Nicol Ann Park Elizabeth Paton John Richmond James Smith David Sillar John Syme Alexander Tait Robert Tannahill Peggy Thompson Edward Whigham
Related	The Geddes Burns Glenriddell Manuscripts Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Edinburgh Edition) Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Belfast Edition) Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Dublin Variant) Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (London Edition) Bachelors' Club, Tarbolton Burns Clubs Robert Burns World Federation Bust of Robert Burns Irvine Atlanta Burns supper Memorials Kilmarnock Robert Burns's Commonplace Book 1783–1785 Robert Burns's Interleaved Scots Musical Museum Montreal Barre Albany Robert Burns (Stevenson) Robert Burns (Steell) Robert Burns's diamond point engravings Robert Burns and the Eglinton Estate Robert Burns Humanitarian Award The Loves of Robert Burns (1930 film) The Marriage of Robin Redbreast and the Wren The Merry Muses of Caledonia The Poetical Works of Janet Little, The Scotch Milkmaid A Manual of Religious Belief