Annotations in Verse
written in 1793
Annotations in Verse - context Summary
Composed in 1793
Robert Burns’s "Annotations in Verse," written in 1793, mixes personal confession with political appeal. The speaker playfully credits "folly" for life’s happiest hours, then turns to a fervent plea for liberty, condemning despots and honoring those who die for freedom. A petition to Heaven asks that freedom’s benefits be universal. The poem closes by insisting that love’s impressions are indelible. Overall it balances intimate feeling and public moral outrage, reflecting Burns’s views on freedom and his experiences of love and folly.
Read Complete AnalysesWisdom and Science - honor'd Powers! Pardon the truth a sinner tells; I owe my dearest, raptured hours To folly with her cap and bells. Grant me, indulgent Heaven, that I may live To see the miscreants feel the pains they give: Deal Freedom's sacred treasures free as air, Till Slave and Despot be but things which were! Perish their names, however great or brave, Who in the Despot's cursed errands bleed! But who for Freedom fills a hero's grave, Fame with a Seraph-pen, record the glorious deed! Love's records, written on a heart like mine, Not Time's last effort can efface a line.
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