The Calf
written in 1786
The Calf - meaning Summary
Satire Compares Man to Cattle
Robert Burns' short satirical poem playfully insults a presumptuous man by mapping human social roles onto stages of cattle life. Addressing a specific "sir," the speaker predicts he will remain foolish through patronage, love, marriage and even death, using terms like calf, stirk, stot and bullock to undercut pride and pretension. The humor rests on blunt rural imagery—horns, roaring, a grassy hillock epitaph—so the poem reads as a teasing, earthy critique of ambition and vanity in a local social figure.
Read Complete AnalysesRight, sir! your text I'll prove it true, Tho' heretics may laugh; For instance, there's yourself just now, God knows, an unco calf. And should some patron be so kind, As bless you wi' a kirk, I doubt na , sir but then we'll find, Ye're still as great a stirk. But , if the lover's raptur'd hour, Shall ever be your lot, Forbid it, ev'ry heavenly Power, You e'er should be a stot! Tho' when some kind connubial dear Your but-and-ben adorns, The like has been that you may wear A noble head of horns. And, in your lug, most reverend James, To hear you roar and rowt, Few men o' sense will doubt your claims To rank amang the nowt. And when ye're number'd wi' the dead, Below a grassy hillock, With justice they may mark your head - "Here lies a famous bullock!"
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