Epigram
written in 1787
Epigram - meaning Summary
Harsh Highland Reality
This short epigram presents a blunt, ironic portrait of life in the Scottish Highlands. The speaker expresses pity for anyone who stays there unless they are there to worship, then lists Highland pride alongside scab and hunger as defining features. The closing line attributes his presence to divine anger, compressing contempt, despair, and dark humor into a few lines. The poem functions as a rapid social observation: it condemns physical hardship and social pretension while registering the poet’urns’xperience of witnessing harsh Highland conditions in 1787.
Read Complete AnalysesWhoe'er he be that sojourns here, I pity much his case, Unless he come to wait upon The Lord their God, his Grace. There's naething here but Highland pride, And Highland scab and hunger; If Providence has sent me here, 'Twas surely in an anger.
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