Epigrams on Lord Galloway
written in 1793
Epigrams on Lord Galloway - context Summary
Critique of Lord Galloway
Composed in 1793 as a pointed epigram, this short poem targets Lord Galloway with satirical contempt. Burns juxtaposes outward splendour and inner moral decay, reducing aristocratic lineage to a degraded end. He invokes Stewarts and Romans to suggest proud pedigrees that collapse into corruption, then directly rejects patronage or revenge. The tone is brisk, mocking, and personal, reflecting Burns’s political impatience with certain nobles and his willingness to lampoon them publicly. The piece functions less as elegy and more as a compact political rebuke delivered in the tight, epigrammatic mode.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat dost thou in that mansion fair? Flit, Galloway, and find Some narrow, dirty, dungeon cave, The picture of thy mind. No Stewart art thou, Galloway, The Stewarts all were brave: Besides, the Stewarts were but fools, Not one of them a knave. Bright ran thy line, O Galloway, Thro' many a far-fam'd sire: So ran the far-famed Roman way, And ended in a mire. Spare me thy vengeance, Galloway! In quiet let me live: I ask no kindness at thy hand, For thou hast none to give.
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