Epitaph on Mr Burton

Epitaph on Mr Burton - meaning Summary

Mocking Epitaph for Burton

This short epitaph mocks a man named Burton by compressing his life into a single sneer. Burns presents Burton as vain, profane and morally useless—"a buck, a beau"—and emphasizes the emptiness of his character by reporting his final cry, Dem my blood! The poem uses brisk, conversational anger and irony to turn a grave inscription into a satirical judgment. It reads as social censure more than mourning, exposing the hollowness of affectation and bluster at the moment that should mark a life’s reckoning.