Epitaph for Hugh Logan
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Epitaph for Hugh Logan - form Summary
Epitaph as Invective and Mockery
This short epitaph adopts the tombstone form only to subvert it. Instead of solemn remembrance, the speaker addresses the "harlot crew" with coarse humor and a provocative invitation to urinate on the corpse. The terse, blunt lines transform a memorial into an act of mockery, using shock and vulgarity to erase solemnity and assert a defiant, anti-hierarchical stance. The epitaph’s form—compact, direct, and epigraphic—is essential: its tombstone voice amplifies the satire by conferring an official-sounding sanction on irreverence.
Read Complete AnalysesHere lyes Squire Hugh - ye harlot crew, Come mak' your water on him. I'm sure that he weel pleas'd would be To think ye pish'd upon him.
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