Lines Written on a Banknote

Lines Written on a Banknote - meaning Summary

Money as Social Wound

Burns angrily addresses a banknote as a "cursed leaf," blaming money for personal and social harms. He links poverty to losing a lover, reduced comforts, and helpless children denied aid by economic restrictions. The poem moves from private grievance to moral outrage at the oppressor who profits from others' suffering. Burns expresses a wish to crush the villain yet resigns himself to exile, suggesting poverty forces painful departures from home. The poem succinctly ties individual loss to broader critiques of social and economic injustice.