Monody on Maria
written in 1794
Monody on Maria - context Summary
Composed 1794
Written as a short monody, the poem addresses the death of Maria Riddell, a friend of Robert Burns. It frames her end as lonely and unloved, contrasting past gaiety and vanity with a cold, unwept grave. The speaker summons not mourners of virtue but the ‘‘offspring of Folly’’ to attend, mixing irony and moral judgment. The closing epitaph reduces her life to lack—"Want only of wisdom" and "Want only of goodness"—so that neglect, rather than fate, is presented as the true sentence on her memory.
Read Complete AnalysesHow cold is that bosom which folly once fired, How pale is that cheek where the rouge lately glisten'd; How silent that tongue which the echoes oft tired, How dull is that ear which to flattery so listened. If sorrow and anguish their exit await, From friendship and dearest affection removed; How doubly severer, Maria, thy fate, Thou diedst unwept, as thou livedst unloved. Loves, Graces, and Virtues, I call not on you; So shy, grave and distant, ye shed not a tear: But come, all ye offspring of Folly so true, And flowers let us cull for Maria's cold bier. We'll search through the garden for each silly flower, We'll range throught the forest for each idle weed; But chiefly the nettle, so typical, shower, For none e'er approached her but rued the rash deed. We'll sculpture the marble, we'll measure the lay; Here Vanity strums on her idiot lyre; There keen Indignation shall dart on his prey, Which spurning Contempt shall redeem from his ire. The Epitaph Here lies, now a prey to insulting Neglect, What once was a butterfly gay in life's beam: Want only of wisdom denied her respect, Want only of goodness denied her esteem.
It would be helpful for the reader to know that the object of this barbed monody, Maria Riddell, had _not_ died. This was rather one of the multiple poems Burns wrote attacking her after their falling out over an obscure event where he seems to have acted offensively in some way toward her sister-in-law. Burns and Maria Riddell did reconcile before his death in 1796, and she, herself an author, wrote an affectionate and incisive piece about him to mark his passing.