The Ninetieth Psalm
written in 1782
The Ninetieth Psalm - context Summary
Written in 1782
Composed in 1782, Robert Burns’s "The Ninetieth Psalm" places a traditional psalmic theme in plain, devotional language. The poem addresses God as eternal Creator whose timeless perspective renders human life brief and fragile. It contrasts divine permanence with mortal transience, describing birth, death, and the swift fading of human pride. Burns frames these theological ideas in concise stanzas that read like a paraphrase or meditation on a biblical psalm, aiming less at personal confession and more at communal reflection on providence and mortality.
Read Complete AnalysesO Thou, the first, the greatest friend Of all the human race! Whose strong right hand has ever been Their stay and dwelling place! Before the mountains heav'd their heads Beneath Thy forming hand, Before this ponderous globe itself Arose at Thy command; That Pow'r which rais'd and still upholds This universal frame, From countless, unbeginning time Was ever still the same. Those mighty periods of years Which seem to us so vast, Appear no more before Thy sight Than yesterday that's past. Thou giv'st the word: Thy creature, man, Is to existence brought; Again Thou say'st, "Ye sons of men, Return ye into nought!" Thou layest them, with all their cares, In everlasting sleep; As with a flood Thou tak'st them off With overwhelming sweep. They flourish like the morning flow'r, In beauty's pride array'd; But long ere night cut down it lies All wither'd and decay'd.
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