A Prayer in the Prospect of Death
written in 1781
A Prayer in the Prospect of Death - context Summary
Written in 1781
Written in 1781, this short poem is Burns's quiet, personal prayer in the face of mortality. Addressing an unspecified supreme cause, the speaker confesses to moral failings and the sway of strong passions, asks for concealment of inadvertent faults, and places hope in divine goodness and forgiveness. The tone is penitential and reflective rather than doctrinal, offering a private reckoning with weakness and the prospect of death. It reflects recurring themes in Burns's work: self-scrutiny, human frailty, and a yearning for mercy near life’s end.
Read Complete AnalysesO Thou unknown, Almighty Cause Of all my hope and fear! In whose dread presence, ere an hour, Perhaps I must appear! If I have wander'd in those paths Of life I ought to shun, As something, loudly, in my breast, Remonstrates I have done; Thou know'st that Thou hast formed me With passions wild and strong; And list'ning to their witching voice Has often led me wrong. Where human weakness has come short, Or frailty stept aside, Do Thou, All-Good -for such Thou art- In shades of darkness hide. Where with intention I have err'd, No other plea I have, But, Thou art good; and Goodness still Delighteth to forgive.
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