On Seeing a Wounded Hare
written in 1788
On Seeing a Wounded Hare - meaning Summary
Compassion Against Hunting Cruelty
Robert Burns condemns the brutality of hunting through the speaker’s direct address to a wounded hare. He curses the hunter’s cruel skill, imagines the animal’s dwindling prospects for shelter and food, and petitions for the hare’s brief, painful rest in the earth. The speaker frames his sorrow as personal and ongoing: when he later walks the banks of the Nith he will remember the lost creature, curse the ruffian’s aim, and mourn the hare’s fate. The poem foregrounds empathy for animals and denunciation of needless violence.
Read Complete AnalysesINHUMAN man! curse on thy barb'rous art, And blasted be thy murder-aiming eye; May never pity soothe thee with a sigh, Nor ever pleasure glad thy cruel heart! Go live, poor wand'rer of the wood and field! The bitter little that of life remains: No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains To thee shall home, or food, or pastime yield. Seek, mangled wretch, some place of wonted rest, No more of rest, but now thy dying bed! The sheltering rushes whistling o'er thy head, The cold earth with thy bloody bosom prest. Oft as by winding Nith I, musing, wait The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn, I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn, And curse the ruffian's aim, and mourn thy hapless fate
Feel free to be first to leave comment.