The Story Archive

Holy Willie's Prayer

Robert Burns · 1785 CE · Poem · English · Romantic

A Mauchline kirk elder kneels to thank God for having picked him out for glory before he was born, while sending thousands to hell for no fault but the divine good pleasure. He then works his way through the fornications he would rather were not held against him, blames drink and the flesh for each, and asks for a curse on Gavin Hamilton and on the lawyer who beat the kirk session in court. Burns circulated it in manuscript among friends; it did not appear under his name in his lifetime.

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