Burns Relationship Explorer

Elegy on the Year 1788

This poem was written on 1 January 1789 and sent to the Edinburgh Courant newspaper for publication. The work, which reflects on the events of the previous year, is preoccupied with the ongoing Regency Crisis. In November 1788 Parliament could not proceed as King George III was too mentally incapacitated to deliver his customary Speech at the opening of the session.