Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/187
- Alt. number
- 3.6275.h
- Date
- 1786
- On display
- Yes
- Creator
- Burns, Robert
- Recipient
- Stewart, Mrs Alexander
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/187
- Alt. number
- 3.6275.h
- Date
- 1786
- On display
- Yes
- Creator
- Burns, Robert
- Recipient
- Stewart, Mrs Alexander
Description
Stanzas on the same occasion, part of Stair Manuscript Collection, originally composed 1782.
In the summer of 1781 Robert left his home at Lochlea and travelled to Irvine to work as a flax dresser. There he suffered from a physical and mental breakdown which lasted for three months. He returned to Lochlea in early 1782.
During this period, he created some of his more morbid works, such as A Prayer, in the Prospect of Death and this poem, Stanzas on the same Occasion. In the poem, the narrator begs God to forgive his earthly sins as death swiftly approaches.
This particular manuscript of the poem was written four years after its original composition. It is part of the Stair manuscript collection, a group of eight early songs and poems Burns copied and sent to Mrs Alexander Stewart of Stair in 1786.
This particular manuscript of the poem was written four years after its original composition. It is part of the Stair manuscript collection, a group of eight early songs and poems Burns copied and sent to Mrs Alexander Stewart of Stair in 1786.
Archive information
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Stanzas on the same occasion