Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
Epigram on Francis Grose the Antiquary
by Robert Burns
THE DEVIL got notice that Grose was a-dying
So whip! at the summons, old Satan came flying;
But when he approached where poor Francis lay moaning,
And saw each bed-post with its burthen a-groaning,
Astonish’d, confounded, cries Satan—“By G—,
I’ll want him, ere I take such a damnable load!”
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“Epigram on Francis Grose the Antiquary” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/epigram-on-francis-grose-the-antiquary
Quick facts
- Poem
- Epigram on Francis Grose the Antiquary
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 6 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Short
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 6 lines · one 6-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 12-syllable lines (hexameter length).
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Burns1759–1796
- Source record
- PoetryDBEpigram on Francis Grose the Antiquary by robert-burns, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 e090ecff9e76b112…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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