Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Epitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster

HERE lie Willie Michie’s banes;

O Satan, when ye tak him,

Gie him the schulin o’ your weans,

For clever deils he’ll mak them!

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“Epitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/epitaph-for-mr-william-michie-schoolmaster

Quick facts

Poem: Epitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster
Poet: Robert Burns
Length: 4 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: 4 lines · one 4-line stanza
Line length: Consistent with short metre. Two short lines, one longer, one short (6.6.8.6) — the short hymn stanza.

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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: PoetryDBEpitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster 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 f62ae48efac17060…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Death & Loss Short

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