Burns wrote Holy Willie’s Prayer after a friend, Gavin Hamilton, won a contentious lawsuit the local parish of Ayr filed against him.\u00a0 His friend, a lawyer, was at one point responsible for collecting a poor tax in the parish.\u00a0 He came up a few pounds short and the parish accused him of stealing the money.\u00a0 He said that not everyone could afford the tax, thus the discrepancy.<\/p>\n
Holy Willie was a member of the parish and a leader of the effort to sue Hamilton who was found guilty by the church session, but acquitted on appeal.<\/p>\n
Some consider this poem his masterpiece.\u00a0 He couldn’t publish it when he first wrote it, because it was considered too libelous.\u00a0 As I read it, listen for: a. What Holy Willie says of himself; b. What he has to confess and his appraisal of those acts (his thorn in the flesh); c. What he asks God to do?;\u00a0 d. What is his final petition?<\/p>\n
Holy Willie’s Prayer:http:\/\/www.robertburns.org\/works\/58.shtml <\/a><\/p>\n In the final verse, he prays:<\/p>\n But, Lord, remember me an’ mine His final hypocrisy: God give me grace and gear, which means things, stuff, riches.\u00a0 Burns had little use for this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Burns wrote Holy Willie’s Prayer after a friend, Gavin Hamilton, won a contentious lawsuit the local parish of Ayr filed against him.\u00a0 His friend, a lawyer, was at one point responsible for collecting a poor tax in the parish.\u00a0 He … Continue reading
\nWi’ mercies temp’ral an’ divine,
\nThat I for grace an’ gear may shine,
\nExcell’d by nane,
\nAnd a’ the glory shall be thine,
\nAmen, Amen!<\/p>\n