Holy Willie's Prayer is a fabulous satirical poem. It's one of the best satirical poems ever written in the Scots tongue. It is all about the hypocrisy of the Church, and one person in particular.
Willie Fisher was an elder of the kirk in Mauchline, and spied on people and then told the Church to punish them for their sins. He took a dislike to Gavin Hamilton and a feud started. This resulted in a court case which angered Robert Burns, who went on to use this incident as the basis for this poem. Gavin won the court case, with the help of another lawyer, Robert Aitken.
The poem that this incident inspired is a work of art, and is performed at many Burns Suppers the world over.
Robert also wrote Epitaph to Holy Willie and The Kirk's Alarm, two other poems about Willie Fisher.
Holy Willie's Prayer is a fabulous satirical poem. It's one of the best satirical poems ever written in the Scots tongue. It is all about the hypocrisy of the Church, and one person in particular.
Willie Fisher was an elder of the kirk in Mauchline, and spied on people and then told the Church to punish them for their sins. He took a dislike to Gavin Hamilton and a feud started. This resulted in a court case which angered Robert Burns, who went on to use this incident as the basis for this poem. Gavin won the court case, with the help of another lawyer, Robert Aitken.
The poem that this incident inspired is a work of art, and is performed at many Burns Suppers the world over.
Robert also wrote Epitaph to Holy Willie and The Kirk's Alarm, two other poems about Willie Fisher.