The poem's conclusion that Death is 'the poor man's dearest friend', once again echoes Young's Night Thoughts, ultimately offering the cold consolation that unlike 'the Great, the Wealthy' who ...

After Muir’s death, Burns remained a friend of the family, and of his widow he remarked, "I am much interested for her, and will... move heaven and earth in her behalf." The poem was written ...

Though mortality is a universal aspect of the human condition, we tend to experience the reality and finality of death in distinctly ... collective humanity. This poem, divided into five parts ...