Short StoriesNo. 9527 · The 2026 edition
Halloween (poem)
A haunting verse that captures the eerie magic of All Hallows' Eve.
Our own summary of the original — the full post and photos live at en.wikipedia.org.
This poem evokes the spooky atmosphere of Halloween, with imagery of jack-o'-lanterns, wandering spirits, and the thrill of fright. It's a lyrical celebration of the night when the veil between worlds grows thin.
About this
A Wikipedia article on "Halloween," a 1785 poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns, first published in 1786 in the Kilmarnock volume. The page gives background on an earlier Halloween poem by John Mayne, reproduces Burns' poem in full Scots dialect, and offers a short analysis of his use of Scots and English.
The list
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01
Burns Selected Poems (Robert Burns, James Logie Robertson) 2009
BiblioBazaar, LLC
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02
Poems, songs, and letters: being the complete works of Robert Burns 1868
Macmillan and co.
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03
BBC - Robert Burns - Halloween
BBC source
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04
The life and works of Robert Burns, Volume 1 (Robert Chambers) 1854
Lippincott, Grambo & co.
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05
Ulster Scots - Words and Phrases: "Bogie"
BBC, retrieved December 16, 2010
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06
Burns: a study of the poems and songs (Thomas Crawford) 1960
Stanford University Press
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07
The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Difussion of Useful Knowledge, Volume 1 (Charles Knight) 1833
p.342, retrieved January 14, 2011
Facts from the original
- "Halloween" is a poem written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1785.
- It was first published in 1786 and is included in the Kilmarnock volume.
- It is one of Burns' longer poems and mixes Scots with English.
- John Mayne of Dumfries, a comparatively obscure follower of the Scottish Muses, wrote a Halloween poem in 1780.
- Mayne's poem has twelve stanzas and notes Halloween pranks and the supernatural, including "Bogies" (ghosts).
- Mayne's poem appeared in Ruddimans Weekly Magazine, November 1780, published by Walter Ruddiman in Edinburgh.
- Burns appears to have seen and been influenced by Mayne's composition, echoing some of its imagery.
- Burns described Halloween as a night when witches, devils and other mischief-making beings are abroad on baneful midnight errands.
- Burns' poem revolves around country and town life, the life he knew.
- By using Scots alongside English, Burns gives an account of the charms of the West of Scotland.
From the original
Robert Burns wrote "Halloween" in 1785, and it first appeared in print in 1786 in the Kilmarnock volume; it is one of his longer poems and blends Scots with English. The background section notes that John Mayne of Dumfries, an obscure follower of the Scottish Muses, had written his own Halloween poem in 1780, running twelve stanzas, which mentions pranks ("What fearfu' pranks ensue!") and the supernatural, including "Bogies" or ghosts. Mayne's poem was printed in Ruddimans Weekly Magazine in November 1780 by Walter Ruddiman of Edinburgh, and Burns evidently saw and echoed its imagery. Burns called Halloween a night when witches, devils and other mischief-making beings roam on baneful midnight errands. The poem opens with fairies dancing on Cassilis Downans and moves to country folk gathering by the winding Doon to burn nuts, pull stocks and keep Halloween blithely. It then traces a series of divination customs and pranks: pulling kail stalks blindfolded for runts, tasting custocks with joctelegs, lasses pulling stalks of corn, Rab seizing Nelly, burning nuts to read lovers' fates, Jean slipping in two nuts, Willie's bow-kail runt matched with Mallie, Nell and Rob in the fause-house, Merran and the blue-clue at the kiln, Wee Jenny wanting to eat an apple at the glass despite her grandmother's warnings, the grandmother's tale of hemp-seed sowing and a frightened lad, Jamie Fleck's hemp-seed ritual interrupted by a pig, Meg going to the barn to winnow, Will mistaking a moss-oak for a black carlin, widow Leezie dipping her left sark-sleeve in the burn, the three luggies ranged on the hearth, and the close with butter'd sowens and a social glass of strunt. The analysis says Burns writes of country and town life he knew, and through Scots and English gives an account of the charms of the West of Scotland.
