Folklore & LegendsNo. 2582 · The 2026 edition
Halloween (poem)
A spooky 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 paints a vivid picture of Halloween night, with ghosts, goblins, and the thrill of trick-or-treating under a harvest moon.
About this
A Wikipedia article on 'Halloween', an 1785 poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns. It covers the poem's 1786 first publication in the Kilmarnock volume, its 28 stanzas, and its mixture of Scots and English. The page also traces the influence of John Mayne's 1780 Halloween poem and Burns's description of Halloween as a night of witches and mischief.
Facts from the original
- 'Halloween' is a poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns, written in 1785.
- It was first published in 1786 and included in the Kilmarnock volume.
- It is one of Burns's longer poems and uses a mixture of Scots and English.
- John Mayne, a comparatively obscure poet from Dumfries in south-west Scotland, wrote a Halloween poem in 1780.
- Mayne's poem had twelve stanzas and mentioned Halloween pranks ('What fearfu' pranks ensue!') and the supernatural, calling ghosts 'Bogies'.
- Mayne's poem appeared in Ruddimans Weekly Magazine in November 1780, published by Walter Ruddiman in Edinburgh.
- Burns appears to have seen and been influenced by Mayne's composition, communicating with it and echoing some of its imagery.
- According to Burns, Halloween is 'thought to be a night when witches, devils, and other mischief-making beings are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands'.
- The poem is recited by Scots at Halloween.
- Burns's poetry revolves around the country and town life he knew.
- By using Scots alongside English and through the power of his expression in both, Burns gives an account of the charms of the West of Scotland.
- The poem has 28 stanzas.
- Edward Scriven engraved John Masey Wright's illustration for Robert Burns's 'Halloween'.
- English Wikisource has the original text of the poem.
- The page's categories include 1785 poems, Poetry by Robert Burns, Narrative poems, Halloween, Halloween fiction, and 1786 in Scotland.
- This old revision was edited by 74.114.172.183 at 13:12, 18 September 2013, and contains a vandalism insertion 'yep gigidigigidigoo' in the Background section.
