On an Innkeeper Nicknamed the Marquis

On an Innkeeper Nicknamed the Marquis - fact Summary

Written in 1785, Tarbolton

This very short epigram by Robert Burns, composed in 1785, targets a local innkeeper in Tarbolton nicknamed the "Marquis." Burns compresses satire and moral judgment into two lines that function as a mock epitaph, dismissing the innkeeper’s pretensions and forecasting posthumous condemnation. Its brevity and local reference make it a piece of social commentary rooted in the poet’s immediate community rather than a philosophical statement, reflecting Burns’s habit of composing pointed, occasional verses about people he knew.