Man's inhumanity to man: Difference between revisions

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

"'''Man's inhumanity to man'''" is a line from [[Robert Burns]]' 1784 poem "'''[[Man was made to mournMourn|Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge]]'''". The line and the poem have since been quoted in relation to the [[problem of evil]], especially referencing wars and genocide.

==Synopsis==

"Man was made to mourn" is an eleven stanza [[dirge]] by [[Robert Burns]] first published in 1784.<ref name="Burns">{{cite web |author=Robert Burns |author-link=Robert Burns |year=2005 |title=Burns Country |url=http://www.robertburns.org/works/55.shtml |accessdate=13 November 2009 |work='Man was made to mourn: A Dirge' |publisher=robertburns.org}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Leask |first=Nigel |date=2010-06-24 |title=Pastoral Politics |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6405/chapter/150185374 |journal=Robert Burns and Pastoral: Poetry and Improvement in Late Eighteenth-Century Scotland |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572618.003.0005}}</ref> The poem was originally intended to be sung to the tune of the song "[[Peggy Bawn]]". It is written as if it were being delivered by a wiser old man to a "young stranger" standing in the winter on "the banks of Aire".<ref name=":0" /> It includes the stanza:<ref name="Burns" />

{{Blockquote|text=Many and sharp the num'rous ills<br>Inwoven with our frame!<br>More pointed still we make ourselves<br>Regret, remorse, and shame!<br>And man, whose heav'n-erected face<br>The smiles of love adorn, –<br>Man's inhumanity to man<br>Makes countless thousands mourn!}}

Many and sharp the num'rous ills<br />

Inwoven with our frame!<br />

More pointed still we make ourselves<br />

Regret, remorse, and shame!<br />

And man, whose heav'n-erected face<br />

The smiles of love adorn, – <br />

Man's inhumanity to man<br />

Makes countless thousands mourn!

== Analysis ==