Tam o' Shanter (poem)

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"Tam o' Shanter" is a narrative poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1790, while living in Dumfries. First published in the second volume of Francis Grose's Antiquities of Scotland in 1791, at 228 (or 224) lines it is one of Burns' longer poems, and employs a mixture of Scots and English. The poem describes the habits of Tam (a Scots nickname for Thomas), a farmer who often gets drunk with his friends in a public house in the Scottish town of Ayr, and his thoughtless ways, specifically towards his wife, who waits at home for him. After one late-night revel, following a market day, Tam rides home drunk on his horse Meg while a storm is brewing. On the way he sees the local haunted church of Alloway Kirk lit up, with witches and warlocks dancing and the Devil playing the bagpipes. He is amazed to see the place bedecked with gruesome objects, including gibbet irons and knives used to commit murders. The music intensifies as the witches dance and, seeing one witch in a short dress...

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