Which of the following celebrated poets produced a lengthy poem on the topic of Halloween traditions?
A) Richard Brautigan B) Robert Browning C) Robert Burns ü D) Rupert Brooke
The viewpoint of Burns’ 1885 poem Halloween is almost ethnographical. The poem is a series of deftly-written vignettes describing rustic Scots Halloween rituals. In each case the ritual’s purpose is to identify — even directly visualize — one’s spouse-to-be. The poem is written in Scots dialect, but Burns provides both a slightly patronising introduction and detailed explanatory notes in ordinary English. He explains one custom thus: “Take a candle and go alone to a looking-glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say you should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjugal companion, to be, will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder.”
