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Scotch Drink The Poem Scotch Drink by Robert Burns was the second poem in the Kilmarnock Volume, Burns first published book of poems, written in the mid 1780’s. If you just look at the title it seems as though the poet is celebrating whiskey or alcohol in general. It is that at the outset but by the time we reach the end the reader discovers that the point of the poem is not that at all. The poet slowly paints the picture of the most common simplistic lifestyle. The whole point behind the poem is a concern with poverty and the possibility of happiness for the poor, which is a favorite topic for Burns. The poem begins with an epigraph from the 31st chapter of Proverbs, verses 6,7. He transposes the Bible into an idiom that is partly derived from folklore and partly based on a Scottish literature, with a subtle attack on the idea of Calvinism. Which show that bur