Another social occasion is the subject of [Halloween]. The poem, with Burns's notes, is a mine of folk-lore, but we are concerned with it as literature. Here the tone is humorous instead of reverent, the characters are mixed, the selection is more widely representative. With complete frankness, the poet exhibits human nature under the influence of the mating instinct, directed by harmless, age-old superstitions. The superstitions are not attacked, but gently ridiculed. The fundamental veracity of the whole is seen when we realize that, in spite of the strong local color, it is psychologically true for similar festivities among the peasantry of all countries.
HALLOWEEN[4]
Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans[5] dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze, over, pastures
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the rout is ta'en, road
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the Cove,[6] to stray an' rove
Amang the rocks and streams