To a Mouse is a poem written by Scottish poet Robert Burns, published in 1785.
The poem describes the speaker’s regret at accidentally destroying a mouse’s nest. The speaker is forced to think about many others in a similar situation, in which they lack shelter and their basic needs go unmet. Burns conveys the speaker’s compassion for the animal’s distress and plight, reflecting Burns's own attitudes to those that are less fortunate in life.
Major themes of nature vs. humanity, loss, and the unpredictable nature of life are explored in this poem. The mouse is a symbol for all those who are suffering in the world and can be linked to Burns’s own experience of witnessing poor farmhands being turned out of their homes.
