The speaker of a poem by this author warns that “Stern Ruin’s ploughshare drives elate, full on thy bloom” while talking about a flower crushed by a plow. In a poem by this author, the speaker wishes for some “rank, mercurial rozet” or “red smeddum” to help out a woman. A poem by this author contains the declaration, “O would some Power the gift give us / To see ourselves as others see us!” That poem by this author is about a creature on a (*) lady’s bonnet at church. The speaker of a poem by this author regrets that “Man’s dominion / Has broken Nature’s social union.” That poem by this author is about a “Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie.” For 10 points, name this author of the similarly named poems “To a Louse” and “To a Mouse.” ■END■
ANSWER: Robert Burns [or Robbie Burns; or Rabbie Burns] (The poem in the lead-in is “To a Mountain Daisy.”)
<MM, British Literature>
= Average correct buzz position