Question

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
And ev’n devotion!
According to the poem “To a Louse” by Robert Burns, what is the benefit of seeing ourselves the way others do?


It prevents us from making embarrassing mistakes.

It helps us gain stature and prestige among our peers.

It increases people’s admiration for our character.

Answer 1

It prevents us from making embarrassing mistakes.

Burns, in this poem, expresses a wish that we could see ourselves from an outside perspective so that we would be able to put ourselves in the right place and not think too highly of ourselves.

When he says "It wad frae monie a blunder free us", it means that seeing ourselves as others do "would from many a blunder free us"--it would set us free from making many mistakes.