The Devil's Thoughts

"The Devil's Thoughts" is a satirical poem in common metre by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1799, and expanded by Robert Southey in 1827 and retitled "The Devil's Walk".

The narrative describes the Devil going walking and enjoying the sight of the various sins of mankind.

[1] The poem was first published in the Morning Post, on 6 September 1799.

It was printed separately as The Devil's Walk, a Poem, By Professor Porson, London, Marsh and Miller, &c., in 1830.

This version was printed in Southey's Poetical Works, 1838, Vol.

"And backwards and forwards he switch'd his long tail,
As a gentleman switches his cane."
—Illustration from the 1830 edition of The Devil's Walk , attributed to Professor Porson