John Steinbeck

Q: The title of which John Steinbeck novel comes from a poem by Robert Burns?

A: Of Mice and Men

The title of "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck comes from a line in a poem by Robert Burns, written in 1785.

The poem, To a Mouse, contains the famous line:

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”

Translated from Scots, it means: the best laid plans of mice and men often go wrong.

Steinbeck’s choice of title is no coincidence. His novel follows George and Lennie, two drifters chasing a fragile dream during the Great Depression. Like Burns’ unfortunate mouse, their carefully imagined future is quietly, inevitably undone.

What makes this connection so compelling is how it bridges time and place. An 18th-century Scottish farmer-poet writing about a disturbed mouse somehow captures the emotional core of a 20th-century American novel about friendship, hope, and loss.

Different worlds. Same truth: plans are fragile things.

And that’s the quiet power behind the title… it tells you the ending before the story even begins.