Poems and Songs of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
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POEMS AND SONGS OF ROBERT BURNS
by Robert Burns
Introductory Note
1771 - 1779
Song--Handsome Nell
Song--O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day
Song--I Dream'd I Lay
Song--I Dream'd I Lay
Song--In The Character Of A Ruined Farmer
Tragic Fragment--All villain as I am
The Tarbolton Lasses
Ah, Woe Is Me, My Mother Dear
Song--Montgomerie's Peggy
The Ploughman's Life
1780
The Ronalds Of The Bennals
Song--Here's To Thy Health
Song--The Lass Of Cessnock Banks
Song--Bonie Peggy Alison
Song--Mary Morison
1781
Winter: A Dirge
A Prayer, Under The Pressure Of Violent Anguish
Paraphrase Of The First Psalm
The First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified
Prayer, In The Prospect Of Death
Stanzas, On The Same Occasion
1782
Fickle Fortune: A Fragment
Song--Raging Fortune--Fragment Of
I'll Go And Be A Sodger
Song--"No Churchman Am I"
My Father Was A Farmer
John Barleycorn: A Ballad
1783
Death And Dying Words Of Poor Mailie
Poor Mailie's Elegy
Song--The Rigs O' Barley
Song Composed In August
Song--My Nanie, O!
Song--Green Grow The Rashes
Song--Wha Is That At My Bower-Door
1784
Remorse: A Fragment
Epitaph On Wm. Hood, Senr., In Tarbolton
Epitaph On James Grieve, Laird Of Boghead, Tarbolton
Epitaph On My Own Friend And My Father's Friend, Wm. Muir In Tarbolton
Mill
Epitaph On My Ever Honoured Father
Ballad On The American War
Reply To An Announcement By J. Rankine
Epistle To John Rankine
A Poet's Welcome To His Love-Begotten Daughter^1
Song--O Leave Novels!
The Mauchline Lady: A Fragment
My Girl She's Airy: A Fragment
The Belles Of Mauchline
Epitaph On A Noisy Polemic
Epitaph On A Henpecked Country Squire
Epigram On The Said Occasion
Another On The said Occasion
On Tam The Chapman
Epitaph On John Rankine
Lines On The Author's Death
Man Was Made To Mourn: A Dirge
The Twa Herds; Or, The Holy Tulyie
1785
Epistle To Davie, A Brother Poet
Holy Willie's Prayer
Epitaph On Holy Willie
Death and Doctor Hornbook
Epistle To J. Lapraik, An Old Scottish Bard
Second Epistle To J. Lapraik
Epistle To William Simson
One Night As I Did Wander
Tho' Cruel Fate Should Bid Us Part
Song--Rantin', Rovin' Robin
Elegy On The Death Of Robert Ruisseaux
Epistle To John Goldie, In Kilmarnock
The Holy Fair
Third Epistle To J. Lapraik
Epistle To The Rev. John M'math
Second Epistle to Davie
Song--Young Peggy Blooms
Song--Farewell To Ballochmyle
Fragment--Her Flowing Locks
Halloween
To A Mouse
Epitaph On John Dove, Innkeeper
Epitaph For James Smith
Adam Armour's Prayer
The Jolly Beggars: A Cantata
Song--For A' That
Song--Merry Hae I Been Teethin A Heckle
The Cotter's Saturday Night
Address To The Deil
Scotch Drink
1786
The Auld Farmer's New-Year--Morning Salutation To His Auld Mare,
Maggie
The Twa Dogs
The Author's Earnest Cry And Prayer
The Ordination
Epistle To James Smith
The Vision
Suppressed Stanza's Of "The Vision"
The Rantin' Dog, The Daddie O't
Here's His Health In Water
Address To The Unco Guid, Or The Rigidly Righteous
The Inventory
To John Kennedy, Dumfries House
To Mr. M'Adam, Of Craigen-Gillan
To A Louse
Inscribed On A Work Of Hannah More's
Song, Composed In Spring
To A Mountain Daisy,
To Ruin
The Lament
Despondency: An Ode
To Gavin Hamilton, Esq., Mauchline, Recommending a Boy.
Versified Reply To An Invitation
Song--Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary?
My Highland Lassie, O
Epistle To A Young Friend
Address Of Beelzebub
A Dream
A Dedication To Gavin Hamilton, Esq.
Versified Note To Dr. Mackenzie, Mauchline
The Farewell To the Brethren of St. James' Lodge, Tarbolton.
On A Scotch Bard, Gone To The West Indies
Song--Farewell To Eliza
A Bard's Epitaph
Epitaph For Robert Aiken, Esq.
Epitaph For Gavin Hamilton, Esq.
Epitaph On "Wee Johnie"
The Lass O' Ballochmyle
Lines To An Old Sweetheart
Motto Prefixed To The Author's First Publication
Lines To Mr. John Kennedy
Lines Written On A Banknote
Stanzas On Naething
The Farewell
The Calf
Nature's Law--A Poem
Song--Willie Chalmers
Reply To A Trimming Epistle Received From A Tailor
The Brigs Of Ayr
Fragment Of Song
Epigram On Rough Roads
Prayer--O Thou Dread Power
Song--Farewell To The Banks Of Ayr
Address To The Toothache
Lines On Meeting With Lord Daer
Masonic Song
Tam Samson's Elegy
Epistle To Major Logan
Fragment On Sensibility
A Winter Night
Song--Yon Wild Mossy Mountains
Address To Edinburgh
Address To A Haggis
1787
To Miss Logan, With Beattie's Poems, For A New-Year's Gift, Jan. 1,
1787.
Mr. William Smellie--A Sketch
Rattlin', Roarin' Willie
Song--Bonie Dundee
Extempore In The Court Of Session
Inscribed Under Fergusson's Portrait
Epistle To Mrs. Scott of Wauchope-House
Verses Intended To Be Written Below A Noble Earl's Picture^1
Prologue, Spoken by Mr. Woods at Edinburgh.
Song--The Bonie Moor-Hen
Song--My Lord A-Hunting he is gane
Epigram At Roslin Inn
The Book-Worms
On Elphinstone's Translation Of Martial's Epigrams
Song--A Bottle And Friend
Lines Written Under The Picture Of The Celebrated Miss Burns
Epitaph For William Nicol, Of The High School, Edinburgh
Epitaph For Mr. William Michie
Boat song--Hey, Ca' Thro'
Address To Wm. Tytler, Esq., Of Woodhouselee
Epigram To Miss Ainslie In Church
Burlesque Lament For The Absence Of William Creech' s Absence
Note To Mr. Renton Of Lamerton
Elegy On "Stella"
The Bard At Inverary
Epigram To Miss Jean Scott
On The Death Of John M'Leod, Esq,
Elegy On The Death Of Sir James Hunter Blair
Impromptu On Carron Iron Works
To Miss Ferrier
Written By Somebody On The Window Of an Inn at Stirling
The Poet's Reply To The Threat Of A Censorious Critic
The Libeller's Self-Reproof
Verses Written With A Pencil at the Inn at Kenmore
Song--The Birks Of Aberfeldy
The Humble Petition Of Bruar Water
Lines On The Fall Of Fyers Near Loch-Ness.
Epigram On Parting With A Kind Host In The Highlands
Song--Strathallan's Lament
Verses on Castle Gordon
Song--Lady Onlie, Honest Lucky
Song--Theniel Menzies' Bonie Mary
The Bonie Lass Of Albany
On Scaring Some Water-Fowl In Loch-Turit
Song--Blythe Was She
Song--A Rose--Bud By My Early Walk
Epitaph For Mr. W. Cruikshank
Song--The Banks Of The Devon
Song--Braving Angry Winter's Storms
Song--My Peggy's Charms
Song--The Young Highland Rover
Birthday Ode For 31st December, 1787^1
On The Death Of Robert Dundas, Esq., Of Arniston,
Sylvander To Clarinda
1788
Song--Love In The Guise Of Friendship
Song--Go On, Sweet Bird, And Sooth My Care
Song--Clarinda, Mistress Of My Soul
Song--I'm O'er Young To Marry Yet
Song--To The Weavers Gin Ye Go
Song--M'Pherson's Farewell
Song--Stay My Charmer
Song--My Hoggie
Song--Raving Winds Around Her Blowing
Song--Up In The Morning Early
Song--How Long And Dreary Is The Night
Song--Hey, The Dusty Miller
Song--Duncan Davison
Song--The Lad They Ca'Jumpin John
Song--Talk Of Him That's Far Awa
Song--To Daunton Me
Song--The Winter It Is Past
Song--The Bonie Lad That's Far Awa
Verses To Clarinda, with Drinking Glasses
Song--The Chevalier's Lament
Epistle To Hugh Parker
Song--Of A' The Airts The Wind Can Blaw
Song--I Hae a Wife O' My Ain
Lines Written In Friars'-Carse Hermitage
To Alex. Cunningham, ESQ., Writer, Edinburgh
Song.--Anna, Thy Charms
The Fete Champetre
Epistle To Robert Graham, Esq., Of Fintry
Song.--The Day Returns
Song.--O, Were I On Parnassus Hill
A Mother's Lament
Song--The Fall Of The Leaf
Song--I Reign In Jeanie's Bosom
Song--It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonie Face
Song--Auld Lang Syne
Song--My Bonie Mary
Verses On Aa Parting Kiss
Written In Friars Carse Hermitage (Second Version)
The Poet's Progress
Elegy On The Year 1788
The Henpecked Husband
Versicles On Sign-Posts
1789
Robin Shure In Hairst
Ode, Sacred To The Memory Of Mrs. Oswald Of Auchencruive
Pegasus At Wanlockhead
Sappho Redivivus--A Fragment
Song--She's Fair And Fause
Impromptu Lines To Captain Riddell
Lines To John M'Murdo, Esq. Of Drumlanrig
Rhyming Reply To A Note From Captain Riddell
Caledonia--A Ballad
Verses To Miss Cruickshank
Beware O' Bonie Ann
Ode On The Departed Regency Bill
Epistle To James Tennant Of Glenconner
A New Psalm For The Chapel Of Kilmarnock
Sketch In Verse Inscribed to the Right Hon. C. J. Fox.
The Wounded Hare
Delia, An Ode
Song--The Gard'ner Wi' His Paidle
Song--On A Bank Of Flowers
Song--Young Jockie Was The Blythest Lad
Song--The Banks Of Nith
Song--Jamie, Come Try Me
Song--I Love My Love In Secret
Song--Sweet Tibbie Dunbar
Song--The Captain's Lady
Song--John Anderson, My Jo
Song--My Love, She's But A Lassie Yet
Song--Tam Glen
Song--Carle, An The King Come
Song--The Laddie's Dear Sel'
Song--Whistle O'er The Lave O't
Song--My Eppie Adair
On The Late Captain Grose's Peregrinations Thro' Scotland
Epigram On Francis Grose The Antiquary
The Kirk Of Scotland's Alarm
Sonnet to Robert Graham, Esq., On Receiving A Favour
Extemporaneous Effusion On being appointed to an Excise division.
Song--Willie Brew'd A Peck O' Maut^1
Song--Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes
Song--I Gaed A Waefu' Gate Yestreen
Song--Highland Harry Back Again
Song--The Battle Of Sherramuir
Song--The Braes O' Killiecrankie
Song--Awa' Whigs, Awa'
Song--A Waukrife Minnie
Song--The Captive Ribband
Song--My Heart's In The Highlands
The Whistle--A Ballad
Song--To Mary In Heaven
Epistle To Dr. Blacklock
The Five Carlins
Election Ballad For Westerha'
Prologue Spoken At The Theatre Of Dumfries
1790
Sketch--New Year's Day [1790]
Scots' Prologue For Mr. Sutherland
Lines To A Gentleman,
Elegy On Willie Nicol's Mare
Song--The Gowden Locks Of Anna
Song--I Murder Hate
Song--Gudewife, Count The Lawin
Election Ballad At the close of the contest
for representing the Dumfries Burghs, 1790.
Elegy On Captain Matthew Henderson
The Epitaphon Captain Matthew Henderson
Verses On Captain Grose
Tam O' Shanter: A Tale
On The Birth Of A Posthumous Child
Elegy On The Late Miss Burnet Of Monboddo
1791
Lament Of Mary, Queen Of Scots, On The Approach Of Spring
There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame
Song--Out Over The Forth
The Banks O' Doon (First Version)
The Banks O' Doon (Second Version)
The Banks O' Doon (Third Version)
Lament For James, Earl Of Glencairn
Lines Sent To Sir John Whiteford, Bart
Song--Craigieburn Wood
Song--The Bonie Wee Thing
Epigram On Miss Davies
Song--The Charms Of Lovely Davies
Song--What Can A Young Lassie Do Wi' An Auld Man
Song--The Posie
On Glenriddell's Fox Breaking His Chain
Poem On Pastoral Poetry
Verses On The Destruction Of The Woods Near Drumlanrig
Song--The Gallant Weaver
Epigram At Brownhill Inn^1
Song--You're Welcome, Willie Stewart
Song--Lovely Polly Stewart
Song--Fragment,--Damon And Sylvia
Song--Fragment--Johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver
Song--My Eppie Macnab
Song--Fragment--Altho' He Has Left Me
Song--O For Ane An' Twenty, Tam
Song--Thou Fair Eliza
Song--My Bonie Bell
Song--Sweet Afton
Address To The Shade Of Thomson
Song--Nithsdale's Welcome Hame
Song--Frae The Friends And Land I Love
Song--Such A Parcel Of Rogues In A Nation
Song--Ye Jacobites By Name
Song--I Hae Been At Crookieden
Epistle To John Maxwell, ESQ., Of Terraughty
Second Epistle To Robert Graham, ESQ., Of Fintry
The Song Of Death
Poem On Sensibility
Epigram--The Toadeater
Epigram--Divine Service In The Kirk Of Lamington
Epigram--The Keekin'-Glass
A Grace Before Dinner
A Grace After Dinner
Song--O May, Thy Morn
Song--Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever
Song--Behold The Hour, The Boat, Arrive
Song--Thou Gloomy December
Song--My Native Land Sae Far Awa
1792
Song--I do Confess Thou Art Sae Fair
Lines On Fergusson, The Poet
Song--The Weary Pund O' Tow
Song--When She Cam' Ben She Bobbed
Song--Scroggam, My Dearie
Song--My Collier Laddie
Song--Sic A Wife As Willie Had
Song--Lady Mary Ann
Song--Kellyburn Braes
Song--The Slave's Lament
Song--O Can Ye Labour Lea?
Song--The Deuks Dang O'er My Daddie
Song--The Deil's Awa Wi' The Exciseman
Song--The Country Lass
Song--Bessy And Her Spinnin' Wheel
Song--Fragment--Love For Love
Song--Saw Ye Bonie Lesley
Song--Fragment Of Song
Song--I'll Meet Thee On The Lea Rig
Song--My Wife's A Winsome Wee Thing
Song--Highland Mary
Song--Auld Rob Morris
The Rights Of Woman--Spoken by Miss Fontenelle
Epigram On Miss Fontenelle
Extempore On Some Commemorations Of Thomson
Song--Duncan Gray
Song--A Health To Them That's Awa
A Tippling Ballad--When Princes and Prelates
1793
Song--Poortith Cauld And Restless Love
Epigram On Politics
Song--Braw Lads O' Galla Water
Sonnet Written On The Author's Birthday,
Song--Wandering Willie
Wandering Willie (Revised Version)
Lord Gregory: A Ballad
Song--Open The Door To Me, Oh
Song--Lovely Young Jessie
Song--Meg O' The Mill
Song--Meg O' The Mill (Another Version)
The Soldier's Return: A Ballad
Epigram--The True Loyal Natives
Epigram--On Commissary Goldie's Brains
Lines Inscribed In A Lady's Pocket Almanac
Epigram--Thanksgiving For A National Victory
Epigram--The Raptures Of Folly
Epigram--Kirk and State Excisemen
Extempore Reply To An Invitation
A Grace After Meat
Grace Before And After Meat
Impromptu On General Dumourier's Desertion From The French Republican
Army
Song--The Last Time I Came O'er The Moor
Song--Logan Braes
Song--Blythe Hae I been On Yon Hill
Song--O Were My Love Yon Lilac Fair
Bonie Jean--A Ballad
Lines On John M'Murdo, ESQ.
Epitaph On A Lap-Dog
Epigrams Against The Earl Of Galloway
Epigram On The Laird Of Laggan
Song--Phillis The Fair
Song--Had I A Cave
Song.--By Allan Stream
Song--Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad
Song--Phillis The Queen O' The Fair
Song--Come, Let Me Take Thee To My Breast
Song--Dainty Davie
Song--Robert Bruce's March To Bannockburn
Song--Behold The Hour, The Boat Arrive
Song--Down The Burn, Davie
Song--Thou Hast Left Me Ever, Jamie
Song--Where Are The Joys I have Met?
Song--Deluded Swain, The Pleasure
Song--Thine Am I, My Faithful Fair
Impromptu On Mrs. Riddell's Birthday
Song--My Spouse Nancy
Address Spoken by Miss Fontenelle
Complimentary Epigram On Maria Riddell
1794
Remorseful Apology
Song--Wilt Thou Be My Dearie?
Song--A Fiddler In The North
The Minstrel At Lincluden
A Vision
Song--A Red, Red Rose
Song--Young Jamie, Pride Of A' The Plain
Song--The Flowery Banks Of Cree
Monody On a lady famed for her Caprice.
The Epitaph On the Same
Epigram Pinned To Mrs. Walter Riddell's Carriage
Epitaph For Mr. Walter Riddell
Epistle From Esopus To Maria
Epitaph On A Noted Coxcomb
Epitaph On Capt. Lascelles
Epitaph On Wm. Graham, Esq., Of Mossknowe
Epitaph On John Bushby, Esq., Tinwald Downs
Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell
Song--The Lovely Lass O' Inverness
Song--Charlie, He's My Darling
Song--Bannocks O' Bear Meal
Song--The Highland Balou
The Highland Widow's Lament
Song--It Was A' For Our Rightfu' King
Ode For General Washington's Birthday
Inscription To Miss Graham Of Fintry
Song--On The Seas And Far Away
Song--Ca' The Yowes To The Knowes
Song--She Says She Loes Me Best Of A'
Epigram--On Miss Jessy Staig's recovery.
To The Beautiful Miss Eliza J-N On her Principles of Liberty and
Equality.
On Chloris Requesting me to give her a Spring of Blossomed Thorn.
On Seeing Mrs. Kemble In Yarico
Epigram On A Country Laird (Cardoness)
Epigram on the Same Laird's Country Seat
Epigram on Dr. Babinton's Looks
Epigram On A Suicide
Epigram On A Swearing Coxcomb
Epigram On An Innkeeper Nicknamed (The Marquis)
Epigram On Andrew Turner
Song--Pretty Peg
Esteem For Chloris
Song--Saw Ye My Dear, My Philly
Song--How Lang And Dreary Is The Night
Song--Inconstancy In Love
The Lover's Morning Salute To His Mistress
Song--The Winter Of Life
Song--Behold, My Love, How Green The Groves
Song--The Charming Month Of May
Song--Lassie Wi' The Lint-White Locks
Dialogue song--Philly And Willy
Song--Contented Wi' Little And Cantie Wi' Mair
Song--Farewell Thou Stream
Song--Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie
Song--My Nanie's Awa
Song--The Tear-Drop--Wae is my heart
Song--For The Sake O' Somebody
1795
Song--A Man's A Man For A' That
The Solemn League And Covenant
Lines to John Syme with a Dozen of Porter.
Inscription On Mr. Syme's Crystal Goblet
Apology To Mr. Syme For Not Dining with him
Epitaph For Mr. Gabriel Richardson
Epigram On Mr. James Gracie
Song--Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay
Inscription At Friars' Carse Hermitage
Song--Fragment--There Was A Bonie Lass
Song--Fragment--Wee Willie Gray
Song--O Aye My Wife She Dang Me
Song--Gude Ale Keeps The Heart Aboon
Song--O Steer Her Up An' Haud Her Gaun
Song--The Lass O' Ecclefechan
Song--O Let Me In Thes Ae Night
Song--I'll Aye Ca' In By Yon Town
Ballads on Mr. Heron's Election--Ballad First
Ballads on Mr. Heron's Election--Ballad Second
Ballads on Mr. Heron's Election--Ballad Third
Inscription For An Altar Of Independence
Song--The Cardin O't, The Spinnin O't
Song--The Cooper O' Cuddy
Song--The Lass That Made The Bed To Me
Song--Had I The Wyte? She Bade Me
Song--Does Haughty Gaul Invasion Threat?
Song--Address To The Woodlark
Song.--On Chloris Being Ill
Song--How Cruel Are The Parents
Song--Yonder Pomp Of Costly Fashion
Song--'Twas Na Her Bonie Blue E'e
Song--Their Groves O'Sweet Myrtle
Song--Forlorn, My Love, No Comfort Near
Song--Fragment,--Why, Why Tell The Lover
Song--The Braw Wooer
Song--This Is No My Ain Lassie
Song--O Bonie Was Yon Rosy Brier
Song--Song Inscribed To Alexander Cunningham
Song--O That's The Lassie O' My Heart
Inscription to Chloris
Song--Fragment.--The Wren's Nest
Song--News, Lassies, News
Song--Crowdie Ever Mair
Song--Mally's Meek, Mally's Sweet
Song--Jockey's Taen The Parting Kiss
Verses To Collector Mitchell
1796
The Dean Of Faculty
Epistle To Colonel De Peyster
Song--A Lass Wi' A Tocher
Song--The Trogger.
Complimentary Versicles To Jessie Lewars
1. The Toast
2. The Menagerie
3. Jessie's illness
4. On Her Recovery
Song--O Lay Thy Loof In Mine, Lass
Song--A Health To Ane I Loe Dear
Song--O Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast
Inscription To Miss Jessy Lewars
Song--Fairest Maid On Devon Banks
Glossary
POEMS AND SONGS OF ROBERT BURNS
Preface
Robert Burns was born near Ayr, Scotland, 25th of January, 1759. He was
the son of William Burnes, or Burness, at the time of the poet's birth a
nurseryman on the banks of the Doon in Ayrshire. His father, though
always extremely poor, attempted to give his children a fair education,
and Robert, who was the eldest, went to school for three years in a
neighboring village, and later, for shorter periods, to three other
schools in the vicinity. But it was to his father and to his own reading
that he owed the more important part of his education; and by the time
that he had reached manhood he had a good knowledge of English, a
reading knowledge of French, and a fairly wide acquaintance with the
masterpieces of English literature from the time of Shakespeare to his
own day. In 1766 William Burness rented on borrowed money the farm of
Mount Oliphant, and in taking his share in the effort to make this
undertaking succeed, the future poet seems to have seriously
overstrained his physique. In 1771 the family move to Lochlea, and Burns
went to the neighboring town of Irvine to learn flax-dressing. The only
result of this experiment, however, was the formation of an acquaintance
with a dissipated sailor, whom he afterward blamed as the prompter of
his first licentious adventures. His father died in 1784, and with his
brother Gilbert the poet rented the farm of Mossgiel; but this venture
was as unsuccessful as the others. He had meantime formed an irregular
intimacy with Jean Armour, for which he was censured by the
Kirk-session. As a result of his farming misfortunes, and the attempts
of his father-in-law to overthrow his irregular marriage with Jean, he
resolved to emigrate; and in order to raise money for the passage he
published (Kilmarnock, 1786) a volume of the poems which he had been
composing from time to time for some years. This volume was unexpectedly
successful, so that, instead of sailing for the West Indies, he went up
to Edinburgh, and during that winter he was the chief literary celebrity
of the season. An enlarged edition of his poems was published there in
1787, and the money derived from this enabled him to aid his brother in
Mossgiel, and to take and stock for himself the farm of Ellisland in
Dumfriesshire. His fame as poet had reconciled the Armours to the
connection, and having now regularly married Jean, he brought her to
Ellisland, and once more tried farming for three years. Continued
ill-success, however, led him, in 1791, to abandon Ellisland, and he moved
to Dumfries, where he had obtained a position in the Excise. But he was
now thoroughly discouraged; his work was mere drudgery; his tendency to
take his relaxation in debauchery increased the weakness of a
constitution early undermined; and he died at Dumfries in his
thirty-eighth year.
[See Burns' Birthplace: The living room in the Burns birthplace
cottage.]
It is not necessary here to attempt to disentangle or explain away the
numerous amours in which he was engaged through the greater part of his
life. It is evident that Burns was a man of extremely passionate nature
and fond of conviviality; and the misfortunes of his lot combined with
his natural tendencies to drive him to frequent excesses of
self-indulgence. He was often remorseful, and he strove painfully, if
intermittently, after better things. But the story of his life must be
admitted to be in its externals a painful and somewhat sordid chronicle.
That it contained, however, many moments of joy and exaltation is proved
by the poems here printed.
Burns' poetry falls into two main groups: English and Scottish. His
English poems are, for the most part, inferior specimens of conventional
eighteenth-century verse. But in Scottish poetry he achieved triumphs of
a quite extraordinary kind. Since the time of the Reformation and the
union of the crowns of England and Scotland, the Scots dialect had
largely fallen into disuse as a medium for dignified writing. Shortly
before Burns' time, however, Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson had been
the leading figures in a revival of the vernacular, and Burns received
from them a national tradition which he succeeded in carrying to its
highest pitch, becoming thereby, to an almost unique degree, the poet of
his people.
He first showed complete mastery of verse in the field of satire. In
"The Twa Herds," "Holy Willie's Prayer," "Address to the Unco Guid,"
"The Holy Fair," and others, he manifested sympathy with the protest of
the so-called "New Light" party, which had sprung up in opposition to
the extreme Calvinism and intolerance of the dominant "Auld Lichts." The
fact that Burns had personally suffered from the discipline of the Kirk
probably added fire to his attacks, but the satires show more than
personal animus. The force of the invective, the keenness of the wit,
and the fervor of the imagination which they displayed, rendered them an
important force in the theological liberation of Scotland.
The Kilmarnock volume contained, besides satire, a number of poems like
"The Twa Dogs" and "The Cotter's Saturday Night," which are vividly
descriptive of the Scots peasant life with which he was most familiar;
and a group like "Puir Mailie" and "To a Mouse," which, in the
tenderness of their treatment of animals, revealed one of the most
attractive sides of Burns' personality. Many of his poems were never
printed during his lifetime, the most remarkable of these being "The
Jolly Beggars," a piece in which, by the intensity of his imaginative
sympathy and the brilliance of his technique, he renders a picture of
the lowest dregs of society in such a way as to raise it into the realm
of great poetry.
But the real national importance of Burns is due chiefly to his songs.
The Puritan austerity of the centuries following the Reformation had
discouraged secular music, like other forms of art, in Scotland; and as
a result Scottish song had become hopelessly degraded in point both of
decency and literary quality. From youth Burns had been interested in
collecting the fragments he had heard sung or found printed, and he came
to regard the rescuing of this almost lost national inheritance in the
light of a vocation. About his song-making, two points are especially
noteworthy: first, that the greater number of his lyrics sprang from
actual emotional experiences; second, that almost all were composed to
old melodies. While in Edinburgh he undertook to supply material for
Johnson's "Musical Museum," and as few of the traditional songs could
appear in a respectable collection, Burns found it necessary to make
them over. Sometimes he kept a stanza or two; sometimes only a line or
chorus; sometimes merely the name of the air; the rest was his own. His
method, as he has told us himself, was to become familiar with the
traditional melody, to catch a suggestion from some fragment of the old
song, to fix upon an idea or situation for the new poem; then, humming
or whistling the tune as he went about his work, he wrought out the new
verses, going into the house to write them down when the inspiration
began to flag. In this process is to be found the explanation of much of
the peculiar quality of the songs of Burns. Scarcely any known author
has succeeded so brilliantly in combining his work with folk material,
or in carrying on with such continuity of spirit the tradition of
popular song. For George Thomson's collection of Scottish airs he
performed a function similar to that which he had had in the "Museum";
and his poetical activity during the last eight or nine years of his
life was chiefly devoted to these two publications. In spite of the fact
that he was constantly in severe financial straits, he refused to accept
any recompense for this work, preferring to regard it as a patriotic
service. And it was, indeed, a patriotic service of no small magnitude.
By birth and temperament he was singularly fitted for the task, and this
fitness is proved by the unique extent to which his productions were
accepted by his countrymen, and have passed into the life and feeling of
his race.
1771 - 1779
Song--Handsome Nell^1
Tune--"I am a man unmarried."
[Footnote 1: The first of my performances.--R. B.]
Once I lov'd a bonie lass,
Ay, and I love her still;
And whilst that virtue warms my breast,
I'll love my handsome Nell.
As bonie lasses I hae seen,
And mony full as braw;
But, for a modest gracefu' mein,
The like I never saw.
A bonie lass, I will confess,
Is pleasant to the e'e;
But, without some better qualities,
She's no a lass for me.
But Nelly's looks are blythe and sweet,
And what is best of a',
Her reputation is complete,
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses aye sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel;
And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart;
But it's innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
'Tis this in Nelly pleases me,
'Tis this enchants my soul;
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
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