Robert Burns: Sappho Redivivus: Fragment
Sappho Redivivus Fragment1789 Type: Poem By all I lov’d, neglected and forgot, No friendly face e’er lights my squalid cot; Shunn’d, hated, wrong’d, unpitied, unredrest, The mock’d quotation of the scorner’s jest! Ev’n the poor support of my wretched life, Snatched by the violence of legal strife. Oft grateful for my very daily bread To […]
Robert Burns: Pegasus At Wanlockhead:
Pegasus At Wanlockhead 1789 Type: Poem With Pegasus upon a day, Apollo, weary flying, Through frosty hills the journey lay, On foot the way was plying. Poor slipshod giddy Pegasus Was but a sorry walker; To Vulcan then Apollo goes, To get a frosty caulker. Obliging Vulcan fell to work, Threw by his coat […]
Robert Burns: Ode, Sacred To The Memory Of Mrs. Oswald Of Auchencruive:
Ode, Sacred To The Memory Of Mrs. Oswald Of Auchencruive 1789 Type: Ode Dweller in yon dungeon dark, Hangman of creation! mark, Who in widow-weeds appears, Laden with unhonour’d years, Noosing with care a bursting purse, Baited with many a deadly curse? Strophe View the wither’d Beldam’s face; Can thy keen inspection trace Aught […]
Robert Burns: Robin Shure In Hairst:
Robin Shure In Hairst 1789 Type: Poem Chorus.-Robin shure in hairst, I shure wi’ him. Fient a heuk had I, Yet I stack by him. I gaed up to Dunse, To warp a wab o’ plaiden, At his daddie’s yett, Wha met me but Robin: Robin shure, &c. Was na Robin bauld, Tho’ I […]
Robert Burns: Versicles On Sign-Posts :
Versicles On Sign-Posts 1788 Type: Poem His face with smile eternal drest, Just like the Landlord’s to his Guest’s, High as they hang with creaking din, To index out the Country Inn. He looked just as your sign-post Lions do, With aspect fierce, and quite as harmless too. A head, pure, sinless quite of […]
Robert Burns: The Henpecked Husband:
The Henpecked Husband 1788 Type: Poem Curs’d be the man, the poorest wretch in life, The crouching vassal to a tyrant wife! Who has no will but by her high permission, Who has not sixpence but in her possession; Who must to he, his dear friend’s secrets tell, Who dreads a curtain lecture worse […]
Robert Burns: Elegy On The Year 1788:
Elegy On The Year 1788 1788 Type: Elegy For lords or kings I dinna mourn, E’en let them die-for that they’re born: But oh! prodigious to reflec’! A Towmont, sirs, is gane to wreck! O Eighty-eight, in thy sma’ space, What dire events hae taken place! Of what enjoyments thou hast reft us! In […]
Robert Burns: The Poet’s Progress : A Poem In Embryo
The Poet’s Progress A Poem In Embryo1788 Type: Poem Thou, Nature, partial Nature, I arraign; Of thy caprice maternal I complain. The peopled fold thy kindly care have found, The horned bull, tremendous, spurns the ground; The lordly lion has enough and more, The forest trembles at his very roar; Thou giv’st the ass his […]
Robert Burns: Written In Friars Carse Hermitage: On Nithside
Written In Friars Carse Hermitage On Nithside1788 Type: Poem Thou whom chance may hither lead, Be thou clad in russet weed, Be thou deckt in silken stole, Grave these counsels on thy soul. Life is but a day at most, Sprung from night,-in darkness lost; Hope not sunshine ev’ry hour, Fear not clouds will always […]
Robert Burns: The Parting Kiss:
The Parting Kiss 1788 Type: Poem Humid seal of soft affections, Tenderest pledge of future bliss, Dearest tie of young connections, Love’s first snowdrop, virgin kiss! Speaking silence, dumb confession, Passion’s birth, and infant’s play, Dove-like fondness, chaste concession, Glowing dawn of future day! Sorrowing joy, Adieu’s last action, (Lingering lips must now disjoin), […]
Robert Burns: My Bonie Mary:
My Bonie Mary 1788 Type: Poem Go, fetch to me a pint o’ wine, And fill it in a silver tassie; That I may drink before I go, A service to my bonie lassie. The boat rocks at the pier o’ Leith; Fu’ loud the wind blaws frae the Ferry; The ship rides by […]
Robert Burns: Auld Lang Syne:
Auld Lang Syne 1788 Type: Poem Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne! Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne. We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp! And […]
Robert Burns: It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonie Face:
It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonie Face 1788 Type: Poem It is na, Jean, thy bonie face, Nor shape that I admire; Altho’ thy beauty and thy grace Might weel awauk desire. Something, in ilka part o’ thee, To praise, to love, I find, But dear as is thy form to me, Still dearer […]
Robert Burns: I Reign In Jeanie’s Bosom:
I Reign In Jeanie’s Bosom 1788 Type: Poem Louis, what reck I by thee, Or Geordie on his ocean? Dyvor, beggar louns to me, I reign in Jeanie’s bosom! Let her crown my love her law, And in her breast enthrone me, Kings and nations-swith awa’! Reif randies, I disown ye! ————- Home Robert […]
Robert Burns: The Fall Of The Leaf:
The Fall Of The Leaf 1788 Type: Poem The lazy mist hangs from the brow of the hill, Concealing the course of the dark-winding rill; How languid the scenes, late so sprightly, appear! As Autumn to Winter resigns the pale year. The forests are leafless, the meadows are brown, And all the gay foppery […]
Robert Burns: A Mother’s Lament For the Death of Her Son.:
A Mother’s Lament For the Death of Her Son. 1788 Type: Poem Fate gave the word, the arrow sped, And pierc’d my darling’s heart; And with him all the joys are fled Life can to me impart. By cruel hands the sapling drops, In dust dishonour’d laid; So fell the pride of all my […]
Robert Burns: O, Were I On Parnassus Hill:
O, Were I On Parnassus Hill 1788 Type: Song Tune: My love is lost to me. O, were I on Parnassus hill, Or had o’ Helicon my fill, That I might catch poetic skill, To sing how dear I love thee! But Nith maun be my Muse’s well, My Muse maun be thy bonie […]
Robert Burns: The Day Returns:
The Day Returns 1788 Type: Song Tune: Seventh of November. The day returns, my bosom burns, The blissful day we twa did meet: Tho’ winter wild in tempest toil’d, Ne’er summer-sun was half sae sweet. Than a’ the pride that loads the tide, And crosses o’er the sultry line; Than kingly robes, than crowns […]
Robert Burns: Epistle To Robert Graham, Esq., Of Fintry: Requesting a Favour
Epistle To Robert Graham, Esq., Of Fintry Requesting a Favour1788 Type: Epistle When Nature her great master-piece design’d, And fram’d her last, best work, the human mind, Her eye intent on all the mazy plan, She form’d of various parts the various Man. Then first she calls the useful many forth; Plain plodding Industry, and […]
Robert Burns: The Fete Champetre:
The Fete Champetre 1788 Type: Song Tune: Killiecrankie. O Wha will to Saint Stephen’s House, To do our errands there, man? O wha will to Saint Stephen’s House O’ th’ merry lads of Ayr, man? Or will we send a man o’ law? Or will we send a sodger? Or him wha led o’er […]
Robert Burns: Anna, Thy Charms:
Anna, Thy Charms 1788 Type: Song Anna, thy charms my bosom fire, And waste my soul with care; But ah! how bootless to admire, When fated to despair! Yet in thy presence, lovely Fair, To hope may be forgiven; For sure ’twere impious to despair So much in sight of heaven. ————- Home Robert […]
Robert Burns: To Alex. Cunningham, ESQ., Writer: Ellisland, Nithsdale, July 27th, 1788.
To Alex. Cunningham, ESQ., Writer Ellisland, Nithsdale, July 27th, 1788.1788 Type: Poem My godlike friend-nay, do not stare, You think the phrase is odd-like; But God is love, the saints declare, Then surely thou art god-like. And is thy ardour still the same? And kindled still at Anna? Others may boast a partial flame, But […]
Robert Burns: Lines Written In Friars’-Carse Hermitage:
Lines Written In Friars’-Carse Hermitage 1788 Type: Poem Thou whom chance may hither lead, Be thou clad in russet weed, Be thou deckt in silken stole, Grave these maxims on thy soul. Life is but a day at most, Sprung from night, in darkness lost: Hope not sunshine every hour, Fear not clouds will […]
Robert Burns: I Hae a Wife O’ My Ain:
I Hae a Wife O’ My Ain 1788 Type: song I Hae a wife of my ain, I’ll partake wi’ naebody; I’ll take Cuckold frae nane, I’ll gie Cuckold to naebody. I hae a penny to spend, There-thanks to naebody! I hae naething to lend, I’ll borrow frae naebody. I am naebody’s lord, I’ll […]
Robert Burns: Of A’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw:
Of A’ The Airts The Wind Can Blaw 1788 Type: Song Tune: Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey. Of a’ the airts the wind can blaw, I dearly like the west, For there the bonie lassie lives, The lassie I lo’e best: There’s wild-woods grow, and rivers row, And mony a hill between: But day and […]
Robert Burns: Epistle To Hugh Parker:
Epistle To Hugh Parker 1788 Type: Epistle In this strange land, this uncouth clime, A land unknown to prose or rhyme; Where words ne’er cross’t the Muse’s heckles, Nor limpit in poetic shackles: A land that Prose did never view it, Except when drunk he stacher’t thro’ it; Here, ambush’d by the chimla cheek, […]
Robert Burns: The Chevalier’s Lament:
The Chevalier’s Lament 1788 Type: Song Tune: Captain O’Kean. The small birds rejoice in the green leaves returning, The murmuring streamlet winds clear thro’ the vale; The primroses blow in the dews of the morning, And wild scatter’d cowslips bedeck the green dale: But what can give pleasure, or what can seem fair, When […]
Robert Burns: Verses To Clarinda: Sent with a Pair of Wine-Glasses.
Verses To Clarinda Sent with a Pair of Wine-Glasses. 1788 Type: Poem Fair Empress of the Poet’s soul, And Queen of Poetesses; Clarinda, take this little boon, This humble pair of glasses: And fill them up with generous juice, As generous as your mind; And pledge them to the generous toast, “The whole of human […]
Robert Burns: The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa:
The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa 1788 Type: Poem O how can I be blythe and glad, Or how can I gang brisk and braw, When the bonie lad that I lo’e best Is o’er the hills and far awa! It’s no the frosty winter wind, It’s no the driving drift and snaw; But […]
Robert Burns: The Winter It Is Past:
The Winter It Is Past 1788 Type: Poem The winter it is past, and the summer comes at last And the small birds, they sing on ev’ry tree; Now ev’ry thing is glad, while I am very sad, Since my true love is parted from me. The rose upon the breer, by the waters […]
Robert Burns: To Daunton Me:
To Daunton Me 1788 Type: Poem The blude-red rose at Yule may blaw, The simmer lilies bloom in snaw, The frost may freeze the deepest sea; But an auld man shall never daunton me. Refrain.-To daunton me, to daunton me, And auld man shall never daunton me. To daunton me, and me sae young, […]
Robert Burns: Talk Of Him That’s Far Awa:
Talk Of Him That’s Far Awa 1788 Type: Poem Musing on the roaring ocean, Which divides my love and me; Wearying heav’n in warm devotion, For his weal where’er he be. Hope and Fear’s alternate billow Yielding late to Nature’s law, Whispering spirits round my pillow, Talk of him that’s far awa. Ye whom […]
Robert Burns: The Lad They Ca’Jumpin John:
The Lad They Ca’Jumpin John 1788 Type: Poem Her daddie forbad, her minnie forbad Forbidden she wadna be: She wadna trow’t the browst she brew’d, Wad taste sae bitterlie. Chorus.-The lang lad they ca’Jumpin John Beguil’d the bonie lassie, The lang lad they ca’Jumpin John Beguil’d the bonie lassie. A cow and a cauf, […]
Robert Burns: Duncan Davison :
Duncan Davison 1788 Type: Poem There was a lass, they ca’d her Meg, And she held o’er the moors to spin; There was a lad that follow’d her, They ca’d him Duncan Davison. The moor was dreigh, and Meg was skeigh, Her favour Duncan could na win; For wi’ the rock she wad him […]
Robert Burns: Hey, The Dusty Miller:
Hey, The Dusty Miller 1788 Type: Poem Hey, the dusty Miller, And his dusty coat, He will win a shilling, Or he spend a groat: Dusty was the coat, Dusty was the colour, Dusty was the kiss That I gat frae the Miller. Hey, the dusty Miller, And his dusty sack; Leeze me on […]
Robert Burns: How Long And Dreary Is The Night :
How Long And Dreary Is The Night 1788 Type: Poem How long and dreary is the night, When I am frae my dearie! I sleepless lie frae e’en to morn, Tho’ I were ne’er so weary: I sleepless lie frae e’en to morn, Tho’ I were ne’er sae weary! When I think on the […]
Robert Burns: Up In The Morning Early:
Up In The Morning Early 1788 Type: Poem Cauld blaws the wind frae east to west, The drift is driving sairly; Sae loud and shill’s I hear the blast- I’m sure it’s winter fairly. Chorus.-Up in the morning’s no for me, Up in the morning early; When a’ the hills are covered wi’ snaw, […]
Robert Burns: The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa:
The Bonie Lad That’s Far Awa 1788 Type: Poem O how can I be blythe and glad, Or how can I gang brisk and braw, When the bonie lad that I lo’e best Is o’er the hills and far awa! It’s no the frosty winter wind, It’s no the driving drift and snaw; But […]
Robert Burns: The Winter It Is Past:
The Winter It Is Past 1788 Type: Poem The winter it is past, and the summer comes at last And the small birds, they sing on ev’ry tree; Now ev’ry thing is glad, while I am very sad, Since my true love is parted from me. The rose upon the breer, by the waters […]
Robert Burns: To Daunton Me:
To Daunton Me 1788 Type: Poem The blude-red rose at Yule may blaw, The simmer lilies bloom in snaw, The frost may freeze the deepest sea; But an auld man shall never daunton me. Refrain.-To daunton me, to daunton me, And auld man shall never daunton me. To daunton me, and me sae young, […]