Robert Burns Country: In The Character Of A Ruined Farmer:

In The Character Of A Ruined Farmer   1771-1779 Type: Song Tune: Go from my window, Love, do. The sun he is sunk in the west, All creatures retired to rest, While here I sit, all sore beset, With sorrow, grief, and woe: And it’s O, fickle Fortune, O! The prosperous man is asleep, Nor […]

Robert Burns: On My Ever Honoured Father:

On My Ever Honoured Father   1784 Type: Epitaph O ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains, Draw near with pious rev’rence, and attend! Here lie the loving husband’s dear remains, The tender father, and the gen’rous friend; The pitying heart that felt for human woe, The dauntless heart that fear’d no human pride; […]

Robert Burns: On James Grieve, Laird Of Boghead, Tarbolton :

On James Grieve, Laird Of Boghead, Tarbolton   1784 Type: Epitaph Here lies Boghead amang the dead In hopes to get salvation; But if such as he in Heav’n may be, Then welcome, hail! damnation. ————- Home Robert Burns Collection Fledermausi’s Poetry Page Poetry from Scotland  Poetry by subject Poems by author and category Parallel […]

Robert Burns: Epitaph On Wm. Hood, Senr., In Tarbolton:

Epitaph On Wm. Hood, Senr., In Tarbolton   1784 Type: Epitaph Here Souter Hood in death does sleep; To hell if he’s gane thither, Satan, gie him thy gear to keep; He’ll haud it weel thegither. ————- Home Robert Burns Collection Fledermausi’s Poetry Page Poetry from Scotland  Poetry by subject Poems by author and category […]

Robert Burns: Remorse: Fragment

Remorse Fragment1784 Type: Poem Of all the numerous ills that hurt our peace, That press the soul, or wring the mind with anguish Beyond comparison the worst are those By our own folly, or our guilt brought on: In ev’ry other circumstance, the mind Has this to say, “It was no deed of mine:” But, […]

Robert Burns: Wha Is That At My Bower-Door:

Wha Is That At My Bower-Door   1783 Type: Song Tune: Lass, an I come near thee. “Wha is that at my bower-door?” “O wha is it but Findlay!” “Then gae your gate, ye’se nae be here:” “Indeed maun I,” quo’ Findlay; “What mak’ ye, sae like a thief?” “O come and see,” quo’ Findlay; […]

Robert Burns: Green Grow The Rashes: A Fragment

Green Grow The Rashes A Fragment1783 Type: Song Chor. – Green grow the rashes, O; Green grow the rashes, O; The sweetest hours that e’er I spend, Are spent amang the lasses, O. There’s nought but care on ev’ry han’, In ev’ry hour that passes, O: What signifies the life o’ man, An’ ’twere na […]

Robert Burns: My Nanie, O:

My Nanie, O   1783 Type: Song Tune: My Nanie, O. Behind yon hills where Lugar flows, ‘Mang moors an’ mosses many, O, The wintry sun the day has clos’d, And I’ll awa to Nanie, O. The westlin wind blaws loud an’ shill; The night’s baith mirk and rainy, O; But I’ll get my plaid […]

Robert Burns: Song Composed In August:

Song Composed In August   1783 Type: Song Tune: I had a horse, I had nae mair. Now westlin winds and slaught’ring guns Bring Autumn’s pleasant weather; The moorcock springs on whirring wings Amang the blooming heather: Now waving grain, wide o’er the plain, Delights the weary farmer; And the moon shines bright, when I […]

Robert Burns: The Rigs O’ Barley:

The Rigs O’ Barley   1783 Type: Song Tune: Corn Rigs are bonie. It was upon a Lammas night, When corn rigs are bonie, Beneath the moon’s unclouded light, I held awa to Annie; The time flew by, wi’ tentless heed, Till, ‘tween the late and early, Wi’ sma’ persuasion she agreed To see me […]

Robert Burns: I Dream’d I Lay:

I Dream’d I Lay   1771-1779 Type: Song I dream’d I lay where flowers were springing Gaily in the sunny beam; List’ning to the wild birds singing, By a falling crystal stream: Straight the sky grew black and daring; Thro’ the woods the whirlwinds rave; Tress with aged arms were warring, O’er the swelling drumlie […]

Robert Burns: Poor Mailie’s Elegy:

Poor Mailie’s Elegy   1783 Type: Elegy Lament in rhyme, lament in prose, Wi’ saut tears trickling down your nose; Our bardie’s fate is at a close, Past a’ remead! The last, sad cape-stane o’ his woes; Poor Mailie’s dead! It’s no the loss o’ warl’s gear, That could sae bitter draw the tear, Or […]

Robert Burns: John Barleycorn: A Ballad :

John Barleycorn: A Ballad   1782 Type: Poem There was three kings into the east, Three kings both great and high, And they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn should die. They took a plough and plough’d him down, Put clods upon his head, And they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn was […]

Robert Burns: My Father Was A Farmer:

My Father Was A Farmer   1782 Type: Song Tune: The weaver and his shuttle, O. My father was a farmer upon the Carrick border, O, And carefully he bred me in decency and order, O; He bade me act a manly part, though I had ne’er a farthing, O; For without an honest manly […]

Robert Burns: A Stanza Added In A Mason Lodge:

A Stanza Added In A Mason Lodge   1782 Type: Poem Then fill up a bumper and make it o’erflow, And honours masonic prepare for to throw; May ev’ry true Brother of the Compass and Square Have a big-belly’d bottle when harass’d with care. ————- Home Robert Burns Collection Fledermausi’s Poetry Page Poetry from Scotland  […]

Robert Burns: No Churchman Am I:

No Churchman Am I   1782 Type: Song Tune: Prepare, my dear Brethren, to the tavern let’s fly. No churchman am I for to rail and to write, No statesman nor soldier to plot or to fight, No sly man of business contriving a snare, For a big-belly’d bottle’s the whole of my care. The […]

Robert Burns: I’ll Go And Be A Sodger:

I’ll Go And Be A Sodger   1782 Type: Poem O why the deuce should I repine, And be an ill foreboder? I’m twenty-three, and five feet nine, I’ll go and be a sodger! I gat some gear wi’ mickle care, I held it weel thegither; But now it’s gane, and something mair- I’ll go […]

Robert Burns: Raging Fortune:

Raging Fortune   1782 Type: Song O raging Fortune’s withering blast Has laid my leaf full low, O! O raging Fortune’s withering blast Has laid my leaf full low, O! My stem was fair, my bud was green, My blossom sweet did blow, O! The dew fell fresh, the sun rose mild, And made my […]

Robert Burns: Fickle Fortune: Fragment

Fickle Fortune Fragment1782 Type: Poem Though fickle Fortune has deceived me, She pormis’d fair and perform’d but ill; Of mistress, friends, and wealth bereav’d me, Yet I bear a heart shall support me still. I’ll act with prudence as far ‘s I’m able, But if success I must never find, Then come misfortune, I bid […]

Robert Burns: Stanzas On The Same Occasion [Prospect of Death]:

Stanzas On The Same Occasion [Prospect of Death]   1781 Type: Poem Why am I loth to leave this earthly scene? Have I so found it full of pleasing charms? Some drops of joy with draughts of ill between- Some gleams of sunshine ‘mid renewing storms, Is it departing pangs my soul alarms? Or death’s […]

Robert Burns Country: O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day:

O Tibbie, I Hae Seen The Day 1771-1779 Type: Song Tune: Invercauld’s Reel, or Strathspey. Choir. – O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, Ye wadna been sae shy; For laik o’ gear ye lightly me, But, trowth, I care na by. Yestreen I met you on the moor, Ye spak na, but gaed by […]

Robert Burns: In The Prospect Of Death:

In The Prospect Of Death   1781 Type: Poem O Thou unknown, Almighty Cause Of all my hope and fear! In whose dread presence, ere an hour, Perhaps I must appear! If I have wander’d in those paths Of life I ought to shun, As something, loudly, in my breast, Remonstrates I have done; Thou […]

Robert Burns: First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified, The :

First Six Verses Of The Ninetieth Psalm Versified, The   1781 Type: Poem O Thou, the first, the greatest friend Of all the human race! Whose strong right hand has ever been Their stay and dwelling place! Before the mountains heav’d their heads Beneath Thy forming hand, Before this ponderous globe itself Arose at Thy […]

Robert Burns: Paraphrase Of The First Psalm:

Paraphrase Of The First Psalm   1781 Type: Poem The man, in life wherever plac’d, Hath happiness in store, Who walks not in the wicked’s way, Nor learns their guilty lore! Nor from the seat of scornful pride Casts forth his eyes abroad, But with humility and awe Still walks before his God. That man […]

Robert Burns: Under The Pressure Of Violent Anguish:

Under The Pressure Of Violent Anguish   1781 Type: Poem O Thou Great Being! what Thou art, Surpasses me to know; Yet sure I am, that known to Thee Are all Thy works below. Thy creature here before Thee stands, All wretched and distrest; Yet sure those ills that wring my soul Obey Thy high […]

Robert Burns: Winter: A Dirge:

Winter: A Dirge   1781 Type: Poem The wintry west extends his blast, And hail and rain does blaw; Or the stormy north sends driving forth The blinding sleet and snaw: While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down, And roars frae bank to brae; And bird and beast in covert rest, And pass the heartless […]

Robert Burns: Mary Morison:

Mary Morison   1780 Type: Song Tune: Bide ye yet. O Mary, at thy window be, It is the wish’d, the trysted hour! Those smiles and glances let me see, That make the miser’s treasure poor: How blythely was I bide the stour, A weary slave frae sun to sun, Could I the rich reward […]

Robert Burns: Bonie Peggy Alison:

Bonie Peggy Alison   1780 Type: Song Tune: The Braes o’ Balquhidder. Chor. – And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet, And I’ll kiss thee o’er again: And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet, My bonie Peggy Alison. Ilk care and fear, when thou art near I evermair defy them, O! Young kings upon their hansel throne […]

Robert Burns: Lass Of Cessnock Banks, The:

Lass Of Cessnock Banks, The   1780 Type: Song Tune: If he be a Butcher neat and trim. A Song of Similes On Cessnock banks a lassie dwells; Could I describe her shape and mein; Our lasses a’ she far excels, An’ she has twa sparkling roguish een. She’s sweeter than the morning dawn, When […]

Robert Burns: Here’s To Thy Health:

Here’s To Thy Health   1780 Type: Song Tune: Laggan Burn. Here’s to thy health, my bonie lass, Gude nicht and joy be wi’ thee; I’ll come nae mair to thy bower-door, To tell thee that I lo’e thee. O dinna think, my pretty pink, But I can live without thee: I vow and swear […]

Robert Burns Country: Ronalds Of The Bennals, The:

Ronalds Of The Bennals, The   1780 Type: Poem In Tarbolton, ye ken, there are proper young men, And proper young lasses and a’, man; But ken ye the Ronalds that live in the Bennals, They carry the gree frae them a’, man. Their father’s laird, and weel he can spare’t, Braid money to tocher […]

Robert Burns: Handsome Nell:

Handsome Nell   1771-1779 Type: Song Tune: I am a man unmarried.     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, […]

Winter – The Fourth Pastoral, or Daphne poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Lycidas. Thyrsis, the music of that murm’ring spring, Is not so mournful as the strains you sing. Nor rivers winding thro’ the vales below, So sweetly warble, or so smoothly flow. Now sleeping flocks on their soft fleeces […]

Verses Left by Mr. Pope poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period With no poetic ardour fir’d I press the bed where Wilmot lay; That here he lov’d, or here expir’d, Begets no numbers grave or gay. Beneath thy roof, Argyle, are bred Such thoughts as prompt the brave to […]

Translation of a Prayer of Brutus poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Goddess of woods, tremendous in the chase, To mountain wolves and all the savage race, Wide o’er the aerial vault extend thy sway, And o’er the infernal regions void of day. On thy third reign look down; disclose […]

To the Author of a Poem Entitled Succession poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Begone, ye Critics, and restrain your spite, Codrus writes on, and will for ever write, The heaviest Muse the swiftest course has gone, As clocks run fastest when most lead is on; What tho’ no bees around your […]

To Mrs. M. B. On Her Birthday poem – Alexander Pope

A poem by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) , the greatest English poet of “Augustan” or Georgian period Oh be thou blest with all that Heav’n can send, Long Health, long Youth, long Pleasure, and a Friend: Not with those Toys the female world admire, Riches that vex, and Vanities that tire. With added years if […]