Address To The Unco Guid, Or The Rigidly Righteous. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD B AAAAABAB BEBEFFFF CBCBGDGH G FIFIAJAJ G KHLHCFCF G FFFFMNMN G ONMNMCMC G LFLFCCCC| My son these maxims make a rule | A |
| And lump them ay thegither | B |
| The Rigid Righteous is a fool | A |
| The Rigid Wise anither | B |
| The cleanest corn that e'er was dight | C |
| May hae some pyles o' caff in | D |
| So ne'er a fellow creature slight | C |
| For random fits o' daffin | D |
| - | |
| Solomon Eccles ch vii ver | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| I | - |
| - | |
| O ye wha are sae guid yoursel' | A |
| Sae pious and sae holy | A |
| Ye've nought to do but mark and tell | A |
| Your neibor's fauts and folly | A |
| Whase life is like a weel gaun mill | A |
| Supply'd wi' store o' water | B |
| The heaped happer's ebbing still | A |
| And still the clap plays clatter | B |
| - | |
| II | - |
| - | |
| Hear me ye venerable core | B |
| As counsel for poor mortals | E |
| That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door | B |
| For glaikit Folly's portals | E |
| I for their thoughtless careless sakes | F |
| Would here propone defences | F |
| Their donsie tricks their black mistakes | F |
| Their failings and mischances | F |
| - | |
| III | - |
| - | |
| Ye see your state wi' theirs compar'd | C |
| And shudder at the niffer | B |
| But cast a moment's fair regard | C |
| What maks the mighty differ | B |
| Discount what scant occasion gave | G |
| That purity ye pride in | D |
| And what's aft mair than a' the lave | G |
| Your better art o' hiding | H |
| - | |
| IV | G |
| - | |
| Think when your castigated pulse | F |
| Gies now and then a wallop | I |
| What ragings must his veins convulse | F |
| That still eternal gallop | I |
| Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail | A |
| Right on ye scud your sea way | J |
| But in the teeth o' baith to sail | A |
| It makes an unco lee way | J |
| - | |
| V | G |
| - | |
| See social life and glee sit down | K |
| All joyous and unthinking | H |
| 'Till quite transmugrify'd they're grown | L |
| Debauchery and drinking | H |
| O would they stay to calculate | C |
| Th' eternal consequences | F |
| Or your more dreaded hell to state | C |
| D mnation of expenses | F |
| - | |
| VI | G |
| - | |
| Ye high exalted virtuous dames | F |
| Ty'd up in godly laces | F |
| Before ye gie poor frailty names | F |
| Suppose a change o' cases | F |
| A dear lov'd lad convenience snug | M |
| A treacherous inclination | N |
| But let me whisper i' your lug | M |
| Ye're aiblins nae temptation | N |
| - | |
| VII | G |
| - | |
| Then gently scan your brother man | O |
| Still gentler sister woman | N |
| Though they may gang a kennin' wrang | M |
| To step aside is human | N |
| One point must still be greatly dark | M |
| The moving why they do it | C |
| And just as lamely can ye mark | M |
| How far perhaps they rue it | C |
| - | |
| VIII | G |
| - | |
| Who made the heart 'tis He alone | L |
| Decidedly can try us | F |
| He knows each chord its various tone | L |
| Each spring its various bias | F |
| Then at the balance let's be mute | C |
| We never can adjust it | C |
| What's done we partly may compute | C |
| But know not what's resisted | C |
Robert Burns
(1)
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