Address To The Unco Guid Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCDE AAAAABAB BFBFGGGG CBCBHDHD GIGIAJAJ DKDKCGCG GGGGLDLD DDLDLCLC DGDGCCCC| My Son these maxims make a rule | A |
| An' lump them aye thegither | B |
| The Rigid Righteous is a fool | A |
| The Rigid Wise anither | B |
| The cleanest corn that ere 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 verse | E |
| - | |
| - | |
| 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 neibours' fauts and folly | A |
| Whase life is like a weel gaun mill | A |
| Supplied wi' store o' water | B |
| The heap d happer's ebbing still | A |
| An' still the clap plays clatter | B |
| - | |
| Hear me ye venerable core | B |
| As counsel for poor mortals | F |
| That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door | B |
| For glaikit Folly's portals | F |
| I for their thoughtless careless sakes | G |
| Would here propone defences | G |
| Their donsie tricks their black mistakes | G |
| Their failings and mischances | G |
| - | |
| Ye see your state wi' theirs compared | C |
| And shudder at the niffer | B |
| But cast a moment's fair regard | C |
| What makes the mighty differ | B |
| Discount what scant occassion gave | H |
| That purity ye pride in | D |
| And what's aft mair than a' the lave | H |
| Your better art o' hidin | D |
| - | |
| Think when your castigated pulse | G |
| Gies now and then a wallop | I |
| What ragings must his veins convulse | G |
| 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 maks a unco lee way | J |
| - | |
| See Social Life and Glee sit down | D |
| All joyous and unthinking | K |
| Till quite transmugrified they're grown | D |
| Debauchery and Drinking | K |
| O would they stay to calculate | C |
| Th' external consequences | G |
| Or your more dreaded hell to state | C |
| Damnation of expenses | G |
| - | |
| Ye high exalted virtuous dames | G |
| Tied up in godly laces | G |
| Before ye gie poor Frailty names | G |
| Suppose a change o' cases | G |
| A dear lov'd lad convenience snug | L |
| A treach'rous inclination | D |
| But let me whisper i' your lug | L |
| Ye're aiblins nae temptation | D |
| - | |
| Then gently scan your brother man | D |
| Still gentler sister woman | D |
| Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang | L |
| To step aside is human | D |
| One point must still be greatly dark | L |
| The moving Why they do it | C |
| And just as lamely can ye mark | L |
| How far perhaps they rue it | C |
| - | |
| Who made the heart 'tis He alone | D |
| Decidedly can try us | G |
| He knows each chord its various tone | D |
| Each spring its various bias | G |
| 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
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