Death And Dr. Hornbook Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AAABAB CCCACA AADEDE BBBCBC CCCBCB BBBFBF GHIJKJ LLLMLM NONCNC CCCACA AAAPAQ AAANAN AAAAAA LLLRLS AAACAC LLLBLB AAAAAA AAATAT AAAAAA SSSUSA SSSASA SSSSSK LBBLBL VVVBWB NNNCNC AAABAB SSSCSC KKKBKB KKKLKA ALALAL CCCNCNSOME books are lies frae end to end | A |
And some great lies were never penn'd | A |
Ev'n ministers they hae been kenn'd | A |
In holy rapture | B |
A rousing whid at times to vend | A |
And nail't wi' Scripture | B |
- | |
- | |
But this that I am gaun to tell | C |
Which lately on a night befell | C |
Is just as true's the Deil's in hell | C |
Or Dublin city | A |
That e'er he nearer comes oursel' | C |
'S a muckle pity | A |
- | |
- | |
The clachan yill had made me canty | A |
I was na fou but just had plenty | A |
I stacher'd whiles but yet too tent aye | D |
To free the ditches | E |
An' hillocks stanes an' bushes kenn'd eye | D |
Frae ghaists an' witches | E |
- | |
- | |
The rising moon began to glowre | B |
The distant Cumnock hills out owre | B |
To count her horns wi' a my pow'r | B |
I set mysel' | C |
But whether she had three or four | B |
I cou'd na tell | C |
- | |
- | |
I was come round about the hill | C |
An' todlin down on Willie's mill | C |
Setting my staff wi' a' my skill | C |
To keep me sicker | B |
Tho' leeward whiles against my will | C |
I took a bicker | B |
- | |
- | |
I there wi' Something did forgather | B |
That pat me in an eerie swither | B |
An' awfu' scythe out owre ae shouther | B |
Clear dangling hang | F |
A three tae'd leister on the ither | B |
Lay large an' lang | F |
- | |
- | |
Its stature seem'd lang Scotch ells twa | G |
The queerest shape that e'er I saw | H |
For fient a wame it had ava | I |
And then its shanks | J |
They were as thin as sharp an' sma' | K |
As cheeks o' branks | J |
- | |
- | |
Guid een quo' I Friend hae ye been mawin | L |
When ither folk are busy sawin | L |
I seem'd to make a kind o' stan' | L |
But naething spak | M |
At length says I Friend whare ye gaun | L |
Will ye go back | M |
- | |
- | |
It spak right howe My name is Death | N |
But be na fley'd Quoth I Guid faith | O |
Ye're maybe come to stap my breath | N |
But tent me billie | C |
I red ye weel tak care o' skaith | N |
See there's a gully | C |
- | |
- | |
Gudeman quo' he put up your whittle | C |
I'm no designed to try its mettle | C |
But if I did I wad be kittle | C |
To be mislear'd | A |
I wad na mind it no that spittle | C |
Out owre my beard | A |
- | |
- | |
Weel weel says I a bargain be't | A |
Come gie's your hand an' sae we're gree't | A |
We'll ease our shanks an tak a seat | A |
Come gie's your news | P |
This while ye hae been mony a gate | A |
At mony a house | Q |
- | |
- | |
Ay ay quo' he an' shook his head | A |
It's e'en a lang lang time indeed | A |
Sin' I began to nick the thread | A |
An' choke the breath | N |
Folk maun do something for their bread | A |
An' sae maun Death | N |
- | |
- | |
Sax thousand years are near hand fled | A |
Sin' I was to the butching bred | A |
An' mony a scheme in vain's been laid | A |
To stap or scar me | A |
Till ane Hornbook's ta'en up the trade | A |
And faith he'll waur me | A |
- | |
- | |
Ye ken Hornbook i' the clachan | L |
Deil mak his king's hood in spleuchan | L |
He's grown sae weel acquaint wi' Buchan | L |
And ither chaps | R |
The weans haud out their fingers laughin | L |
An' pouk my hips | S |
- | |
- | |
See here's a scythe an' there's dart | A |
They hae pierc'd mony a gallant heart | A |
But Doctor Hornbook wi' his art | A |
An' cursed skill | C |
Has made them baith no worth a f t | A |
D n'd haet they'll kill | C |
- | |
- | |
'Twas but yestreen nae farther gane | L |
I threw a noble throw at ane | L |
Wi' less I'm sure I've hundreds slain | L |
But deil ma care | B |
It just play'd dirl on the bane | L |
But did nae mair | B |
- | |
- | |
Hornbook was by wi' ready art | A |
An' had sae fortify'd the part | A |
That when I looked to my dart | A |
It was sae blunt | A |
Fient haet o't wad hae pierc'd the heart | A |
Of a kail runt | A |
- | |
- | |
I drew my scythe in sic a fury | A |
I near hand cowpit wi' my hurry | A |
But yet the bauld Apothecary | A |
Withstood the shock | T |
I might as weel hae tried a quarry | A |
O' hard whin rock | T |
- | |
- | |
Ev'n them he canna get attended | A |
Altho' their face he ne'er had kend it | A |
Just in a kail blade an' sent it | A |
As soon's he smells 't | A |
Baith their disease and what will mend it | A |
At once he tells 't | A |
- | |
- | |
And then a' doctor's saws an' whittles | S |
Of a' dimensions shapes an' mettles | S |
A' kind o' boxes mugs an' bottles | S |
He's sure to hae | U |
Their Latin names as fast he rattles | S |
As A B C | A |
- | |
- | |
Calces o' fossils earths and trees | S |
True sal marinum o' the seas | S |
The farina of beans an' pease | S |
He has't in plenty | A |
Aqua fontis what you please | S |
He can content ye | A |
- | |
- | |
Forbye some new uncommon weapons | S |
Urinus spiritus of capons | S |
Or mite horn shavings filings scrapings | S |
Distill'd per se | S |
Sal alkali o' midge tail clippings | S |
And mony mae | K |
- | |
- | |
Waes me for Johnie Ged's Hole now | L |
Quoth I if that thae news be true | B |
His braw calf ward whare gowans grew | B |
Sae white and bonie | L |
Nae doubt they'll rive it wi' the plew | B |
They'll ruin Johnie | L |
- | |
- | |
The creature grain'd an eldritch laugh | V |
And says Ye needna yoke the pleugh | V |
Kirkyards will soon be till'd eneugh | V |
Tak ye nae fear | B |
They'll be trench'd wi' mony a sheugh | W |
In twa three year | B |
- | |
- | |
Whare I kill'd ane a fair strae death | N |
By loss o' blood or want of breath | N |
This night I'm free to tak my aith | N |
That Hornbook's skill | C |
Has clad a score i' their last claith | N |
By drap an' pill | C |
- | |
- | |
An honest wabster to his trade | A |
Whase wife's twa nieves were scarce weel bred | A |
Gat tippence worth to mend her head | A |
When it was sair | B |
The wife slade cannie to her bed | A |
But ne'er spak mair | B |
- | |
- | |
A country laird had ta'en the batts | S |
Or some curmurring in his guts | S |
His only son for Hornbook sets | S |
An' pays him well | C |
The lad for twa guid gimmer pets | S |
Was laird himsel' | C |
- | |
- | |
A bonie lass ye kend her name | K |
Some ill brewn drink had hov'd her wame | K |
She trusts hersel' to hide the shame | K |
In Hornbook's care | B |
Horn sent her aff to her lang hame | K |
To hide it there | B |
- | |
- | |
That's just a swatch o' Hornbook's way | K |
Thus goes he on from day to day | K |
Thus does he poison kill an' slay | K |
An's weel paid for't | L |
Yet stops me o' my lawfu' prey | K |
Wi' his d n'd dirt | A |
- | |
- | |
But hark I'll tell you of a plot | A |
Tho' dinna ye be speakin o't | L |
I'll nail the self conceited sot | A |
As dead's a herrin | L |
Neist time we meet I'll wad a groat | A |
He gets his fairin | L |
- | |
- | |
But just as he began to tell | C |
The auld kirk hammer strak the bell | C |
Some wee short hour ayont the twal' | C |
Which rais'd us baith | N |
I took the way that pleas'd mysel' | C |
And sae did Death | N |
Robert Burns
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation