Epistle To J. Lapraik (excerpt) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABBCBC BBBDBD BBBBBB BBBDBD CCEFCF| I am nae poet in a sense | A |
| But just a rhymer like by chance | B |
| An' hae to learning nae pretence | B |
| Yet what the matter | C |
| Whene'er my Muse does on me glance | B |
| I jingle at her | C |
| - | |
| Your critic folk may cock their nose | B |
| And say How can you e'er propose | B |
| You wha ken hardly verse frae prose | B |
| To mak a sang | D |
| But by your leave my learned foes | B |
| Ye're maybe wrang | D |
| - | |
| What's a' your jargon o' your schools | B |
| Your Latin names for horns an' stools | B |
| If honest nature made you fools | B |
| What sairs your grammars | B |
| Ye'd better taen up spades and shools | B |
| Or knappin hammers | B |
| - | |
| A set o' dull conceited hashes | B |
| Confuse their brains in college classes | B |
| They gang in stirks and come out asses | B |
| Plain truth to speak | D |
| An' syne they think to climb Parnassus | B |
| By dint o' Greek | D |
| - | |
| Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire | C |
| That's a' the learnin' I desire | C |
| Then tho' I drudge thro' dub an' mire | E |
| At pleugh or cart | F |
| My Muse though hamely in attire | C |
| May touch the heart | F |
Robert Burns
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Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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