Tam O' Shanter Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Robert Burns

Tam O' Shanter Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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A Tale	A
Of Brownyis and of Bogillis full is this Buke	B
Gawin Douglas	C
	-
When chapman billies leave the street	D
And drouthy neibors neibors meet	D
As market days are wearing late	E
And folk begin to tak the gate	E
While we sit bousing at the nappy	F
An' getting fou and unco happy	F
We think na on the lang Scots miles	G
The mosses waters slaps and stiles	G
That lie between us and our hame	H
Where sits our sulky sullen dame	H
Gathering her brows like gathering storm	H
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm	H
	-
This truth fand honest Tam o' Shanter	I
As he frae Ayr ae night did canter	I
Auld Ayr wham ne'er a town surpasses	J
For honest men and bonie lasses	J
	-
O Tam had'st thou but been sae wise	J
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice	J
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum	H
A blethering blustering drunken blellum	H
That frae November till October	I
Ae market day thou was na sober	I
That ilka melder wi' the Miller	I
Thou sat as lang as thou had siller	I
That ev'ry naig was ca'd a shoe on	K
The Smith and thee gat roarin fou on	K
That at the Lord's house ev'n on Sunday	L
Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday	F
She prophesied that late or soon	M
Thou wad be found deep drown'd in Doon	M
Or catch'd wi' warlocks in the mirk	B
By Alloway's auld haunted kirk	B
	-
Ah gentle dames it gars me greet	D
To think how mony counsels sweet	D
How mony lengthen'd sage advices	J
The husband frae the wife despises	J
	-
But to our tale Ae market night	N
Tam had got planted unco right	N
Fast by the ingle bleezing finely	F
Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely	F
And at his elbow Souter Johnie	F
His ancient trusty drouthy crony	F
Tam lo'ed him like a very brither	I
They had been fou for weeks thegither	I
The night drave on wi' sangs an' clatter	I
And aye the ale was growing better	I
The Landlady and Tam grew gracious	J
Wi' favours secret sweet and precious	J
The Souter tauld his queerest stories	J
The Landlord's laugh was ready chorus	J
The storm without might rair and rustle	O
Tam did na mind the storm a whistle	O
	-
Care mad to see a man sae happy	F
E'en drown'd himsel amang the nappy	F
As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure	I
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure	I
Kings may be blest but Tam was glorious	J
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious	J
	-
But pleasures are like poppies spread	P
You seize the flow'r its bloom is shed	P
Or like the snow falls in the river	I
A moment white then melts for ever	I
Or like the Borealis race	J
That flit ere you can point their place	J
Or like the Rainbow's lovely form	H
Evanishing amid the storm	H
	-
Nae man can tecther Time nor Tide	Q
The hour approaches Tam maun ride	Q
That hour o' night's black arch the key stane	F
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in	F
And sic a night he taks the road in	F
As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in	F
	-
The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last	R
The rattling showers rose on the blast	R
The speedy gleams the darkness swallow'd	S
Loud deep and lang the thunder bellow'd	S
That night a child might understand	T
The deil had business on his hand	T
	-
Weel mounted on his grey mare Meg	B
A better never leg	B
Tam skelpit on thro' dub and mire	I
Despising wind and rain and fire	I
Whiles holding fast his gude blue bonnett	U
Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet	U
Whiles glow'rin round wi' prudent cares	J
Lest bogles catch him unawares	J
Kirk Alloway was drawing nigh	V
Where ghaists and houlets nightly cry	V
	-
By this time he was cross the ford	W
Where in the snaw the chapman smoor'd	W
And past the birks and meikle stane	F
Where drunken Charlie brak's neck bane	F
And thro' the whins and by the cairn	F
Where hunters fand the murder'd bairn	F
And near the thorn aboon the well	X
Where Mungo's mither hang'd hersel'	X
Before him Doon pours all his floods	J
The doubling storm roars thro' the woods	J
The lightnings flash from pole to pole	X
Near and more near the thunders roll	X
When glimmering thro' the groaning trees	J
Kirk Alloway seem'd in a bleeze	J
Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing	B
And loud resounded mirth and dancing	B
	-
Inspiring bold John Barleycorn	F
What dangers thou canst make us scorn	F
Wi' tippeny we fear nae evil	X
Wi' usquabae we'll face the devil	X
The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle	X
Fair play he car'd na deils a boddle	X
But Maggie stood right sair astonish'd	W
Till by the heel and hand admonish'd	W
She ventur'd forward on the light	W
And wow Tam saw an unco sight	W
	-
Warlocks and witches in a dance	J
Nae cotillon brent new frae France	J
But hornpipes jigs strathspeys and reels	J
Put life and mettle in their heels	J
A winnock bunker in the east	W
There sat auld Nick in shape o' beast	W
A tousie tyke black grim and large	Y
To gie them music was his charge	Y
He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl	X
Till roof and rafters a' did dirl	X
Coffins stood round like open presses	J
That shaw'd the Dead in their last dresses	J
And by some devilish cantraip sleight	W
Each in its cauld hand held a light	W
By which heroic Tam was able	X
To note upon the haly table	X
A murderer's banes in gibbet airns	J
Twa span lang wee unchristened bairns	J
A thief new cutted frae a rape	F
Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape	F
Five tomahawks wi' blude red rusted	W
Five scimitars wi' murder crusted	W
A garter which a babe had strangled	W
A knife a father's throat had mangled	W
Whom his ain son of life bereft	W
The grey hairs yet stack to the heft	W
Wi' mair of horrible and awfu'	V
Which even to name was be unlawfu'	V
	-
As Tammie glowr'd amaz'd and curious	J
The mirth and fun grew fast and furious	J
The Piper loud and louder blew	X
The dancers quick and quicker flew	X
They reel'd they set they cross'd they cleekit	W
Till ilka carlin swat and reekit	W
And coost her duddies to the wark	B
And linkit at it in her sark	B
	-
Now Tam O Tam had they been queans	J
A' plump and strapping in their teens	J
Their sarks instead o' creeshie flainen	F
Been snaw white seventeen hunder linen	F
Thir breeks o' mine my only pair	I
That aince were plush o' guid blue hair	I
I wud hae gien them off my hurdies	J
For ae blink o' the bonie burdies	J
But wither'd beldams auld and droll	X
Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal	X
Louping an' flinging on a crummock	B
I wonder did na turn thy stomach	Z
	-
But Tam kent what was what fu' brawlie	X
There was ae winsome wench and waulie	X
That night enlisted in the core	I
Lang after ken'd on Carrick shore	I
For mony a beast to dead she shot	W
And perish'd mony a bonie boat	W
And shook baith meikle corn and bear	I
And kept the country side in fear	I
Her cutty sark o' Paisley harn	F
That while a lassie she had worn	F
In longitude tho' sorely scanty	W
It was her best and she was vauntie	W
Ah little ken'd thy reverend grannie	F
That sark she coft for her wee Nannie	F
Wi' twa pund Scots 'twas a' her riches	J
Wad ever grac'd a dance of witches	J
	-
But here my Muse her wing maun cour	I
Sic flights are far beyond her power	I
To sing how Nannie lap and flang	B
A souple jade she was and strang	B
And how Tam stood like ane bewitch'd	W
And thought his very een enrich'd	W
Even Satan glowr'd and fidg'd fu' fain	F
And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main	F
Till first ae caper syne anither	I
Tam tint his reason a' thegither	I
And roars out Weel done Cutty sark	B
And in an instant all was dark	B
And scarcely had he Maggie rallied	W
When out the hellish legion sallied	W
	-
As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke	B
When plundering herds assail their byke	B
As open pussie's mortal foes	J
When pop she starts before their nose	J
As eager runs the market crowd	W
When Catch the thief resounds aloud	W
So Maggie runs the witches follow	X
Wi' mony an eldritch skreich and hollo	X
	-
Ah Tam	H