The Twa Dogs. - A Tale. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDEFGHIJ FFKKCCJJDD KKDDLL MMNNOOPP KKJJCCCCCC K QRST UUPPUUUU VVCCKKKKCCCC Q TWMMUUXY UUKKJJUU K JJPPZA2 JB2WWKKPP UU Q C2C2JJJJJJ UUJJYYUUUUCC UUCCQQ UUDDPPUUDD JJA2ZWWKKCC K JJDDVVJJPP UUJJUUKKUUCC Q JJJJ UUKKUUKKA2Z KKDD K DD JJUUUUDDDD TTPPJJUUUUUUJJUUVVUU KKJJUUJJ CC JJCCUUB2B2Twas in that place o' Scotland's isle | A |
That bears the name o' Auld King Coil | B |
Upon a bonnie day in June | C |
When wearing through the afternoon | C |
Twa dogs that were na thrang at hame | D |
Forgather'd ance upon a time | D |
The first I'll name they ca'd him C sar | E |
Was keepit for his honour's pleasure | F |
His hair his size his mouth his lugs | G |
Show'd he was nane o' Scotland's dogs | H |
But whalpit some place far abroad | I |
Where sailors gang to fish for cod | J |
- | |
His locked letter'd braw brass collar | F |
Show'd him the gentleman and scholar | F |
But though he was o' high degree | K |
The fient a pride nae pride had he | K |
But wad hae spent an hour caressin' | C |
Ev'n wi' a tinkler gypsey's messin' | C |
At kirk or market mill or smiddie | J |
Nae tawted tyke though e'er sae duddie | J |
But he wad stan't as glad to see him | D |
And stroan't on stanes and hillocks wi' him | D |
- | |
The tither was a ploughman's collie | K |
A rhyming ranting raving billie | K |
Wha for his friend an' comrade had him | D |
And in his freaks had Luath ca'd him | D |
After some dog in Highland sang | L |
Was made lang syne Lord know how lang | L |
- | |
He was a gash an' faithful tyke | M |
As ever lap a sheugh or dyke | M |
His honest sonsie baws'nt face | N |
Ay gat him friends in ilka place | N |
His breast was white his touzie back | O |
Weel clad wi' coat o' glossy black | O |
His gaucie tail wi' upward curl | P |
Hung o'er his hurdies wi' a swirl | P |
- | |
Nae doubt but they were fain o' ither | K |
An' unco pack an' thick thegither | K |
Wi' social nose whyles snuff'd and snowkit | J |
Whyles mice and moudiewarts they howkit | J |
Whyles scour'd awa in lang excursion | C |
An' worry'd ither in diversion | C |
Until wi' daffin weary grown | C |
Upon a knowe they sat them down | C |
And there began a lang digression | C |
About the lords o' the creation | C |
- | |
C sar | K |
- | |
I've aften wonder'd honest Luath | Q |
What sort o' life poor dogs like you have | R |
An' when the gentry's life I saw | S |
What way poor bodies liv'd ava | T |
- | |
Our laird gets in his racked rents | U |
His coals his kain and a' his stents | U |
He rises when he likes himsel' | P |
His flunkies answer at the bell | P |
He ca's his coach he ca's his horse | U |
He draws a bonnie silken purse | U |
As lang's my tail whare through the steeks | U |
The yellow letter'd Geordie keeks | U |
- | |
Frae morn to e'en its nought but toiling | V |
At baking roasting frying boiling | V |
An' though the gentry first are stechin | C |
Yet even the ha' folk fill their pechan | C |
Wi' sauce ragouts and sic like trashtrie | K |
That's little short o' downright wastrie | K |
Our whipper in wee blastit wonner | K |
Poor worthless elf eats a dinner | K |
Better than ony tenant man | C |
His honour has in a' the lan' | C |
An' what poor cot folk pit their painch in | C |
I own it's past my comprehension | C |
- | |
Luath | Q |
- | |
Trowth C sar whyles they're fash't eneugh | T |
A cotter howkin in a sheugh | W |
Wi' dirty stanes biggin' a dyke | M |
Baring a quarry and sic like | M |
Himself a wife he thus sustains | U |
A smytrie o' wee duddie weans | U |
An' nought but his han' darg to keep | X |
Them right and tight in thack an' rape | Y |
- | |
An' when they meet wi' sair disasters | U |
Like loss o' health or want o' masters | U |
Ye maist wad think a wee touch langer | K |
An' they maun starve o' cauld and hunger | K |
But how it comes I never kenn'd yet | J |
They're maistly wonderfu' contented | J |
An' buirdly chiels an' clever hizzies | U |
Are bred in sic a way as this is | U |
- | |
C sar | K |
- | |
But then to see how ye're negleckit | J |
How huff'd and cuff'd and disrespeckit | J |
L d man our gentry care as little | P |
For delvers ditchers an' sic cattle | P |
They gang as saucy by poor folk | Z |
As I wad by a stinking brock | A2 |
- | |
I've notic'd on our Laird's court day | J |
An' mony a time my heart's been wae | B2 |
Poor tenant bodies scant o' cash | W |
How they maun thole a factor's snash | W |
He'll stamp an' threaten curse an' swear | K |
He'll apprehend them poind their gear | K |
While they maun stan' wi' aspect humble | P |
An' hear it a' an' fear an' tremble | P |
- | |
I see how folk live that hae riches | U |
But surely poor folk maun be wretches | U |
- | |
Luath | Q |
- | |
They're no sae wretched's ane wad think | C2 |
Tho' constantly on poortith's brink | C2 |
They're sae accustom'd wi' the sight | J |
The view o't gies them little fright | J |
Then chance an' fortune are sae guided | J |
They're ay in less or mair provided | J |
An' tho' fatigu'd wi' close employment | J |
A blink o' rest's a sweet enjoyment | J |
- | |
The dearest comfort o' their lives | U |
Their grushie weans an' faithfu' wives | U |
The prattling things are just their pride | J |
That sweetens a' their fire side | J |
An' whyles twalpennie worth o' nappy | Y |
Can mak' the bodies unco happy | Y |
They lay aside their private cares | U |
To mind the Kirk and State affairs | U |
They'll talk o' patronage and priests | U |
Wi' kindling fury in their breasts | U |
Or tell what new taxation's comin' | C |
And ferlie at the folk in Lon'on | C |
- | |
As bleak fac'd Hallowmass returns | U |
They get the jovial ranting kirns | U |
When rural life o' ev'ry station | C |
Unite in common recreation | C |
Love blinks Wit slaps an' social Mirth | Q |
Forgets there's Care upo' the earth | Q |
- | |
That merry day the year begins | U |
They bar the door on frosty win's | U |
The nappy reeks wi' mantling ream | D |
An' sheds a heart inspiring steam | D |
The luntin pipe an sneeshin mill | P |
Are handed round wi' right guid will | P |
The cantie auld folks crackin' crouse | U |
The young anes rantin' thro' the house | U |
My heart has been sae fain to see them | D |
That I for joy hae barkit wi' them | D |
- | |
Still it's owre true that ye hae said | J |
Sic game is now owre aften play'd | J |
There's monie a creditable stock | A2 |
O' decent honest fawsont folk | Z |
Are riven out baith root and branch | W |
Some rascal's pridefu' greed to quench | W |
Wha thinks to knit himsel' the faster | K |
In favour wi' some gentle master | K |
Wha aiblins thrang a parliamentin' | C |
For Britain's guid his saul indentin' | C |
- | |
C sar | K |
- | |
Haith lad ye little ken about it | J |
For Britain's guid guid faith I doubt it | J |
Say rather gaun as Premiers lead him | D |
An' saying aye or no's they bid him | D |
At operas an' plays parading | V |
Mortgaging gambling masquerading | V |
Or may be in a frolic daft | J |
To Hague or Calais takes a waft | J |
To mak a tour an' tak' a whirl | P |
To learn bon ton an' see the worl' | P |
- | |
There at Vienna or Versailles | U |
He rives his father's auld entails | U |
Or by Madrid he takes the rout | J |
To thrum guitars an' fecht wi' nowt | J |
Or down Italian vista startles | U |
Wh re hunting amang groves o' myrtles | U |
Then bouses drumly German water | K |
To mak' himsel' look fair and fatter | K |
An' clear the consequential sorrows | U |
Love gifts of carnival signoras | U |
For Britain's guid for her destruction | C |
Wi' dissipation feud an' faction | C |
- | |
Luath | Q |
- | |
Hech man dear sirs is that the gate | J |
They waste sae mony a braw estate | J |
Are we sae foughten an' harass'd | J |
For gear to gang that gate at last | J |
- | |
O would they stay aback frae courts | U |
An' please themsels wi' countra sports | U |
It wad for ev'ry ane be better | K |
The Laird the Tenant an' the Cotter | K |
For thae frank rantin' ramblin' billies | U |
Fient haet o' them's ill hearted fellows | U |
Except for breakin' o' their timmer | K |
Or speakin' lightly o' their limmer | K |
Or shootin' o' a hare or moor cock | A2 |
The ne'er a bit they're ill to poor folk | Z |
- | |
But will ye tell me Master C sar | K |
Sure great folk's life's a life o' pleasure | K |
Nae cauld or hunger e'er can steer them | D |
The vera thought o't need na fear them | D |
- | |
C sar | K |
- | |
L d man were ye but whyles whare I am | D |
The gentles ye wad ne'er envy 'em | D |
- | |
It's true they needna starve or sweat | J |
Thro' winters cauld or simmer's heat | J |
They've nae sair wark to craze their banes | U |
An' fill auld age wi' grips an' granes | U |
But human bodies are sic fools | U |
For a' their colleges and schools | U |
That when nae real ills perplex them | D |
They mak enow themsels to vex them | D |
An' ay the less they hae to sturt them | D |
In like proportion less will hurt them | D |
- | |
A country fellow at the pleugh | T |
His acres till'd he's right eneugh | T |
A country girl at her wheel | P |
Her dizzen's done she's unco weel | P |
But Gentlemen an' Ladies warst | J |
Wi' ev'n down want o' wark are curst | J |
They loiter lounging lank an' lazy | U |
Tho' deil haet ails them yet uneasy | U |
Their days insipid dull an' tasteless | U |
Their nights unquiet lang an' restless | U |
An' even their sports their balls an' races | U |
Their galloping thro' public places | U |
There's sic parade sic pomp an' art | J |
The joy can scarcely reach the heart | J |
The men cast out in party matches | U |
Then sowther a' in deep debauches | U |
Ae night they're mad wi' drink and wh ring | V |
Niest day their life is past enduring | V |
The Ladies arm in arm in clusters | U |
As great and gracious a' as sisters | U |
But hear their absent thoughts o' ither | K |
They're a' run deils an' jads thegither | K |
Whyles o'er the wee bit cup an' platie | J |
They sip the scandal potion pretty | J |
Or lee lang nights wi' crabbit leuks | U |
Pore owre the devil's pictur'd beuks | U |
Stake on a chance a farmer's stack yard | J |
An' cheat like onie unhang'd blackguard | J |
- | |
There's some exception man an' woman | C |
But this is Gentry's life in common | C |
- | |
By this the sun was out o' sight | J |
An' darker gloaming brought the night | J |
The bum clock humm'd wi' lazy drone | C |
The kye stood rowtin i' the loan | C |
When up they gat and shook their lugs | U |
Rejoic'd they were na men but dogs | U |
An' each took aff his several way | B2 |
Resolv'd to meet some ither day | B2 |
Robert Burns
(1)
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