The Twa Dogs Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDDEE FFGHIJ FFKKDDJJEE KKEELL MMNNOOPP KKJJDDDDD K QRST UUPPUUUU VVDDKKKKDDDD Q TWMMUUXY UUKKJJUU K JJPPZA2 JB2WWKKPP UU Q C2C2JJ JJJJ UUJJ YYUUUUDD UUDDQQ UUEEPPUUEE JJA2ZWWKKDD K JJEEVVJJPP UUJJU UKKUU DD Q JJJJ UUKKUUKKA2Z KKEE K EE JJUUUUEEEE TTPPJJDA Tale | A |
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'Twas in that place o' Scotland's isle | B |
That bears the name o' auld King Coil | C |
Upon a bonie day in June | D |
When wearin' thro' the afternoon | D |
Twa dogs that were na thrang at hame | E |
Forgather'd ance upon a time | E |
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The first I'll name they ca'd him Caesar | F |
Was keepit for His Honor's pleasure | F |
His hair his size his mouth his lugs | G |
Shew'd he was nane o' Scotland's dogs | H |
But whalpit some place far abroad | I |
Whare sailors gang to fish for cod | J |
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His locked letter'd braw brass collar | F |
Shew'd him the gentleman an' 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 | D |
Ev'n wi' al tinkler gipsy's messin | D |
At kirk or market mill or smiddie | J |
Nae tawted tyke tho' e'er sae duddie | J |
But he wad stan't as glad to see him | E |
An' stroan't on stanes an' hillocks wi' him | E |
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The tither was a ploughman's collie | K |
A rhyming ranting raving billie | K |
Wha for his friend an' comrade had him | E |
And in freak had Luath ca'd him | E |
After some dog in Highland Sang | L |
Was made lang syne Lord knows how lang | L |
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He was a gash an' faithfu' tyke | M |
As ever lap a sheugh or dyke | M |
His honest sonsie baws'nt face | N |
Aye gat him friends in ilka place | N |
His breast was white his touzie back | O |
Weel clad wi' coat o' glossy black | O |
His gawsie tail wi' upward curl | P |
Hung owre his hurdie's wi' a swirl | P |
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Nae doubt but they were fain o' ither | K |
And unco pack an' thick thegither | K |
Wi' social nose whiles snuff'd an' snowkit | J |
Whiles mice an' moudieworts they howkit | J |
Whiles scour'd awa' in lang excursion | D |
An' worry'd ither in diversion | D |
Until wi' daffin' weary grown | D |
Upon a knowe they set them down | D |
An' there began a lang digression | D |
About the 'lords o' the creation ' | - |
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Caesar | K |
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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 |
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Our laird gets in his racked rents | U |
His coals his kane an' 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 bonie silken purse | U |
As lang's my tail where thro' the steeks | U |
The yellow letter'd Geordie keeks | U |
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Frae morn to e'en it's nought but toiling | V |
At baking roasting frying boiling | V |
An' tho' the gentry first are stechin | D |
Yet ev'n the ha' folk fill their pechan | D |
Wi' sauce ragouts an' sic like trashtrie | K |
That's little short o' downright wastrie | K |
Our whipper in wee blasted wonner | K |
Poor worthless elf it eats a dinner | K |
Better than ony tenant man | D |
His Honour has in a' the lan' | D |
An' what poor cot folk pit their painch in | D |
I own it's past my comprehension | D |
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Luath | Q |
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Trowth Caesar whiles they're fash't eneugh | T |
A cottar howkin in a sheugh | W |
Wi' dirty stanes biggin a dyke | M |
Baring a quarry an' sic like | M |
Himsel' a wife he thus sustains | U |
A smytrie o' wee duddie weans | U |
An' nought but his han' daurk to keep | X |
Them right an' tight in thack an' rape | Y |
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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 an' hunger | K |
But how it comes I never kent 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 |
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Caesar | K |
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But then to see how ye're negleckit | J |
How huff'd an' cuff'd an' disrespeckit | J |
Lord 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 stinkin brock | A2 |
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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 |
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I see how folk live that hae riches | U |
But surely poor folk maun be wretches | U |
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Luath | Q |
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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 gives them little fright | J |
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Then chance and fortune are sae guided | J |
They're aye in less or mair provided | J |
An' tho' fatigued wi' close employment | J |
A blink o' rest's a sweet enjoyment | J |
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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 |
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An' whiles 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 an' priests | U |
Wi' kindling fury i' their breasts | U |
Or tell what new taxation's comin | D |
An' ferlie at the folk in Lon'on | D |
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As bleak fac'd Hallowmass returns | U |
They get the jovial rantin kirns | U |
When rural life of ev'ry station | D |
Unite in common recreation | D |
Love blinks Wit slaps an' social Mirth | Q |
Forgets there's Care upo' the earth | Q |
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That merry day the year begins | U |
They bar the door on frosty win's | U |
The nappy reeks wi' mantling ream | E |
An' sheds a heart inspiring steam | E |
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 | E |
That I for joy hae barkit wi' them | E |
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Still it's owre true that ye hae said | J |
Sic game is now owre aften play'd | J |
There's mony a creditable stock | A2 |
O' decent honest fawsont folk | Z |
Are riven out baith root an' 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 | D |
For Britain's guid his saul indentin | D |
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Caesar | K |
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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 | E |
An' saying ay or no's they bid him | E |
At operas an' plays parading | V |
Mortgaging gambling masquerading | V |
Or maybe 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 |
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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 |
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Whore hunting amang groves o' myrtles | U |
Then bowses drumlie German water | K |
To mak himsel look fair an' fatter | K |
An' clear the consequential sorrows | U |
Love gifts of Carnival signoras | U |
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For Britain's guid for her destruction | D |
Wi' dissipation feud an' faction | D |
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Luath | Q |
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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 |
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O would they stay aback frae courts | U |
An' please themsels wi' country 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 |
Feint haet o' them's ill hearted fellows | U |
Except for breakin o' their timmer | K |
Or speakin lightly o' their limmer | K |
Or shootin of a hare or moor cock | A2 |
The ne'er a bit they're ill to poor folk | Z |
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But will ye tell me Master Caesar | K |
Sure great folk's life's a life o' pleasure | K |
Nae cauld nor hunger e'er can steer them | E |
The very thought o't need na fear them | E |
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Caesar | K |
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Lord man were ye but whiles whare I am | E |
The gentles ye wad ne'er envy them | E |
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It's true they need na starve or sweat | J |
Thro' winter's 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 an' schools | U |
That when nae real ills perplex them | E |
They mak enow themsel's to vex them | E |
An' aye the less they hae to sturt them | E |
In like proportion less will hurt them | E |
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A country fellow at the pleugh | T |
His acre's till'd he's right eneugh | T |
A country girl at her wheel | P |
Her dizzen's dune 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 | D |
Robert Burns
(1)
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