To James Smith. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC D EEEFEF GGGHGH IIIGIG JJJGJG KKKGKG LMMMMM MMMAMA NNNONO PPPQPQ MMMGMG AAAMAM MMMMMM MMMRMR GGGSGS QQQTQT UIVWVW MMMGMG RRRTRT GGGGGG QQQQQQ XXIYXY YYYXYX MMMMMM AAAYAY YYYTYT AAAQAQ YYYTYT YYYMYM XXXQXQ| Friendship mysterious cement of the soul | A |
| Sweet'ner of life and solder of society | B |
| I owe thee much | C |
| - | |
| Blair | D |
| - | |
| - | |
| Dear Smith the sleest paukie thief | E |
| That e'er attempted stealth or rief | E |
| Ye surely hae some warlock breef | E |
| Owre human hearts | F |
| For ne'er a bosom yet was prief | E |
| Against your arts | F |
| - | |
| For me I swear by sun an' moon | G |
| And ev'ry star that blinks aboon | G |
| Ye've cost me twenty pair o' shoon | G |
| Just gaun to see you | H |
| And ev'ry ither pair that's done | G |
| Mair ta'en I'm wi' you | H |
| - | |
| That auld capricious carlin Nature | I |
| To mak amends for scrimpit stature | I |
| She's turn'd you aff a human creature | I |
| On her first plan | G |
| And in her freaks on every feature | I |
| She's wrote the Man | G |
| - | |
| Just now I've ta'en the fit o' rhyme | J |
| My barmie noddle's working prime | J |
| My fancy yerkit it up sublime | J |
| Wi' hasty summon | G |
| Hae ye a leisure moment's time | J |
| To hear what's comin' | G |
| - | |
| Some rhyme a neighbour's name to lash | K |
| Some rhyme vain thought for needfu' cash | K |
| Some rhyme to court the countra clash | K |
| An' raise a din | G |
| For me an aim I never fash | K |
| I rhyme for fun | G |
| - | |
| The star that rules my luckless lot | L |
| Has fated me the russet coat | M |
| An' damn'd my fortune to the groat | M |
| But in requit | M |
| Has blest me with a random shot | M |
| O' countra wit | M |
| - | |
| This while my notion's ta'en a sklent | M |
| To try my fate in guid black prent | M |
| But still the mair I'm that way bent | M |
| Something cries Hoolie | A |
| I red you honest man tak tent | M |
| Ye'll shaw your folly | A |
| - | |
| There's ither poets much your betters | N |
| Far seen in Greek deep men o' letters | N |
| Hae thought they had ensur'd their debtors | N |
| A' future ages | O |
| Now moths deform in shapeless tatters | N |
| Their unknown pages | O |
| - | |
| Then farewell hopes o' laurel boughs | P |
| To garland my poetic brows | P |
| Henceforth I'll rove where busy ploughs | P |
| Are whistling thrang | Q |
| An' teach the lanely heights an' howes | P |
| My rustic sang | Q |
| - | |
| I'll wander on with tentless heed | M |
| How never halting moments speed | M |
| Till fate shall snap the brittle thread | M |
| Then all unknown | G |
| I'll lay me with th' inglorious dead | M |
| Forgot and gone | G |
| - | |
| But why o' death begin a tale | A |
| Just now we're living sound and hale | A |
| Then top and maintop crowd the sail | A |
| Heave care o'er side | M |
| And large before enjoyment's gale | A |
| Let's tak the tide | M |
| - | |
| This life sae far's I understand | M |
| Is a' enchanted fairy land | M |
| Where pleasure is the magic wand | M |
| That wielded right | M |
| Maks hours like minutes hand in hand | M |
| Dance by fu' light | M |
| - | |
| The magic wand then let us wield | M |
| For ance that five an' forty's speel'd | M |
| See crazy weary joyless eild | M |
| Wi' wrinkl'd face | R |
| Comes hostin' hirplin' owre the field | M |
| Wi' creepin' pace | R |
| - | |
| When ance life's day draws near the gloamin' | G |
| Then fareweel vacant careless roamin' | G |
| An' fareweel cheerfu' tankards foamin' | G |
| An' social noise | S |
| An' fareweel dear deluding woman | G |
| The joy of joys | S |
| - | |
| O Life how pleasant in thy morning | Q |
| Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning | Q |
| Cold pausing Caution's lesson scorning | Q |
| We frisk away | T |
| Like school boys at th' expected warning | Q |
| To joy and play | T |
| - | |
| We wander there we wander here | U |
| We eye the rose upon the brier | I |
| Unmindful that the thorn is near | V |
| Among the leaves | W |
| And tho' the puny wound appear | V |
| Short while it grieves | W |
| - | |
| Some lucky find a flow'ry spot | M |
| For which they never toil'd nor swat | M |
| They drink the sweet and eat the fat | M |
| But care or pain | G |
| And haply eye the barren hut | M |
| With high disdain | G |
| - | |
| With steady aim some Fortune chase | R |
| Keen hope does ev'ry sinew brace | R |
| Thro' fair thro' foul they urge the race | R |
| And seize the prey | T |
| Then cannie in some cozie place | R |
| They close the day | T |
| - | |
| And others like your humble servan' | G |
| Poor wights nae rules nor roads observin' | G |
| To right or left eternal swervin' | G |
| They zig zag on | G |
| 'Till curst with age obscure an' starvin' | G |
| They aften groan | G |
| - | |
| Alas what bitter toil an' straining | Q |
| But truce with peevish poor complaining | Q |
| Is fortune's fickle Luna waning | Q |
| E'en let her gang | Q |
| Beneath what light she has remaining | Q |
| Let's sing our sang | Q |
| - | |
| My pen I here fling to the door | X |
| And kneel Ye Pow'rs and warm implore | X |
| Tho' I should wander terra e'er | I |
| In all her climes | Y |
| Grant me but this I ask no more | X |
| Ay rowth o' rhymes | Y |
| - | |
| Gie dreeping roasts to countra lairds | Y |
| Till icicles hing frae their beards | Y |
| Gie fine braw claes to fine life guards | Y |
| And maids of honour | X |
| And yill an' whisky gie to cairds | Y |
| Until they sconner | X |
| - | |
| A title Dempster merits it | M |
| A garter gie to Willie Pitt | M |
| Gie wealth to some be ledger'd cit | M |
| In cent per cent | M |
| But give me real sterling wit | M |
| And I'm content | M |
| - | |
| While ye are pleas'd to keep me hale | A |
| I'll sit down o'er my scanty meal | A |
| Be't water brose or muslin kail | A |
| Wi' cheerfu' face | Y |
| As lang's the muses dinna fail | A |
| To say the grace | Y |
| - | |
| An anxious e'e I never throws | Y |
| Behint my lug or by my nose | Y |
| I jouk beneath misfortune's blows | Y |
| As weel's I may | T |
| Sworn foe to sorrow care and prose | Y |
| I rhyme away | T |
| - | |
| O ye douce folk that live by rule | A |
| Grave tideless blooded calm and cool | A |
| Compar'd wi' you O fool fool fool | A |
| How much unlike | Q |
| Your hearts are just a standing pool | A |
| Your lives a dyke | Q |
| - | |
| Nae hair brain'd sentimental traces | Y |
| In your unletter'd nameless faces | Y |
| In arioso trills and graces | Y |
| Ye never stray | T |
| But gravissimo solemn basses | Y |
| Ye hum away | T |
| - | |
| Ye are sae grave nae doubt ye're wise | Y |
| Nae ferly tho' ye do despise | Y |
| The hairum scarum ram stam boys | Y |
| The rattling squad | M |
| I see you upward cast your eyes | Y |
| Ye ken the road | M |
| - | |
| Whilst I but I shall haud me there | X |
| Wi' you I'll scarce gang ony where | X |
| Then Jamie I shall say nae mair | X |
| But quat my sang | Q |
| Content wi' you to mak a pair | X |
| Whare'er I gang | Q |
Robert Burns
(1)
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