The Poem,“A Red,Red Rose”
One of the most famous songs that Robert Burns wrote for this project and first published in 1794 was “A Red,Red Rose.” Burns wrote it as a traditional ballad,four verses of four lines each.
“A Red,Red Rose” begins with a quatrain containing two similes.Burns compares his love with a springtime blooming rose and then with a sweet melody.These are popular poetic images and this is the stanza most commonly quoted from the poem.
The second and third stanzas become increasingly complex,ending with the metaphor of the “sands of life,” or hourglass.One the one hand we are given the image of his love lasting until the seas run dry and the rocks melt with the sun,wonderfully poetic images.On the other hand Burns reminds us of the passage of time and the changes that result.That recalls the first stanza and its image of a red rose,newly sprung in June,which we know from experience will change and decay with time.These are complex and competing images,typical of the more mature Robert Burns.
The final stanza wraps up the poem’s complexity with a farewell and a promise of return.
“A Red,Red Rose” is written as a ballad with four stanzas of four lines each.Each stanza has alternating lines of four beats,or iambs,and three beats.The first and third lines have four iambs,consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable,as in da-dah,da-dah,da-dah,da-dah.The second and fourth lines consist of three iambs.This form of verse is well adapted for singing or recitation and originated in the days when poetry existed in verbal rather than written form.
A Red,Red Rose
by Robert Burns
O my luve's like a red,red rose.
That's newly sprung in June;
O my luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As fair art thou,my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still,my Dear,
Till a'the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry,my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still,my Dear,
While the sands o'life shall run.
And fare thee weel my only Luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again,my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!
