Addressed to Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintry
I call no Goddess to inspire my strains,A fabled Muse may suit a bard that feigns:Friend of my life! my ardent spirit burns,And all the tribute of my heart returns,For boons accorded, goodness ever new,The gifts still dearer, as the giver you.Thou orb of day! thou other paler light!And all ye many sparkling stars of night!If aught that giver from my mind efface,If I that giver’s bounty e’er disgrace,Then roll to me along your wand’rig spheres,Only to number out a villain’s years!I lay my hand upon my swelling breast,And grateful would, but cannot speak the rest.
Words in this poem
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Addressed to Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintry is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, Project Gutenberg ebook #1279; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Burns, Addressed to Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintry, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/addressed-to-robert-graham-esq-of-fintry.html, id L03189.
Form and metre
Addressed to Robert Graham, Esq. of Fintry is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGG strainsA · feignsA · burnsB · returnsB · newC · youC · lightD · nightD · effaceE · disgraceE · spheresF · yearsF · breastG · restG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I call no Goddess to inspire my strains, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| A fabled Muse may suit a bard that feigns: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Friend of my life! my ardent spirit burns, | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| And all the tribute of my heart returns, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| For boons accorded, goodness ever new, | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘/· |
| The gifts still dearer, as the giver you. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thou orb of day! thou other paler light! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all ye many sparkling stars of night! | 9 | ···//˘··· |
| If aught that giver from my mind efface, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| If I that giver’s bounty e’er disgrace, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Then roll to me along your wand’rig spheres, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Only to number out a villain’s years! | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| I lay my hand upon my swelling breast, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And grateful would, but cannot speak the rest. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.