Auld Rob Morris
There’s Auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen,He’s the King o’ gude fellows, and wale o’ auld men;He has gowd in his coffers, he has owsen and kine,And ae bonie lass, his dautie and mine.
She’s fresh as the morning, the fairest in May;She’s sweet as the ev’ning amang the new hay;As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea,And dear to my heart as the light to my e’e.
But oh! she’s an Heiress, auld Robin’s a laird,And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard;A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed,The wounds I must hide that will soon be my dead.
The day comes to me, but delight brings me nane;The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane;I wander my lane like a night-troubled ghaist,And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast.
O had she but been of a lower degree,I then might hae hop’d she wad smil’d upon me!O how past descriving had then been my bliss,As now my distraction nae words can express.
Words in this poem
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- heiress
- , A female heir.
- laird n.
- A lord; a landholder, esp. one who holds land directly of the crown. [See Lord.]
- wooer n.
- One who wooes; one who courts or solicits in love; a suitor. [AS. wogere. See Woo, v. t.]
- gane v. i.
- To yawn; to gape. [See Yawn.]
- distraction n.
- The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation. [L. distractio: cf. F. distraction.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Auld Rob Morris 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, Auld Rob Morris, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/auld-rob-morris.html, id L03291.
Form and metre
Auld Rob Morris is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables.
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 AABB glenA · menA · kineB · mineB
- 2 AABB mayA · hayA · leaB · e'eB
- 4 AABB naneA · ganeA · ghaistB · breastB
- 5 AA-- degreeA · meA · bliss · express
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There’s Auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| He’s the King o’ gude fellows, and wale o’ auld men; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| He has gowd in his coffers, he has owsen and kine, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| And ae bonie lass, his dautie and mine. | 10 | ·········· |
| She’s fresh as the morning, the fairest in May; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| She’s sweet as the ev’ning amang the new hay; | 11 | ··········· |
| As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| And dear to my heart as the light to my e’e. | 11 | ··········· |
| But oh! she’s an Heiress, auld Robin’s a laird, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard; | 12 | ············ |
| A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| The wounds I must hide that will soon be my dead. | 11 | ··········· |
| The day comes to me, but delight brings me nane; | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane; | 11 | ··········· |
| I wander my lane like a night-troubled ghaist, | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast. | 12 | ············ |
| O had she but been of a lower degree, | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| I then might hae hop’d she wad smil’d upon me! | 11 | ··········· |
| O how past descriving had then been my bliss, | 11 | ··········· |
| As now my distraction nae words can express. | 11 | ···˘/˘···˘/ |
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.