Caesar
I’ve aften wonder’d, honest Luath,What sort o’ life poor dogs like you have;An’ when the gentry’s life I saw,What way poor bodies liv’d ava.
Our laird gets in his racked rents,His coals, his kane, an’ a’ his stents:He rises when he likes himsel’;His flunkies answer at the bell;He ca’s his coach; he ca’s his horse;He draws a bonie silken purse,As lang’s my tail, where, thro’ the steeks,The yellow letter’d Geordie keeks.
Frae morn to e’en, it’s nought but toilingAt baking, roasting, frying, boiling;An’ tho’ the gentry first are stechin,Yet ev’n the ha’ folk fill their pechanWi’ sauce, ragouts, an’ sic like trashtrie,That’s little short o’ downright wastrie.Our whipper-in, wee, blasted wonner,Poor, worthless elf, it eats a dinner,Better than ony tenant-manHis Honour has in a’ the lan’:An’ what poor cot-folk pit their painch in,I own it’s past my comprehension.
Words in this poem
- gentry n.
- Birth; condition; rank by birth. [OE. genterie, gentrie, noble birth, nobility, cf. gentrise, and OF. gentelise, genterise, E. gentilesse, also OE. genteleri high-mindedness. See Gent, a., Gentl]
- laird n.
- A lord; a landholder, esp. one who holds land directly of the crown. [See Lord.]
- geordie n.
- A name given by miners to George Stephenson's safety lamp.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- downright adv.
- Straight down; perpendicularly.
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Caesar 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, Caesar, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/caesar.html, id L02999.
Form and metre
Caesar is 24 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 2 ------AA rents · stents · himsel · bell · horse · purse · steeksA · keeksA
- 3 AA--BB--CCCC toilingA · boilingA · stechin · pechan · trashtrieB · wastrieB · wonner · dinner · manC · lanC · inC · comprehensionC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I’ve aften wonder’d, honest Luath, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| What sort o’ life poor dogs like you have; | 9 | ········· |
| An’ when the gentry’s life I saw, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What way poor bodies liv’d ava. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Our laird gets in his racked rents, | 8 | /˘······ |
| His coals, his kane, an’ a’ his stents: | 8 | ········ |
| He rises when he likes himsel’; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His flunkies answer at the bell; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| He ca’s his coach; he ca’s his horse; | 8 | ········ |
| He draws a bonie silken purse, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As lang’s my tail, where, thro’ the steeks, | 8 | ········ |
| The yellow letter’d Geordie keeks. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Frae morn to e’en, it’s nought but toiling | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| At baking, roasting, frying, boiling; | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| An’ tho’ the gentry first are stechin, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Yet ev’n the ha’ folk fill their pechan | 9 | ········· |
| Wi’ sauce, ragouts, an’ sic like trashtrie, | 9 | ········· |
| That’s little short o’ downright wastrie. | 9 | ·/˘··/··· |
| Our whipper-in, wee, blasted wonner, | 9 | //˘··/˘·· |
| Poor, worthless elf, it eats a dinner, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Better than ony tenant-man | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| His Honour has in a’ the lan’: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An’ what poor cot-folk pit their painch in, | 9 | ········· |
| I own it’s past my comprehension. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
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.