Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie
Chorus—Canst thou leave me thus, my Katie?Canst thou leave me thus, my Katie?Well thou know’st my aching heart,And canst thou leave me thus, for pity?
Is this thy plighted, fond regard,Thus cruelly to part, my Katie?Is this thy faithful swain’s reward—An aching, broken heart, my Katie!Canst thou leave me, &c.
Farewell! and ne’er such sorrows tearThat finkle heart of thine, my Katie!Thou maysn find those will love thee dear,But not a love like mine, my Katie,Canst thou leave me, &c.
Words in this poem
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie 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, Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/canst-thou-leave-me-thus-my-katie.html, id L03393.
Form and metre
Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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.
- 1 AA-- katieA · katieA · heart · pity
- 2 -A-A- regard · katieA · reward · katieA · —
- 3 ABAB- tearA · katieB · dearA · katieB · —
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chorus—Canst thou leave me thus, my Katie? | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Canst thou leave me thus, my Katie? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Well thou know’st my aching heart, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And canst thou leave me thus, for pity? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Is this thy plighted, fond regard, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Thus cruelly to part, my Katie? | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Is this thy faithful swain’s reward— | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| An aching, broken heart, my Katie! | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Canst thou leave me, &c. | 5 | ····· |
| Farewell! and ne’er such sorrows tear | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| That finkle heart of thine, my Katie! | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Thou maysn find those will love thee dear, | 8 | ········ |
| But not a love like mine, my Katie, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Canst thou leave me, &c. | 5 | ····· |
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.