Collecting the Antiquities of That Kingdom
Hear, Land o’ Cakes, and brither Scots,Frae Maidenkirk to Johnie Groat’s;—If there’s a hole in a’ your coats,I rede you tent it:A chield’s amang you takin notes,And, faith, he’ll prent it:
If in your bounds ye chance to lightUpon a fine, fat fodgel wight,O’ stature short, but genius bright,That’s he, mark weel;And wow! he has an unco sleightO’ cauk and keel.
By some auld, houlet-haunted biggin,Or kirk deserted by its riggin,It’s ten to ane ye’ll find him snug inSome eldritch part,Wi’ deils, they say, Lord save’s! colleaguinAt some black art.
Ilk ghaist that haunts auld ha’ or chaumer,Ye gipsy-gang that deal in glamour,And you, deep-read in hell’s black grammar,Warlocks and witches,Ye’ll quake at his conjuring hammer,Ye midnight bitches.
It’s tauld he was a sodger bred,And ane wad rather fa’n than fled;But now he’s quat the spurtle-blade,And dog-skin wallet,And taen the—Antiquarian trade,I think they call it.
He has a fouth o’ auld nick-nackets:Rusty airn caps and jinglin jackets,Wad haud the Lothians three in tackets,A towmont gude;And parritch-pats and auld saut-backets,Before the Flood.
Of Eve’s first fire he has a cinder;Auld Tubalcain’s fire-shool and fender;That which distinguished the genderO’ Balaam’s ass:A broomstick o’ the witch of Endor,Weel shod wi’ brass.
Forbye, he’ll shape you aff fu’ glegThe cut of Adam’s philibeg;The knife that nickit Abel’s craigHe’ll prove you fully,It was a faulding jocteleg,Or lang-kail gullie.
But wad ye see him in his glee,For meikle glee and fun has he,Then set him down, and twa or threeGude fellows wi’ him:And port, O port! shine thou a wee,And Then ye’ll see him!
Now, by the Pow’rs o’ verse and prose!Thou art a dainty chield, O Grose!—Whae’er o’ thee shall ill suppose,They sair misca’ thee;I’d take the rascal by the nose,Wad say, “Shame fa’ thee!”
Words in this poem 25
- groat n.
- An old English silver coin, equal to four pence. [LG. grote, orig., great, that is, a great piece of coin, larger than other coins in former use. See Great.]
- rede v. t.
- To advise or counsel. [See Read, v. t.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- weel
- A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. Carew. [Prov. E. weel, weal, a wicker basket to catch eels; prob. akin to willow, and so called as made of willow twigs.]
- unco a.
- Unknown; strange, or foreign; unusual, or surprising; distant in manner; reserved. [Scot. The same word as E. uncouth.]
- sleight n.
- Cunning; craft; artful practice. [OE. sleighte, sleihte, sleithe, Icel. sl (for sl) slyness, cunning, fr. sl (for sl) sly, cunning. See Sly.]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- houlet n.
- An owl. See Howlet.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- biggin n.
- A child's cap; a hood, or something worn on the head. [F. béguin, prob. from the cap worn by the Béguines. Cf. Beguine, Biggon.]
- kirk n.
- A church or the church, in the various senses of the word; esp., the Church of Scotland as distinguished from other reformed churches, or from the Roman Catholic Church. Jamieson. [Scot.; cf. Icel. kirkja, of Greek origin. See Church.]
- eldritch a.
- Hideous; ghastly; as, an eldritch shriek or laugh. [Local, Eng.]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- sodger n.
- Var. of Soldier. [Dial. or Slang]
- quat v. t.
- To satiate; to satisfy.
- antiquarian a.
- Pertaining to antiquaries, or to antiquity; as, antiquarian literature. [See Antiquary]
- nick n.
- A notch cut into something; as: (a) A score for keeping an account; a reckoning. [Akin to Nock.]
- cinder n.
- Partly burned or vitrified coal, or other combustible, in which fire is extinct. [AS. sinder slag, dross; akin to Icel. sindr dross, Sw. sinder, G. sinter, D. sintel; perh. influenced by F. cendre ashes, fr. L. cinis. Cf. Sinter.]
- fender n.
- One who or that which defends or protects by warding off harm; as: (a) A screen to prevent coals or sparks of an open fire from escaping to the floor. [From Fend, v. t. & i., cf. Defender.]
- broomstick n.
- A stick used as a handle of a broom.
- gleg a.
- Quick of perception; alert; sharp. Jamieson. [Icel. glöggr.]
- kail n.
- A kind of headless cabbage. Same as Kale, 1.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Collecting the Antiquities of That Kingdom 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, Collecting the Antiquities of That Kingdom, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/collecting-the-antiquities-of-that-kingdom.html, id L03185.
Form and metre
Collecting the Antiquities of That Kingdom is 60 lines in 10 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is AAABAB, in 3 of the 10 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% 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 --ABAB scots · groat's · coatsA · itB · notesA · itB
- 2 AAABAB lightA · wightA · brightA · weelB · sleightA · keelB
- 3 AA-B-B bigginA · rigginA · in · partB · colleaguin · artB
- 4 -AABAB chaumer · glamourA · grammarA · witchesB · hammerA · bitchesB
- 5 AABCBC bredA · fledA · bladeB · walletC · tradeB · itC
- 6 AAA-A- nacketsA · jacketsA · tacketsA · gude · backetsA · flood
- 7 -AABAB cinder · fenderA · genderA · assB · endorA · brassB
- 8 AA--A- glegA · philibegA · craig · fully · joctelegA · gullie
- 9 AAABAB gleeA · heA · threeA · himB · weeA · himB
- 10 AAABAB proseA · groseA · supposeA · theeB · noseA · theeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hear, Land o’ Cakes, and brither Scots, | 8 | ········ |
| Frae Maidenkirk to Johnie Groat’s;— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If there’s a hole in a’ your coats, | 8 | ········ |
| I rede you tent it: | 5 | ····· |
| A chield’s amang you takin notes, | 8 | ········ |
| And, faith, he’ll prent it: | 5 | ····· |
| If in your bounds ye chance to light | 8 | ········ |
| Upon a fine, fat fodgel wight, | 8 | ········ |
| O’ stature short, but genius bright, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That’s he, mark weel; | 4 | ···· |
| And wow! he has an unco sleight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O’ cauk and keel. | 4 | ···· |
| By some auld, houlet-haunted biggin, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Or kirk deserted by its riggin, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| It’s ten to ane ye’ll find him snug in | 9 | ········· |
| Some eldritch part, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Wi’ deils, they say, Lord save’s! colleaguin | 9 | ········· |
| At some black art. | 4 | ···· |
| Ilk ghaist that haunts auld ha’ or chaumer, | 9 | ········· |
| Ye gipsy-gang that deal in glamour, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And you, deep-read in hell’s black grammar, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Warlocks and witches, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Ye’ll quake at his conjuring hammer, | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Ye midnight bitches. | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| It’s tauld he was a sodger bred, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And ane wad rather fa’n than fled; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But now he’s quat the spurtle-blade, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And dog-skin wallet, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And taen the—Antiquarian trade, | 8 | ········ |
| I think they call it. | 5 | ····· |
| He has a fouth o’ auld nick-nackets: | 9 | ········· |
| Rusty airn caps and jinglin jackets, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Wad haud the Lothians three in tackets, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| A towmont gude; | 4 | ···· |
| And parritch-pats and auld saut-backets, | 9 | ········· |
| Before the Flood. | 4 | ···· |
| Of Eve’s first fire he has a cinder; | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Auld Tubalcain’s fire-shool and fender; | 9 | ····/··/˘ |
| That which distinguished the gender | 8 | ··˘/˘·/˘ |
| O’ Balaam’s ass: | 4 | ···· |
| A broomstick o’ the witch of Endor, | 9 | ·/······· |
| Weel shod wi’ brass. | 4 | ···· |
| Forbye, he’ll shape you aff fu’ gleg | 8 | ········ |
| The cut of Adam’s philibeg; | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| The knife that nickit Abel’s craig | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He’ll prove you fully, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| It was a faulding jocteleg, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or lang-kail gullie. | 5 | ····· |
| But wad ye see him in his glee, | 8 | ········ |
| For meikle glee and fun has he, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Then set him down, and twa or three | 8 | ········ |
| Gude fellows wi’ him: | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And port, O port! shine thou a wee, | 8 | ········ |
| And Then ye’ll see him! | 5 | ····· |
| Now, by the Pow’rs o’ verse and prose! | 8 | ········ |
| Thou art a dainty chield, O Grose!— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whae’er o’ thee shall ill suppose, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| They sair misca’ thee; | 5 | ····· |
| I’d take the rascal by the nose, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wad say, “Shame fa’ thee!” | 5 | ····· |
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