Duncan Gray
Duncan Gray cam’ here to woo,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,On blythe Yule-night when we were fou,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,Maggie coost her head fu’ heigh,Look’d asklent and unco skeigh,Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh;Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
Duncan fleech’d and Duncan pray’d;Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t:Duncan sigh’d baith out and in,Grat his e’en baith blear’t an’ blin’,Spak o’ lowpin o’er a linn;Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
Time and Chance are but a tide,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t,Slighted love is sair to bide,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t:Shall I like a fool, quoth he,For a haughty hizzie die?She may gae to—France for me!Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
How it comes let doctors tell,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t;Meg grew sick, as he grew hale,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
Something in her bosom wrings,For relief a sigh she brings:And oh! her een they spak sic things!Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
Duncan was a lad o’ grace,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t:Maggie’s was a piteous case,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t:Duncan could na be her death,Swelling Pity smoor’d his wrath;Now they’re crouse and canty baith,Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
Words in this poem
- yule n.
- Christmas or Christmastide; the feast of the Nativity of our Savior. [OE. yol, ýol, AS. geól; akin to geóla December or January, Icel. jol Yule, Ylir the name of a winter month, Sw. jul Christmas, Dan. juul, Goth. jiuleis November]
- unco a.
- Unknown; strange, or foreign; unusual, or surprising; distant in manner; reserved. [Scot. The same word as E. uncouth.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- 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,]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- crouse a.
- Brisk; lively; bold; self-complacent. Burns. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- canty a.
- Cheerful; sprightly; lively; merry.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Duncan Gray 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, Duncan Gray, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/duncan-gray.html, id L03295.
Form and metre
Duncan Gray is 40 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables.
See other poems in trochaic 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 -A-ABBBA woo · o'tA · fou · o'tA · heighB · skeighB · abeighB · o'tA
- 2 -A-AB-BA pray'd · o'tA · craig · o'tA · inB · blin · linnB · o'tA
- 3 ABABBBBB tideA · o'tB · bideA · o'tB · heB · dieB · meB · o'tB
- 4 -A-A tell · o'tA · hale · o'tA
- 5 AAA- wringsA · bringsA · thingsA · o't
- 6 ABABCCCB graceA · o'tB · caseA · o'tB · deathC · wrathC · baithC · o'tB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Duncan Gray cam’ here to woo, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| On blythe Yule-night when we were fou, | 8 | ········ |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Maggie coost her head fu’ heigh, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Look’d asklent and unco skeigh, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Duncan fleech’d and Duncan pray’d; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Meg was deaf as Ailsa Craig, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Duncan sigh’d baith out and in, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Grat his e’en baith blear’t an’ blin’, | 7 | ······· |
| Spak o’ lowpin o’er a linn; | 7 | ······· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Time and Chance are but a tide, | 7 | ······· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Slighted love is sair to bide, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Shall I like a fool, quoth he, | 7 | ······· |
| For a haughty hizzie die? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| She may gae to—France for me! | 7 | ······· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How it comes let doctors tell, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Meg grew sick, as he grew hale, | 7 | ······· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Something in her bosom wrings, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| For relief a sigh she brings: | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| And oh! her een they spak sic things! | 8 | ········ |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Duncan was a lad o’ grace, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Maggie’s was a piteous case, | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Duncan could na be her death, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Swelling Pity smoor’d his wrath; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Now they’re crouse and canty baith, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ha, ha, the wooing o’t. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.