Enclosing the Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair
Nae heathen name shall I prefix,Frae Pindus or Parnassus;Auld Reekie dings them a’ to sticks,For rhyme-inspiring lasses.
Jove’s tunefu’ dochters three times threeMade Homer deep their debtor;But, gien the body half an e’e,Nine Ferriers wad done better!
Last day my mind was in a bog,Down George’s Street I stoited;A creeping cauld prosaic fogMy very sense doited.
Do what I dought to set her free,My saul lay in the mire;Ye turned a neuk—I saw your e’e—She took the wing like fire!
The mournfu’ sang I here enclose,In gratitude I send you,And pray, in rhyme as weel as prose,A’ gude things may attend you!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- parnassus n.
- A mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and famous for a temple of Apollo and for the Castalian spring. Grass of Parnassus. (Bot.) See under Grass, and Parnassia.
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- enclose v. t.
- To inclose. See Inclose. [F. enclos, p. p. of enclore to enclose; pref. en- (L. in) + clore to close. See Close, and cf. Inclose, Include.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Enclosing the Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair 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, Enclosing the Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/enclosing-the-elegy-on-sir-j-h-blair.html, id L03091.
Form and metre
Enclosing the Elegy on Sir J. H. Blair is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is common measure, 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 7.5 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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-A- prefixA · parnassus · sticksA · lasses
- 2 ABAB threeA · debtorB · e'eA · betterB
- 3 ABAB bogA · stoitedB · fogA · doitedB
- 4 ABAB freeA · mireB · e'eA · fireB
- 5 ABAB encloseA · youB · proseA · youB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Nae heathen name shall I prefix, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Frae Pindus or Parnassus; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Auld Reekie dings them a’ to sticks, | 8 | ········ |
| For rhyme-inspiring lasses. | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| Jove’s tunefu’ dochters three times three | 9 | ········· |
| Made Homer deep their debtor; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| But, gien the body half an e’e, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nine Ferriers wad done better! | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| Last day my mind was in a bog, | 8 | ········ |
| Down George’s Street I stoited; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| A creeping cauld prosaic fog | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| My very sense doited. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Do what I dought to set her free, | 8 | ········ |
| My saul lay in the mire; | 6 | ······ |
| Ye turned a neuk—I saw your e’e— | 8 | ········ |
| She took the wing like fire! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The mournfu’ sang I here enclose, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In gratitude I send you, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And pray, in rhyme as weel as prose, | 8 | ········ |
| A’ gude things may attend you! | 7 | ····˘/· |
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.