Epigram Addressed to an Artist
Dear , I’ll gie ye some advice,You’ll tak it no uncivil:You shouldna paint at angels mair,But try and paint the devil.
To paint an Angel’s kittle wark,Wi’ Nick, there’s little danger:You’ll easy draw a lang-kent face,But no sae weel a stranger.—R. B.
Words in this poem
- kittle v. i.
- To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter. [Prov. [Cf. Kit a kitten.]
- wark n.
- Work; a building. [See Work.]
- nick n.
- A notch cut into something; as: (a) A score for keeping an account; a reckoning. [Akin to Nock.]
- 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
Epigram Addressed to an Artist 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, Epigram Addressed to an Artist, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/epigram-addressed-to-an-artist.html, id L03077.
Form and metre
Epigram Addressed to an Artist is 8 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear , I’ll gie ye some advice, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| You’ll tak it no uncivil: | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| You shouldna paint at angels mair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But try and paint the devil. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To paint an Angel’s kittle wark, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Wi’ Nick, there’s little danger: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| You’ll easy draw a lang-kent face, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But no sae weel a stranger.—R. B. | 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.