Here’s His Health in Water
Altho’ my back be at the wa’,And tho’ he be the fautor;Altho’ my back be at the wa’,Yet, here’s his health in water.O wae gae by his wanton sides,Sae brawlie’s he could flatter;Till for his sake I’m slighted sair,And dree the kintra clatter:But tho’ my back be at the wa’,And tho’ he be the fautor;But tho’ my back be at the wa’,Yet here’s his health in water!
Words in this poem
- fautor n.
- A favorer; a patron; one who gives countenance or support; an abettor. [L., contr. fr. favitor, fr. favere to be favorable: cf. F. fauteur. See Favor.]
- dree v. i.
- To be able to do or endure.
- clatter v. i.
- To make a rattling sound by striking hard bodies together; to make a succession of abrupt, rattling sounds. [AS. cla a rattle, akin to D. klateren to rattle. Cf. Clack.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Here’s His Health in Water 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, Here’s His Health in Water, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/here-s-his-health-in-water.html, id L03013.
Form and metre
Here’s His Health in Water is 12 lines in a single stanza. 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 7.4 syllables. 6 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.
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 ABAC-D-DABAC waA · fautorB · waA · waterC · sides · flatterD · sair · clatterD · waA · fautorB · waA · waterC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Altho’ my back be at the wa’, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And tho’ he be the fautor; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Altho’ my back be at the wa’, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Yet, here’s his health in water. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O wae gae by his wanton sides, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sae brawlie’s he could flatter; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Till for his sake I’m slighted sair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And dree the kintra clatter: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But tho’ my back be at the wa’, | 8 | ········ |
| And tho’ he be the fautor; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But tho’ my back be at the wa’, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet here’s his health in water! | 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.