Home
O thou pale orb that silent shinesWhile care-untroubled mortals sleep!Thou seest a wretch who inly pines.And wanders here to wail and weep!With woe I nightly vigils keep,Beneath thy wan, unwarming beam;And mourn, in lamentation deep,How life and love are all a dream!
I joyless view thy rays adornThe faintly-marked, distant hill;I joyless view thy trembling horn,Reflected in the gurgling rill:My fondly-fluttering heart, be still!Thou busy pow’r, remembrance, cease!Ah! must the agonizing thrillFor ever bar returning peace!
No idly-feign’d, poetic pains,My sad, love-lorn lamentings claim:No shepherd’s pipe-Arcadian strains;No fabled tortures, quaint and tame.The plighted faith, the mutual flame,The oft-attested pow’rs above,The promis’d father’s tender name;These were the pledges of my love!
Encircled in her clasping arms,How have the raptur’d moments flown!How have I wish’d for fortune’s charms,For her dear sake, and her’s alone!And, must I think it! is she gone,My secret heart’s exulting boast?And does she heedless hear my groan?And is she ever, ever lost?
Oh! can she bear so base a heart,So lost to honour, lost to truth,As from the fondest lover part,The plighted husband of her youth?Alas! life’s path may be unsmooth!Her way may lie thro’ rough distress!Then, who her pangs and pains will sootheHer sorrows share, and make them less?
Ye winged hours that o’er us pass’d,Enraptur’d more, the more enjoy’d,Your dear remembrance in my breastMy fondly-treasur’d thoughts employ’d:That breast, how dreary now, and void,For her too scanty once of room!Ev’n ev’ry ray of hope destroy’d,And not a wish to gild the gloom!
The morn, that warns th’ approaching day,Awakes me up to toil and woe;I see the hours in long array,That I must suffer, lingering, slow:Full many a pang, and many a throe,Keen recollection’s direful train,Must wring my soul, were Phoebus, low,Shall kiss the distant western main.
And when my nightly couch I try,Sore harass’d out with care and grief,My toil-beat nerves, and tear-worn eye,Keep watchings with the nightly thief:Or if I slumber, fancy, chief,Reigns, haggard—wild, in sore affright:Ev’n day, all-bitter, brings reliefFrom such a horror-breathing night.
O thou bright queen, who o’er th’ expanseNow highest reign’st, with boundless swayOft has thy silent-marking glanceObserv’d us, fondly-wand’ring, stray!The time, unheeded, sped away,While love’s luxurious pulse beat high,Beneath thy silver-gleaming ray,To mark the mutual-kindling eye.
Oh! scenes in strong remembrance set!Scenes, never, never to return!Scenes, if in stupor I forget,Again I feel, again I burn!From ev’ry joy and pleasure torn,Life’s weary vale I’ll wander thro’;And hopeless, comfortless, I’ll mournA faithless woman’s broken vow!
Words in this poem 19
- inly a.
- Internal; interior; secret. [OE. inlich, AS. inlic. See In.]
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- throe n.
- Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony; especially, one of the pangs of travail in childbirth, or purturition. [OE. , , AS. a threatening, oppression, suffering, perhaps influenced by Icel. a throe, a pang, a longing; cf. AS. to suffer.]
- direful a.
- Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day. [Dire + -ful.]
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- 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,]
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- comfortless a.
- Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Home 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, Home, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/home.html, id L03021.
Form and metre
Home is 80 lines in 10 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBC, complete in 6 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 12% 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 ABABBCBC shinesA · sleepB · pinesA · weepB · keepB · beamC · deepB · dreamC
- 2 ABABBCBC adornA · hillB · hornA · rillB · stillB · ceaseC · thrillB · peaceC
- 3 ABABBCBC painsA · claimB · strainsA · tameB · flameB · aboveC · nameB · loveC
- 4 ABAB--B- armsA · flownB · charmsA · aloneB · gone · boast · groanB · lost
- 5 ABABCDCD heartA · truthB · partA · youthB · unsmoothC · distressD · sootheC · lessD
- 6 -A-AABAB pass'd · enjoy'dA · breast · employ'dA · voidA · roomB · destroy'dA · gloomB
- 7 ABABBCBC dayA · woeB · arrayA · slowB · throeB · trainC · lowB · mainC
- 8 ABABBCBC tryA · griefB · eyeA · thiefB · chiefB · affrightC · reliefB · nightC
- 9 ABABBCBC expanseA · swayB · glanceA · strayB · awayB · highC · rayB · eyeC
- 10 ABABC-C- setA · returnB · forgetA · burnB · tornC · thro · mournC · vow
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O thou pale orb that silent shines | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| While care-untroubled mortals sleep! | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Thou seest a wretch who inly pines. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And wanders here to wail and weep! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With woe I nightly vigils keep, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beneath thy wan, unwarming beam; | 8 | ········ |
| And mourn, in lamentation deep, | 8 | ········ |
| How life and love are all a dream! | 8 | ········ |
| I joyless view thy rays adorn | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The faintly-marked, distant hill; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| I joyless view thy trembling horn, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Reflected in the gurgling rill: | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| My fondly-fluttering heart, be still! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Thou busy pow’r, remembrance, cease! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Ah! must the agonizing thrill | 8 | ···/˘˘˘· |
| For ever bar returning peace! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| No idly-feign’d, poetic pains, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| My sad, love-lorn lamentings claim: | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| No shepherd’s pipe-Arcadian strains; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No fabled tortures, quaint and tame. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The plighted faith, the mutual flame, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The oft-attested pow’rs above, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The promis’d father’s tender name; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| These were the pledges of my love! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Encircled in her clasping arms, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| How have the raptur’d moments flown! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How have I wish’d for fortune’s charms, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For her dear sake, and her’s alone! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And, must I think it! is she gone, | 8 | ········ |
| My secret heart’s exulting boast? | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And does she heedless hear my groan? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And is she ever, ever lost? | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Oh! can she bear so base a heart, | 8 | ········ |
| So lost to honour, lost to truth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As from the fondest lover part, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The plighted husband of her youth? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Alas! life’s path may be unsmooth! | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Her way may lie thro’ rough distress! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then, who her pangs and pains will soothe | 8 | ········ |
| Her sorrows share, and make them less? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ye winged hours that o’er us pass’d, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Enraptur’d more, the more enjoy’d, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Your dear remembrance in my breast | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| My fondly-treasur’d thoughts employ’d: | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That breast, how dreary now, and void, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For her too scanty once of room! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ev’n ev’ry ray of hope destroy’d, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And not a wish to gild the gloom! | 8 | ········ |
| The morn, that warns th’ approaching day, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Awakes me up to toil and woe; | 8 | ˘/······ |
| I see the hours in long array, | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| That I must suffer, lingering, slow: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Full many a pang, and many a throe, | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| Keen recollection’s direful train, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Must wring my soul, were Phoebus, low, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall kiss the distant western main. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And when my nightly couch I try, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sore harass’d out with care and grief, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| My toil-beat nerves, and tear-worn eye, | 8 | ········ |
| Keep watchings with the nightly thief: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or if I slumber, fancy, chief, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Reigns, haggard—wild, in sore affright: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Ev’n day, all-bitter, brings relief | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| From such a horror-breathing night. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| O thou bright queen, who o’er th’ expanse | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Now highest reign’st, with boundless sway | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Oft has thy silent-marking glance | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Observ’d us, fondly-wand’ring, stray! | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The time, unheeded, sped away, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| While love’s luxurious pulse beat high, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Beneath thy silver-gleaming ray, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To mark the mutual-kindling eye. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Oh! scenes in strong remembrance set! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Scenes, never, never to return! | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Scenes, if in stupor I forget, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Again I feel, again I burn! | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| From ev’ry joy and pleasure torn, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Life’s weary vale I’ll wander thro’; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And hopeless, comfortless, I’ll mourn | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| A faithless woman’s broken vow! | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
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.