Late Lord President of the Court of Session
Lone on the bleaky hills the straying flocksShun the fierce storms among the sheltering rocks;Down from the rivulets, red with dashing rains,The gathering floods burst o’er the distant plains;Beneath the blast the leafless forests groan;The hollow caves return a hollow moan.Ye hills, ye plains, ye forests, and ye caves,Ye howling winds, and wintry swelling waves!Unheard, unseen, by human ear or eye,Sad to your sympathetic glooms I fly;Where, to the whistling blast and water’s roar,Pale Scotia’s recent wound I may deplore.
O heavy loss, thy country ill could bear!A loss these evil days can ne’er repair!Justice, the high vicegerent of her God,Her doubtful balance eyed, and sway’d her rod:Hearing the tidings of the fatal blow,She sank, abandon’d to the wildest woe.
Wrongs, injuries, from many a darksome den,Now, gay in hope, explore the paths of men:See from his cavern grim Oppression rise,And throw on Poverty his cruel eyes;Keen on the helpless victim see him fly,And stifle, dark, the feebly-bursting cry:Mark Ruffian Violence, distained with crimes,Rousing elate in these degenerate times,View unsuspecting Innocence a prey,As guileful Fraud points out the erring way:While subtle Litigation’s pliant tongueThe life-blood equal sucks of Right and Wrong:Hark, injur’d Want recounts th’ unlisten’d tale,And much-wrong’d Mis’ry pours the unpitied wail!
Ye dark waste hills, ye brown unsightly plains,Congenial scenes, ye soothe my mournful strains:Ye tempests, rage! ye turbid torrents, roll!Ye suit the joyless tenor of my soul.Life’s social haunts and pleasures I resign;Be nameless wilds and lonely wanderings mine,To mourn the woes my country must endure—That would degenerate ages cannot cure.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- scotia n.
- A concave molding used especially in classical architecture. [L., fr. Gr. skoti`a darkness, a sunken molding in the base of a pillar, so called from the dark shadow it casts, from sko`tos darkness.]
- deplore v. t.
- To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over. [L. deplorare; de- + plorare to cry out, wail, lament; prob. akin to pluere to rain, and to E. flow: cf. F. déplorer. Cf. Flow.]
- vicegerent a.
- Having or exercising delegated power; acting by substitution, or in the place of another. [Vice, a + gerent: cf. F. vicegérant.]
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- guileful a.
- Full of guile; characterized by cunning, deceit, or treachery; guilty.
- 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.]
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Late Lord President of the Court of Session 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, Late Lord President of the Court of Session, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/late-lord-president-of-the-court-of-session.html, id L03111.
Form and metre
Late Lord President of the Court of Session is 40 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 95% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 5% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFF flocksA · rocksA · rainsB · plainsB · groanC · moanC · cavesD · wavesD · eyeE · flyE · roarF · deploreF
- 2 AABBCC bearA · repairA · godB · rodB · blowC · woeC
- 3 AABBCCDDEE--FF denA · menA · riseB · eyesB · flyC · cryC · crimesD · timesD · preyE · wayE · tongue · wrong · taleF · wailF
- 4 AABBCCDD plainsA · strainsA · rollB · soulB · resignC · mineC · endureD · cureD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lone on the bleaky hills the straying flocks | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Shun the fierce storms among the sheltering rocks; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Down from the rivulets, red with dashing rains, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The gathering floods burst o’er the distant plains; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Beneath the blast the leafless forests groan; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The hollow caves return a hollow moan. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Ye hills, ye plains, ye forests, and ye caves, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ye howling winds, and wintry swelling waves! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Unheard, unseen, by human ear or eye, | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘··· |
| Sad to your sympathetic glooms I fly; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Where, to the whistling blast and water’s roar, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Pale Scotia’s recent wound I may deplore. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| O heavy loss, thy country ill could bear! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| A loss these evil days can ne’er repair! | 9 | ···/···˘/ |
| Justice, the high vicegerent of her God, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| Her doubtful balance eyed, and sway’d her rod: | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Hearing the tidings of the fatal blow, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| She sank, abandon’d to the wildest woe. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Wrongs, injuries, from many a darksome den, | 9 | ·/˘·/·/˘· |
| Now, gay in hope, explore the paths of men: | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| See from his cavern grim Oppression rise, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And throw on Poverty his cruel eyes; | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| Keen on the helpless victim see him fly, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And stifle, dark, the feebly-bursting cry: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Mark Ruffian Violence, distained with crimes, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Rousing elate in these degenerate times, | 10 | /˘˘/··˘/˘· |
| View unsuspecting Innocence a prey, | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘·· |
| As guileful Fraud points out the erring way: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| While subtle Litigation’s pliant tongue | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| The life-blood equal sucks of Right and Wrong: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Hark, injur’d Want recounts th’ unlisten’d tale, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| And much-wrong’d Mis’ry pours the unpitied wail! | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| Ye dark waste hills, ye brown unsightly plains, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Congenial scenes, ye soothe my mournful strains: | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Ye tempests, rage! ye turbid torrents, roll! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Ye suit the joyless tenor of my soul. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Life’s social haunts and pleasures I resign; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Be nameless wilds and lonely wanderings mine, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| To mourn the woes my country must endure— | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| That would degenerate ages cannot cure. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
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