Luath
Trowth, Caesar, whiles they’re fash’t eneugh:A cottar howkin in a sheugh,Wi’ dirty stanes biggin a dyke,Baring a quarry, an’ sic like;Himsel’, a wife, he thus sustains,A smytrie o’ wee duddie weans,An’ nought but his han’-daurk, to keepThem right an’ tight in thack an’ rape.
An’ when they meet wi’ sair disasters,Like loss o’ health or want o’ masters,Ye maist wad think, a wee touch langer,An’ they maun starve o’ cauld an’ hunger:But how it comes, I never kent yet,They’re maistly wonderfu’ contented;An’ buirdly chiels, an’ clever hizzies,Are bred in sic a way as this is.
Words in this poem
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- fash v. t.
- To vex; to tease; to trouble. [OF. faschier, F. f, to anger, vex; cf. Pr. fasticar, fastigar, fr. L. fastidium dilike. See Fastidious.]
- cottar n.
- A cottager; a cottier. Burns. [LL. cotarius, cottarius, coterius. See Cot.]
- biggin n.
- A child's cap; a hood, or something worn on the head. [F. béguin, prob. from the cap worn by the Béguines. Cf. Beguine, Biggon.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Luath 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, Luath, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/luath.html, id L03000.
Form and metre
Luath is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% 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 AABB---- eneughA · sheughA · dykeB · likeB · sustains · weans · keep · rape
- 2 AA------ disastersA · mastersA · langer · hunger · yet · contented · hizzies · is
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Trowth, Caesar, whiles they’re fash’t eneugh: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A cottar howkin in a sheugh, | 8 | ········ |
| Wi’ dirty stanes biggin a dyke, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Baring a quarry, an’ sic like; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Himsel’, a wife, he thus sustains, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A smytrie o’ wee duddie weans, | 8 | ········ |
| An’ nought but his han’-daurk, to keep | 8 | ········ |
| Them right an’ tight in thack an’ rape. | 8 | ········ |
| An’ when they meet wi’ sair disasters, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Like loss o’ health or want o’ masters, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Ye maist wad think, a wee touch langer, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| An’ they maun starve o’ cauld an’ hunger: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But how it comes, I never kent yet, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| They’re maistly wonderfu’ contented; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| An’ buirdly chiels, an’ clever hizzies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Are bred in sic a way as this is. | 9 | ········· |
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