O Aye My Wife She Dang Me
Chorus—O aye my wife she dang me,An’ aft my wife she bang’d me,If ye gie a woman a’ her will,Gude faith! she’ll soon o’er-gang ye.
On peace an’ rest my mind was bent,And, fool I was! I married;But never honest man’s intentSane cursedly miscarried.O aye my wife, &c.
Some sairie comfort at the last,When a’ thir days are done, man,My pains o’ hell on earth is past,I’m sure o’ bliss aboon, man,O aye my wife, &c.
Words in this poem
- sane a.
- Being in a healthy condition; not deranged; acting rationally; -- said of the mind. [L. sanus; cf. Gr. Sound, a.]
- cursedly adv.
- In a cursed manner; miserably; in a manner to be detested; enormously. [Low]
- aboon prep.
- and adv. Above.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O Aye My Wife She Dang Me 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, O Aye My Wife She Dang Me, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/o-aye-my-wife-she-dang-me.html, id L03409.
Form and metre
O Aye My Wife She Dang Me is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 AA-A meA · meA · will · yeA
- 2 ABAB- bentA · marriedB · intentA · miscarriedB · —
- 3 ABAB- lastA · manB · pastA · manB · —
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chorus—O aye my wife she dang me, | 9 | /˘······· |
| An’ aft my wife she bang’d me, | 7 | ······· |
| If ye gie a woman a’ her will, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Gude faith! she’ll soon o’er-gang ye. | 7 | ······· |
| On peace an’ rest my mind was bent, | 8 | ········ |
| And, fool I was! I married; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But never honest man’s intent | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Sane cursedly miscarried. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| O aye my wife, &c. | 5 | ····· |
| Some sairie comfort at the last, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When a’ thir days are done, man, | 7 | ······· |
| My pains o’ hell on earth is past, | 8 | ········ |
| I’m sure o’ bliss aboon, man, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| O aye my wife, &c. | 5 | ····· |
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.