O Lay Thy Loof in Mine, Lass
Chorus—O lay thy loof in mine, lass,In mine, lass, in mine, lass;And swear on thy white hand, lass,That thou wilt be my ain.
A slave to Love’s unbounded sway,He aft has wrought me meikle wae;But now he is my deadly fae,Unless thou be my ain.O lay thy loof, &c.
There’s mony a lass has broke my rest,That for a blink I hae lo’ed best;But thou art Queen within my breast,For ever to remain.O lay thy loof, &c.
Words in this poem
- loof n.
- The spongelike fibers of the fruit of a cucurbitaceous plant (Luffa Ægyptiaca); called also vegetable sponge.
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- blink v. i.
- To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye. [OE. blenken; akin to dan. blinke, Sw. blinka, G. blinken to shine, glance, wink, twinkle, D. blinken to shine; and prob. to D. blikken to glance, twinkle, G. bl]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O Lay Thy Loof in Mine, Lass 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 Lay Thy Loof in Mine, Lass, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/o-lay-thy-loof-in-mine-lass.html, id L03454.
Form and metre
O Lay Thy Loof in Mine, Lass is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables.
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 AAA- lassA · lassA · lassA · ain
- 3 AAA-- restA · bestA · breastA · remain · —
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 lay thy loof in mine, lass, | 9 | /˘······· |
| In mine, lass, in mine, lass; | 6 | ······ |
| And swear on thy white hand, lass, | 7 | ······· |
| That thou wilt be my ain. | 6 | ······ |
| A slave to Love’s unbounded sway, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| He aft has wrought me meikle wae; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But now he is my deadly fae, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unless thou be my ain. | 6 | ······ |
| O lay thy loof, &c. | 5 | ····· |
| There’s mony a lass has broke my rest, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That for a blink I hae lo’ed best; | 8 | ········ |
| But thou art Queen within my breast, | 8 | ········ |
| For ever to remain. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| O lay thy loof, &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.