Postscript
Ye’ve heard this while how I’ve been lickit,And by fell Death was nearly nickit;Grim loon! he got me by the fecket,And sair me sheuk;But by gude luck I lap a wicket,And turn’d a neuk.
But by that health, I’ve got a share o’t,But by that life, I’m promis’d mair o’t,My hale and wee, I’ll tak a care o’t,A tentier way;Then farewell folly, hide and hair o’t,For ance and aye!
About this text
Postscript 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, Postscript, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/postscript-3.html, id L03446.
Form and metre
Postscript is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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 AA-B-B lickitA · nickitA · fecket · sheukB · wicket · neukB
- 2 AAA-A- o'tA · o'tA · o'tA · way · o'tA · aye
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ye’ve heard this while how I’ve been lickit, | 9 | ········· |
| And by fell Death was nearly nickit; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Grim loon! he got me by the fecket, | 9 | ········· |
| And sair me sheuk; | 4 | ···· |
| But by gude luck I lap a wicket, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And turn’d a neuk. | 4 | ···· |
| But by that health, I’ve got a share o’t, | 9 | ········· |
| But by that life, I’m promis’d mair o’t, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| My hale and wee, I’ll tak a care o’t, | 9 | ········· |
| A tentier way; | 4 | ···· |
| Then farewell folly, hide and hair o’t, | 9 | ··//˘···· |
| For ance and aye! | 4 | ···· |
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.