Robin Shure in Hairst
Chorus.—Robin shure in hairst,I shure wi’ him.Fient a heuk had I,Yet I stack by him.
I gaed up to Dunse,To warp a wab o’ plaiden,At his daddie’s yett,Wha met me but Robin:Robin shure, &c.
Was na Robin bauld,Tho’ I was a cotter,Play’d me sic a trick,An’ me the El’er’s dochter!Robin shure, &c.
Robin promis’d meA’ my winter vittle;Fient haet he had but threeGuse-feathers and a whittle!Robin shure, &c.
Dweller in yon dungeon dark,Hangman of creation! mark,Who in widow-weeds appears,Laden with unhonour’d years,Noosing with care a bursting purse,Baited with many a deadly curse?
View the wither’d Beldam’s face;Can thy keen inspection traceAught of Humanity’s sweet, melting grace?Note that eye, ’tis rheum o’erflows;Pity’s flood there never rose,See these hands ne’er stretched to save,Hands that took, but never gave:Keeper of Mammon’s iron chest,Lo, there she goes, unpitied and unblest,She goes, but not to realms of everlasting rest!
Plunderer of Armies! lift thine eyes,(A while forbear, ye torturing fiends;)Seest thou whose step, unwilling, hither bends?No fallen angel, hurl’d from upper skies;’Tis thy trusty quondam Mate,Doom’d to share thy fiery fate;She, tardy, hell-ward plies.
And are they of no more avail,Ten thousand glittering pounds a-year?In other worlds can Mammon fail,Omnipotent as he is here!
O, bitter mockery of the pompous bier,While down the wretched Vital Part is driven!The cave-lodged Beggar, with a conscience clear,Expires in rags, unknown, and goes to Heaven.
Words in this poem
- heuk n.
- Variant of Huke.
- yett n.
- Any one of several species of large marine gastropods belonging to the genus Yetus, or Cymba; a boat shell.
- cotter n.
- A cottager; a cottier. Burns. [LL. cotarius, cottarius, coterius. See Cot.]
- whittle n.
- A knife; esp., a pocket, sheath, or clasp knife. [OE. thwitel, fr. AS. pwitan to cut. Cf. Thwittle, Thwaite a piece of ground.]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- beldam n.
- Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. [Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- mammon n.
- Riches; wealth; the god of riches; riches, personified. [L. mammona, Gr. mam; cf. Heb. matm a hiding place, subterranean storehouse, treasury, fr. taman to hide.]
- unblest a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
- quondam a.
- Having been formerly; former; sometime. [L., formerly.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Robin Shure in Hairst 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, Robin Shure in Hairst, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/robin-shure-in-hairst.html, id L03154.
Form and metre
Robin Shure in Hairst is 50 lines in 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 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 -A-A hairst · himA · i · himA
- 4 ABAB- meA · vittleB · threeA · whittleB · —
- 5 AABBCC darkA · markA · appearsB · yearsB · purseC · curseC
- 6 AAA--BBCCC faceA · traceA · graceA · o'erflows · rose · saveB · gaveB · chestC · unblestC · restC
- 7 A--ABBA eyesA · fiends · bends · skiesA · mateB · fateB · pliesA
- 8 ABAB availA · yearB · failA · hereB
- 9 A-A- bierA · driven · clearA · heaven
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.—Robin shure in hairst, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| I shure wi’ him. | 4 | ···· |
| Fient a heuk had I, | 5 | ····· |
| Yet I stack by him. | 5 | ····· |
| I gaed up to Dunse, | 5 | ····· |
| To warp a wab o’ plaiden, | 7 | ······· |
| At his daddie’s yett, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Wha met me but Robin: | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Robin shure, &c. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Was na Robin bauld, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Tho’ I was a cotter, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Play’d me sic a trick, | 5 | ····· |
| An’ me the El’er’s dochter! | 7 | ······· |
| Robin shure, &c. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Robin promis’d me | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| A’ my winter vittle; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Fient haet he had but three | 6 | ······ |
| Guse-feathers and a whittle! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Robin shure, &c. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Dweller in yon dungeon dark, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Hangman of creation! mark, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Who in widow-weeds appears, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Laden with unhonour’d years, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Noosing with care a bursting purse, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Baited with many a deadly curse? | 8 | /˘·/·/˘· |
| View the wither’d Beldam’s face; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Can thy keen inspection trace | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Aught of Humanity’s sweet, melting grace? | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| Note that eye, ’tis rheum o’erflows; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Pity’s flood there never rose, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| See these hands ne’er stretched to save, | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| Hands that took, but never gave: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Keeper of Mammon’s iron chest, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Lo, there she goes, unpitied and unblest, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| She goes, but not to realms of everlasting rest! | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| Plunderer of Armies! lift thine eyes, | 9 | /˘˘·/˘··· |
| (A while forbear, ye torturing fiends;) | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Seest thou whose step, unwilling, hither bends? | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| No fallen angel, hurl’d from upper skies; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| ’Tis thy trusty quondam Mate, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Doom’d to share thy fiery fate; | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| She, tardy, hell-ward plies. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And are they of no more avail, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Ten thousand glittering pounds a-year? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In other worlds can Mammon fail, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Omnipotent as he is here! | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| O, bitter mockery of the pompous bier, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| While down the wretched Vital Part is driven! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··/ |
| The cave-lodged Beggar, with a conscience clear, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Expires in rags, unknown, and goes to Heaven. | 10 | ˘/··˘/···/ |
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