She’s Fair and Fause
She’s fair and fause that causes my smart,I lo’ed her meikle and lang;She’s broken her vow, she’s broken my heart,And I may e’en gae hang.A coof cam in wi’ routh o’ gear,And I hae tint my dearest dear;But Woman is but warld’s gear,Sae let the bonie lass gang.
Whae’er ye be that woman love,To this be never blind;Nae ferlie ’tis tho’ fickle she prove,A woman has’t by kind.O Woman lovely, Woman fair!An angel form’s faun to thy share,’Twad been o’er meikle to gi’en thee mair—I mean an angel mind.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- faun n.
- A god of fields and shipherds, diddering little from the satyr. [L. Faunus, fr. favere to be favorable. See Favor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
She’s Fair and Fause 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, She’s Fair and Fause, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/she-s-fair-and-fause.html, id L03157.
Form and metre
She’s Fair and Fause is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 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 ABABCCCB smartA · langB · heartA · hangB · gearC · dearC · gearC · gangB
- 2 ABABCCCB loveA · blindB · proveA · kindB · fairC · shareC · mairC · mindB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She’s fair and fause that causes my smart, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| I lo’ed her meikle and lang; | 8 | ··˘·/˘·· |
| She’s broken her vow, she’s broken my heart, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| And I may e’en gae hang. | 6 | ······ |
| A coof cam in wi’ routh o’ gear, | 8 | ········ |
| And I hae tint my dearest dear; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But Woman is but warld’s gear, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Sae let the bonie lass gang. | 7 | ······· |
| Whae’er ye be that woman love, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To this be never blind; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nae ferlie ’tis tho’ fickle she prove, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| A woman has’t by kind. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O Woman lovely, Woman fair! | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| An angel form’s faun to thy share, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ’Twad been o’er meikle to gi’en thee mair— | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I mean an angel mind. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.