She Says She Loes Me Best of a’
Sae flaxen were her ringlets,Her eyebrows of a darker hue,Bewitchingly o’er-archingTwa laughing e’en o’ lovely blue;Her smiling, sae wyling.Wad make a wretch forget his woe;What pleasure, what treasure,Unto these rosy lips to grow!Such was my Chloris’ bonie face,When first that bonie face I saw;And aye my Chloris’ dearest charm—She says, she lo’es me best of a’.
Like harmony her motion,Her pretty ankle is a spy,Betraying fair proportion,Wad make a saint forget the sky:Sae warming, sae charming,Her faultless form and gracefu’ air;Ilk feature—auld NatureDeclar’d that she could do nae mair:Hers are the willing chains o’ love,By conquering Beauty’s sovereign law;And still my Chloris’ dearest charm—She says, she lo’es me best of a’.
Let others love the city,And gaudy show, at sunny noon;Gie me the lonely valley,The dewy eve and rising moon,Fair beaming, and streaming,Her silver light the boughs amang;While falling; recalling,The amorous thrush concludes his sang;There, dearest Chloris, wilt thou rove,By wimpling burn and leafy shaw,And hear my vows o’ truth and love,And say, thou lo’es me best of a’.
Words in this poem
- flaxen a.
- Made of flax; resembling flax or its fibers; of the color of flax; of a light soft straw color; fair and flowing, like flax or tow; as, flaxen thread; flaxen hair.
- faultless a.
- Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem.
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- shaw n.
- A thicket; a small wood or grove. [Obs. or Prov.Eng. & Scot.] [OE. schawe, scha, thicket, grove, AS. scaga; akin to Dan. skov, Sw. skog, Icel. sk.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
She Says She Loes Me Best of a’ 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 Says She Loes Me Best of a’, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/she-says-she-loes-me-best-of-a.html, id L03371.
Form and metre
She Says She Loes Me Best of a’ is 36 lines in 3 stanzas of 12 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 10 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 -ABABC-C---- ringlets · hueA · archingB · blueA · wylingB · woeC · treasure · growC · face · saw · charm · a
- 2 -A-A-B-B---- motion · spyA · proportion · skyA · charming · airB · nature · mairB · love · law · charm · a
- 3 -A-ABBBB---- city · noonA · valley · moonA · streamingB · amangB · recallingB · sangB · rove · shaw · love · a
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sae flaxen were her ringlets, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Her eyebrows of a darker hue, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Bewitchingly o’er-arching | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Twa laughing e’en o’ lovely blue; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Her smiling, sae wyling. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Wad make a wretch forget his woe; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| What pleasure, what treasure, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Unto these rosy lips to grow! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Such was my Chloris’ bonie face, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When first that bonie face I saw; | 8 | ········ |
| And aye my Chloris’ dearest charm— | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| She says, she lo’es me best of a’. | 8 | ········ |
| Like harmony her motion, | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Her pretty ankle is a spy, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Betraying fair proportion, | 7 | ˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Wad make a saint forget the sky: | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Sae warming, sae charming, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Her faultless form and gracefu’ air; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Ilk feature—auld Nature | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Declar’d that she could do nae mair: | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Hers are the willing chains o’ love, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By conquering Beauty’s sovereign law; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And still my Chloris’ dearest charm— | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| She says, she lo’es me best of a’. | 8 | ········ |
| Let others love the city, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And gaudy show, at sunny noon; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Gie me the lonely valley, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The dewy eve and rising moon, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Fair beaming, and streaming, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Her silver light the boughs amang; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| While falling; recalling, | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| The amorous thrush concludes his sang; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| There, dearest Chloris, wilt thou rove, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| By wimpling burn and leafy shaw, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hear my vows o’ truth and love, | 8 | ········ |
| And say, thou lo’es me best of a’. | 8 | ········ |
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.