The Deil’s Awa Wi’ the Exciseman
The deil cam fiddlin’ thro’ the town,And danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman,And ilka wife cries, “Auld Mahoun,I wish you luck o’ the prize, man.”
Chorus—The deil’s awa, the deil’s awa,The deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman,He’s danc’d awa, he’s danc’d awa,He’s danc’d awa wi’ the Exciseman.
We’ll mak our maut, and we’ll brew our drink,We’ll laugh, sing, and rejoice, man,And mony braw thanks to the meikle black deil,That danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman.The deil’s awa, &c.
There’s threesome reels, there’s foursome reels,There’s hornpipes and strathspeys, man,But the ae best dance ere came to the landWas—the deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman.The deil’s awa, &c.
Words in this poem
- deil n.
- Devil; -- spelt also deel. Deil's buckie. See under Buckie.
- exciseman n.
- An officer who inspects and rates articles liable to excise duty.
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- brew v. t.
- To boil or seethe; to cook. [OE. brewen, AS. breówan; akin to D. brouwen, OHG. priuwan, MHG. briuwen, br, G. brauen, Icel. brugga, Sw. brygga, Dan. brygge, and perh. to L. defrutum must boi]
- braw a.
- Well-dressed; handsome; smart; brave; -- used of persons or their clothing, etc.; as, a braw lad.
- foursome a.
- Consisting of four; requiring four participants.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Deil’s Awa Wi’ the Exciseman 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, The Deil’s Awa Wi’ the Exciseman, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/the-deil-s-awa-wi-the-exciseman.html, id L03282.
Form and metre
The Deil’s Awa Wi’ the Exciseman is 18 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 5 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.
- 2 ABAB awaA · excisemanB · awaA · excisemanB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The deil cam fiddlin’ thro’ the town, | 8 | ········ |
| And danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| And ilka wife cries, “Auld Mahoun, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I wish you luck o’ the prize, man.” | 8 | ········ |
| Chorus—The deil’s awa, the deil’s awa, | 10 | /˘········ |
| The deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| He’s danc’d awa, he’s danc’d awa, | 8 | ········ |
| He’s danc’d awa wi’ the Exciseman. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| We’ll mak our maut, and we’ll brew our drink, | 9 | ··/····/· |
| We’ll laugh, sing, and rejoice, man, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| And mony braw thanks to the meikle black deil, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| That danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| The deil’s awa, &c. | 5 | ····· |
| There’s threesome reels, there’s foursome reels, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| There’s hornpipes and strathspeys, man, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But the ae best dance ere came to the land | 10 | ·········· |
| Was—the deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman. | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| The deil’s awa, &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.