The Rantin’ Dog, the Daddie O’t
O wha my babie-clouts will buy?O wha will tent me when I cry?Wha will kiss me where I lie?The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t.
O wha will own he did the faut?O wha will buy the groanin maut?O wha will tell me how to ca’t?The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t.
When I mount the creepie-chair,Wha will sit beside me there?Gie me Rob, I’ll seek nae mair,The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t.
Wha will crack to me my lane?Wha will mak me fidgin’ fain?Wha will kiss me o’er again?The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rantin’ Dog, the Daddie O’t 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 Rantin’ Dog, the Daddie O’t, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/the-rantin-dog-the-daddie-o-t.html, id L03012.
Form and metre
The Rantin’ Dog, the Daddie O’t is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AAA- buyA · cryA · lieA · o't
- 2 AA-A fautA · mautA · ca't · o'tA
- 3 AAA- chairA · thereA · mairA · o't
- 4 AAA- laneA · fainA · againA · o't
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O wha my babie-clouts will buy? | 8 | ········ |
| O wha will tent me when I cry? | 8 | ········ |
| Wha will kiss me where I lie? | 7 | ······· |
| The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t. | 8 | ········ |
| O wha will own he did the faut? | 8 | ········ |
| O wha will buy the groanin maut? | 8 | ········ |
| O wha will tell me how to ca’t? | 8 | ········ |
| The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t. | 8 | ········ |
| When I mount the creepie-chair, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Wha will sit beside me there? | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Gie me Rob, I’ll seek nae mair, | 7 | ······· |
| The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t. | 8 | ········ |
| Wha will crack to me my lane? | 7 | ······· |
| Wha will mak me fidgin’ fain? | 7 | ······· |
| Wha will kiss me o’er again? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The rantin’ dog, the daddie o’t. | 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.