The Weary Pund o’ Tow
Chorus.—The weary pund, the weary pund,The weary pund o’ tow;I think my wife will end her life,Before she spin her tow.
I bought my wife a stane o’ lint,As gude as e’er did grow,And a’ that she has made o’ thatIs ae puir pund o’ tow.The weary pund, &c.
There sat a bottle in a bole,Beyont the ingle low;And aye she took the tither souk,To drouk the stourie tow.The weary pund, &c.
Quoth I, For shame, ye dirty dame,Gae spin your tap o’ tow!She took the rock, and wi’ a knock,She brak it o’er my pow.The weary pund, &c.
At last her feet—I sang to see’t!Gaed foremost o’er the knowe,And or I wad anither jad,I’ll wallop in a tow.The weary pund, &c.
Words in this poem
- bole n.
- The trunk or stem of a tree, or that which is like it. [OE. bole, fr. Icel. bolr; akin to Sw. bål, Dan. bul, trunk, stem of a tree, G. bohle a thick plank or board; cf. LG. boll round. Cf. Bulge.]
- ingle n.
- Flame; blaze; a fire; a fireplace. Burns. Ingle nock, the chimney corner. [Gael. & Ir. aingeali fire; cf. L. igniculusi spark, dim. of ignis fire. Cf. Ignite.]
- tither n.
- One who collects tithes.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- wallop v. i.
- To move quickly, but with great effort; to gallop. [Prov. Eng. [Cf. OFlem. walop a gallop; of uncertain origin. Cf. Gallop.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Weary Pund o’ Tow 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 Weary Pund o’ Tow, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/the-weary-pund-o-tow.html, id L03272.
Form and metre
The Weary Pund o’ Tow is 24 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 pund · towA · life · towA
- 2 -A-A- lint · growA · that · towA · —
- 3 -A-A- bole · lowA · souk · towA · —
- 5 -A-A- see't · knoweA · jad · towA · —
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Chorus.—The weary pund, the weary pund, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| The weary pund o’ tow; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I think my wife will end her life, | 8 | ········ |
| Before she spin her tow. | 6 | ······ |
| I bought my wife a stane o’ lint, | 8 | ········ |
| As gude as e’er did grow, | 6 | ······ |
| And a’ that she has made o’ that | 8 | ········ |
| Is ae puir pund o’ tow. | 6 | ······ |
| The weary pund, &c. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| There sat a bottle in a bole, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Beyont the ingle low; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And aye she took the tither souk, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To drouk the stourie tow. | 6 | ······ |
| The weary pund, &c. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Quoth I, For shame, ye dirty dame, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Gae spin your tap o’ tow! | 6 | ······ |
| She took the rock, and wi’ a knock, | 8 | ········ |
| She brak it o’er my pow. | 6 | ······ |
| The weary pund, &c. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| At last her feet—I sang to see’t! | 8 | ········ |
| Gaed foremost o’er the knowe, | 6 | ·/···· |
| And or I wad anither jad, | 8 | ········ |
| I’ll wallop in a tow. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The weary pund, &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.