To Mr. M’Adam, of Craigen-Gillan
Sir, o’er a gill I gat your card,I trow it made me proud;“See wha taks notice o’ the bard!”I lap and cried fu’ loud.
Now deil-ma-care about their jaw,The senseless, gawky million;I’ll cock my nose abune them a’,I’m roos’d by Craigen-Gillan!
’Twas noble, sir; ’twas like yourself’,To grant your high protection:A great man’s smile ye ken fu’ wellIs aye a blest infection.
Tho’, by his banes wha in a tubMatch’d Macedonian Sandy!On my ain legs thro’ dirt and dub,I independent stand aye,—
And when those legs to gude, warm kail,Wi’ welcome canna bear me,A lee dyke-side, a sybow-tail,An’ barley-scone shall cheer me.
Heaven spare you lang to kiss the breathO’ mony flow’ry simmers!An’ bless your bonie lasses baith,I’m tauld they’re loosome kimmers!
An’ God bless young Dunaskin’s laird,The blossom of our gentry!An’ may he wear and auld man’s beard,A credit to his country.
Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?Your impudence protects you sairly;I canna say but ye strunt rarely,Owre gauze and lace;Tho’, faith! I fear ye dine but sparelyOn sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,Detested, shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner,How daur ye set your fit upon her—Sae fine a lady?Gae somewhere else and seek your dinnerOn some poor body.
Swith! in some beggar’s haffet squattle;There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle,Wi’ ither kindred, jumping cattle,In shoals and nations;Whaur horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettleYour thick plantations.
Now haud you there, ye’re out o’ sight,Below the fatt’rels, snug and tight;Na, faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right,Till ye’ve got on it—The verra tapmost, tow’rin heightO’ Miss’ bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,As plump an’ grey as ony groset:O for some rank, mercurial rozet,Or fell, red smeddum,I’d gie you sic a hearty dose o’t,Wad dress your droddum.
I wad na been surpris’d to spyYou on an auld wife’s flainen toy;Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy,On’s wyliecoat;But Miss’ fine Lunardi! fye!How daur ye do’t?
O Jeany, dinna toss your head,An’ set your beauties a’ abread!Ye little ken what cursed speedThe blastie’s makin:Thae winks an’ finger-ends, I dread,Are notice takin.
O wad some Power the giftie gie usTo see oursels as ithers see us!It wad frae mony a blunder free us,An’ foolish notion:What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,An’ ev’n devotion!
Words in this poem 20
- trow v. i.
- To believe; to trust; to think or suppose. [OE. trowen, AS.treówan to trust, believe, fr. treów trust, treówe true, faithful. See True.]
- deil n.
- Devil; -- spelt also deel. Deil's buckie. See under Buckie.
- macedonian a.
- Belonging, or relating, to Macedonia.
- kail n.
- A kind of headless cabbage. Same as Kale, 1.
- canna n.
- A measure of length in Italy, varying from six to seven feet. [It.]
- scone n.
- A cake, thinner than a bannock, made of wheat or barley or oat meal. [Written variously, scon, skone, skon, etc.] Burns.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- laird n.
- A lord; a landholder, esp. one who holds land directly of the crown. [See Lord.]
- gentry n.
- Birth; condition; rank by birth. [OE. genterie, gentrie, noble birth, nobility, cf. gentrise, and OF. gentelise, genterise, E. gentilesse, also OE. genteleri high-mindedness. See Gent, a., Gentl]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- strunt n.
- Spirituous liquor. Burns.
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- sparely adv.
- In a spare manner; sparingly.
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- sprawl v. i.
- To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out ungracefully. [OE. spraulen; cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spælle, sprælde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- aiblins adv.
- Perhaps; possibly. Burns. [See Able.]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mr. M’Adam, of Craigen-Gillan 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, To Mr. M’Adam, of Craigen-Gillan, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/to-mr-m-adam-of-craigen-gillan.html, id L03017.
Form and metre
To Mr. M’Adam, of Craigen-Gillan is 76 lines in 15 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 23 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% 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 ABAB cardA · proudB · bardA · loudB
- 3 -A-A yourself · protectionA · well · infectionA
- 4 A-A- tubA · sandy · dubA · aye
- 5 ABAB kailA · meB · tailA · meB
- 6 ABAB breathA · simmersB · baithA · kimmersB
- 8 -AABAB ferlie · sairlyA · rarelyA · laceB · sparelyA · placeB
- 9 -A--A- wonner · sinnerA · her · lady · dinnerA · body
- 10 AAAB-B squattleA · sprattleA · cattleA · nationsB · unsettle · plantationsB
- 11 AAA-AA sightA · tightA · rightA · it · heightA · bonnetA
- 12 -AAB-B out · grosetA · rozetA · smeddumB · o't · droddumB
- 13 ABB-A- spyA · toyB · boyB · wyliecoat · fyeA · do't
- 14 AA--A- headA · abreadA · speed · makin · dreadA · takin
- 15 AAABAB usA · usA · usA · notionB · usA · devotionB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sir, o’er a gill I gat your card, | 8 | ········ |
| I trow it made me proud; | 6 | ······ |
| “See wha taks notice o’ the bard!” | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I lap and cried fu’ loud. | 6 | ······ |
| Now deil-ma-care about their jaw, | 8 | ········ |
| The senseless, gawky million; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| I’ll cock my nose abune them a’, | 8 | ········ |
| I’m roos’d by Craigen-Gillan! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| ’Twas noble, sir; ’twas like yourself’, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To grant your high protection: | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| A great man’s smile ye ken fu’ well | 8 | ········ |
| Is aye a blest infection. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Tho’, by his banes wha in a tub | 8 | ········ |
| Match’d Macedonian Sandy! | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| On my ain legs thro’ dirt and dub, | 8 | ········ |
| I independent stand aye,— | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| And when those legs to gude, warm kail, | 8 | ········ |
| Wi’ welcome canna bear me, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| A lee dyke-side, a sybow-tail, | 8 | ········ |
| An’ barley-scone shall cheer me. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Heaven spare you lang to kiss the breath | 8 | /······· |
| O’ mony flow’ry simmers! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| An’ bless your bonie lasses baith, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I’m tauld they’re loosome kimmers! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| An’ God bless young Dunaskin’s laird, | 8 | ········ |
| The blossom of our gentry! | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| An’ may he wear and auld man’s beard, | 8 | ········ |
| A credit to his country. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie? | 9 | ········· |
| Your impudence protects you sairly; | 9 | ·/˘˘˘/··· |
| I canna say but ye strunt rarely, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Owre gauze and lace; | 4 | ···· |
| Tho’, faith! I fear ye dine but sparely | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| On sic a place. | 4 | ···· |
| Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Detested, shunn’d by saunt an’ sinner, | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| How daur ye set your fit upon her— | 9 | ········· |
| Sae fine a lady? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner | 9 | ·/·····/˘ |
| On some poor body. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Swith! in some beggar’s haffet squattle; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle, | 9 | ········· |
| Wi’ ither kindred, jumping cattle, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| In shoals and nations; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Whaur horn nor bane ne’er daur unsettle | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Your thick plantations. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Now haud you there, ye’re out o’ sight, | 8 | ········ |
| Below the fatt’rels, snug and tight; | 8 | ········ |
| Na, faith ye yet! ye’ll no be right, | 8 | ········ |
| Till ye’ve got on it— | 5 | ····· |
| The verra tapmost, tow’rin height | 8 | ········ |
| O’ Miss’ bonnet. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out, | 9 | ········· |
| As plump an’ grey as ony groset: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| O for some rank, mercurial rozet, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| Or fell, red smeddum, | 5 | ····· |
| I’d gie you sic a hearty dose o’t, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Wad dress your droddum. | 5 | ····· |
| I wad na been surpris’d to spy | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| You on an auld wife’s flainen toy; | 8 | ········ |
| Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy, | 8 | ········ |
| On’s wyliecoat; | 4 | ···· |
| But Miss’ fine Lunardi! fye! | 7 | ······· |
| How daur ye do’t? | 4 | ···· |
| O Jeany, dinna toss your head, | 8 | ········ |
| An’ set your beauties a’ abread! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ye little ken what cursed speed | 8 | ·/˘···˘· |
| The blastie’s makin: | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Thae winks an’ finger-ends, I dread, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Are notice takin. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| O wad some Power the giftie gie us | 9 | ···/····· |
| To see oursels as ithers see us! | 9 | ········· |
| It wad frae mony a blunder free us, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| An’ foolish notion: | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us, | 9 | ········· |
| An’ ev’n devotion! | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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