Wandering Willie—Revised Version
Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie,Here awa, there awa, haud awa hame;Come to my bosom, my ain only dearie,Tell me thou bring’st me my Willie the same.Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting,Fears for my Willie brought tears in my e’e,Welcome now the Simmer, and welcome, my Willie,The Simmer to Nature, my Willie to me!
Rest, ye wild storms, in the cave of your slumbers,How your dread howling a lover alarms!Wauken, ye breezes, row gently, ye billows,And waft my dear laddie ance mair to my arms.But oh, if he’s faithless, and minds na his Nannie,Flow still between us, thou wide roaring main!May I never see it, may I never trow it,But, dying, believe that my Willie’s my ain!
Words in this poem
- simmer v. i.
- To boil gently, or with a gentle hissing; to begin to boil. [Prov. E. also simper; -- an onomatopoetic word.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- laddie n.
- A lad; a male sweetheart.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wandering Willie—Revised Version 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, Wandering Willie—Revised Version, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/wandering-willie-revised-version.html, id L03302.
Form and metre
Wandering Willie—Revised Version is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.7 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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 AB-B-CAC willieA · hameB · dearie · sameB · parting · e'eC · willieA · meC
- 2 -A-A-B-B slumbers · alarmsA · billows · armsA · nannie · mainB · it · ainB
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Here awa, there awa, haud awa hame; | 10 | ·········· |
| Come to my bosom, my ain only dearie, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Tell me thou bring’st me my Willie the same. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting, | 11 | /˘······//˘ |
| Fears for my Willie brought tears in my e’e, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Welcome now the Simmer, and welcome, my Willie, | 12 | /˘··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| The Simmer to Nature, my Willie to me! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Rest, ye wild storms, in the cave of your slumbers, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| How your dread howling a lover alarms! | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Wauken, ye breezes, row gently, ye billows, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| And waft my dear laddie ance mair to my arms. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| But oh, if he’s faithless, and minds na his Nannie, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Flow still between us, thou wide roaring main! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| May I never see it, may I never trow it, | 10 | ··/····/·· |
| But, dying, believe that my Willie’s my ain! | 11 | ·/˘˘/··/˘·· |
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.