Will Ye Go to the Indies, My Mary?
Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary,And leave auld Scotia’s shore?Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary,Across th’ Atlantic roar?
O sweet grows the lime and the orange,And the apple on the pine;But a’ the charms o’ the IndiesCan never equal thine.
I hae sworn by the Heavens to my Mary,I hae sworn by the Heavens to be true;And sae may the Heavens forget me,When I forget my vow!
O plight me your faith, my Mary,And plight me your lily-white hand;O plight me your faith, my Mary,Before I leave Scotia’s strand.
We hae plighted our troth, my Mary,In mutual affection to join;And curst be the cause that shall part us!The hour and the moment o’ time!
Words in this poem
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- scotia n.
- A concave molding used especially in classical architecture. [L., fr. Gr. skoti`a darkness, a sunken molding in the base of a pillar, so called from the dark shadow it casts, from sko`tos darkness.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- curst a.
- Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [SeeCurse.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Will Ye Go to the Indies, My Mary? 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, Will Ye Go to the Indies, My Mary?, in Poems and Songs (1786–1796), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1279, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/burns-poems/will-ye-go-to-the-indies-my-mary.html, id L03025.
Form and metre
Will Ye Go to the Indies, My Mary? is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 maryA · shoreB · maryA · roarB
- 2 -A-A orange · pineA · indies · thineA
- 4 ABAB maryA · handB · maryA · strandB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| And leave auld Scotia’s shore? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Across th’ Atlantic roar? | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| O sweet grows the lime and the orange, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And the apple on the pine; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But a’ the charms o’ the Indies | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Can never equal thine. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| I hae sworn by the Heavens to my Mary, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| I hae sworn by the Heavens to be true; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And sae may the Heavens forget me, | 9 | ····/˘˘/· |
| When I forget my vow! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| O plight me your faith, my Mary, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And plight me your lily-white hand; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| O plight me your faith, my Mary, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Before I leave Scotia’s strand. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We hae plighted our troth, my Mary, | 9 | ··/˘/··/˘ |
| In mutual affection to join; | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| And curst be the cause that shall part us! | 9 | ········· |
| The hour and the moment o’ time! | 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.