Poems
My Peggy is a young thing,Just enter’d in her teens,Fair as the day, and sweet as May,Fair as the day, and always gay;My Peggy is a young thing,And I’m not very auld,Yet well I like to meet her atThe wawking of the fauld.
My Peggy speaks sae sweetlyWhene’er we meet alane,I wish nae mair to lay my care,I wish nae mair of a’ that’s rare;My Peggy speaks sae sweetly,To a’ the lave I’m cauld,But she gars a’ my spirits glowAt wawking of the fauld.
My Peggy smiles sae kindlyWhene’er I whisper love,That I look down on a’ the town,That I look down upon a crown;My Peggy smiles sae kindly,It makes me blyth and bauld,And naething gi’es me sic delightAs wawking of the fauld.
My Peggy sings sae saftlyWhen on my pipe I play,By a’ the rest it is confest,By a’ the rest, that she sings best;My Peggy sings sae saftly,And in her sangs are tauldWith innocence the wale of sense,At wawking of the fauld.
Words in this poem
- teens n.
- The years of one's age having the termination -teen, beginning with thirteen and ending with nineteen; as, a girl in her teens. [See Ten.]
- auld a.
- Old; as, Auld Reekie (old smoky), i. e., Edinburgh. [See Old.]
- fauld n.
- The arch over the dam of a blast furnace; the tymp arch.
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Allan Ramsay, Poems, (1686–1758), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-allan-ramsay/peggy.html, id L16149.
Form and metre
Peggy is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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 A-BBAC-C thingA · teens · mayB · gayB · thingA · auldC · at · fauldC
- 2 A-BBAC-C sweetlyA · alane · careB · rareB · sweetlyA · cauldC · glow · fauldC
- 3 A-BBAC-C kindlyA · love · townB · crownB · kindlyA · bauldC · delight · fauldC
- 4 A-BBAC-C saftlyA · play · confestB · bestB · saftlyA · tauldC · sense · fauldC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My Peggy is a young thing, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Just enter’d in her teens, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fair as the day, and sweet as May, | 8 | ········ |
| Fair as the day, and always gay; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| My Peggy is a young thing, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And I’m not very auld, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Yet well I like to meet her at | 8 | ········ |
| The wawking of the fauld. | 6 | ······ |
| My Peggy speaks sae sweetly | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Whene’er we meet alane, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I wish nae mair to lay my care, | 8 | ········ |
| I wish nae mair of a’ that’s rare; | 8 | ········ |
| My Peggy speaks sae sweetly, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| To a’ the lave I’m cauld, | 6 | ······ |
| But she gars a’ my spirits glow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At wawking of the fauld. | 6 | ······ |
| My Peggy smiles sae kindly | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Whene’er I whisper love, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That I look down on a’ the town, | 8 | ········ |
| That I look down upon a crown; | 8 | ········ |
| My Peggy smiles sae kindly, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| It makes me blyth and bauld, | 6 | ······ |
| And naething gi’es me sic delight | 8 | ······˘/ |
| As wawking of the fauld. | 6 | ······ |
| My Peggy sings sae saftly | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| When on my pipe I play, | 6 | ······ |
| By a’ the rest it is confest, | 8 | ········ |
| By a’ the rest, that she sings best; | 8 | ········ |
| My Peggy sings sae saftly, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And in her sangs are tauld | 6 | ······ |
| With innocence the wale of sense, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| At wawking of the fauld. | 6 | ······ |
Notes from the edition 1
Quiller-Couch's glosses on the hard words, from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900, chosen and edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch (Oxford, 1900; Project Gutenberg #66619)
- Stanza 1 wawking] watching. lave] rest. wale] choice, best.
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