On Turning Up Her Nest with the Plow, November, 1785
Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie,Oh, what a panic’s in thy breastie!Thou needna start awa’ sae hasty,Wi’ bickering brattle!I wad be laith to rin and chase thee,Wi’ murd’ring pattle!
I’m truly sorry man’s dominionHas broken Nature’s social union,And justifies that ill opinion,Which makes thee startleAt me, thy poor earth-born companionAnd fellow-mortal!
I doubtna, whiles, but thou may thieve;What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!A daimen icker in a thrave’S a sma’ request:I’ll get a blessin’ wi’ the lave,And never miss ’t!
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin’!And naething now to big a new aneO’ foggage green,And bleak December’s winds ensuin’,Baith snell and keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste,And weary winter comin’ fast,And cozie here, beneath the blast,Thou thought to dwell,Till, crash! the cruel coulter passedOut through thy cell.
That wee bit heap o’ leaves and stibbleHas cost thee monie a weary nibble!Now thou’s turned out for a’ thy trouble,But house or hald,To thole the winter’s sleety dribble,And cranreuch cauld!
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,In proving foresight may be vain:The best-laid schemes o’ mice and menGang aft a-gley,And lea’e us naught but grief and pain,For promised joy.
Still thou art blest, compared wi’ me!The present only toucheth thee:But, och! I backward cast my e’eOn prospects drear!And forward, though I canna see,I guess and fear.
Words in this poem
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- thieve v. t.
- To practice theft; to steal. [AS. ge.]
- thrave n.
- Twenty-four (in some places, twelve) sheaves of wheat; a shock, or stook. [OE. , , Icel. ; akin to Dan. trave; cf. Icel. to grasp.]
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- snell a.
- Active; brisk; nimble; quick; sharp. [Archaic or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [AS. snell; akin to D. snel, G. schnell, OHG. snel, Icel. snjallr valiant.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- thole v. t.
- To bear; to endure; to undergo. Gower. [OE. þolen, þolien, AS. þolian; akin to OS. tholon, OHG. dolen, G. geduld patience, dulden to endure, Icel. þola, Sw. tåla, Dan. taale, Goth. þulan, L. tolerate,]
- sleety a.
- Of or pertaining to sleet; characterized by sleet; as, a sleety storm; sleety weather.
- dribble v. i.
- To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves. [Freq. of drib, which is a variant of drip.]
- mousie n.
- Diminutive for Mouse. Burns.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- canna n.
- A measure of length in Italy, varying from six to seven feet. [It.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Turning Up Her Nest with the Plow, November, 1785 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, On Turning Up Her Nest with the Plow, November, 1785, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/on-turning-up-her-nest-with-the-plow-november-1785.html, id L25218.
Form and metre
On Turning Up Her Nest with the Plow, November, 1785 is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AA-B-B beastieA · breastieA · hasty · brattleB · thee · pattleB
- 2 A-A--- dominionA · union · opinionA · startle · companion · mortal
- 3 --A-A- thieve · live · thraveA · request · laveA · t
- 4 AAABBB ruinA · strewinA · aneA · greenB · ensuinB · keenB
- 5 -AABAB waste · fastA · blastA · dwellB · passedA · cellB
- 6 AA-BAB stibbleA · nibbleA · trouble · haldB · dribbleA · cauldB
- 7 AA--A- laneA · vainA · men · gley · painA · joy
- 8 AAABAB meA · theeA · e'eA · drearB · seeA · fearB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Oh, what a panic’s in thy breastie! | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Thou needna start awa’ sae hasty, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Wi’ bickering brattle! | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| I wad be laith to rin and chase thee, | 9 | ········· |
| Wi’ murd’ring pattle! | 5 | ····· |
| I’m truly sorry man’s dominion | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Has broken Nature’s social union, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| And justifies that ill opinion, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Which makes thee startle | 5 | ···/˘ |
| At me, thy poor earth-born companion | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| And fellow-mortal! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| I doubtna, whiles, but thou may thieve; | 8 | ········ |
| What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A daimen icker in a thrave | 8 | ········ |
| ’S a sma’ request: | 5 | ···˘/ |
| I’ll get a blessin’ wi’ the lave, | 8 | ········ |
| And never miss ’t! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin’! | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And naething now to big a new ane | 9 | ········· |
| O’ foggage green, | 4 | ···· |
| And bleak December’s winds ensuin’, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Baith snell and keen! | 4 | ···· |
| Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste, | 8 | ········ |
| And weary winter comin’ fast, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And cozie here, beneath the blast, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou thought to dwell, | 4 | ···· |
| Till, crash! the cruel coulter passed | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Out through thy cell. | 4 | ···· |
| That wee bit heap o’ leaves and stibble | 9 | ········· |
| Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Now thou’s turned out for a’ thy trouble, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But house or hald, | 4 | ···· |
| To thole the winter’s sleety dribble, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| And cranreuch cauld! | 4 | ···· |
| But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In proving foresight may be vain: | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men | 8 | ········ |
| Gang aft a-gley, | 4 | ···· |
| And lea’e us naught but grief and pain, | 8 | ········ |
| For promised joy. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Still thou art blest, compared wi’ me! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The present only toucheth thee: | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| But, och! I backward cast my e’e | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On prospects drear! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And forward, though I canna see, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I guess and fear. | 4 | ···· |
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