(367) AULD LANG SYNE. The song exists in several old "sets," which Burns improved; one of them, attributed to Francis Sempill (1616?-82), and published in Watson's Scots Poems (1711), has these lines: (367) TAM GLEN. Should old acquaintance be forgot And never thought upon, Is thy kind heart now grown so cold, (368) 21. valentines' dealing: it was a custom for youths and maidens to pair off by drawing slips of paper with names written on them. (368) JOHN ANDERSON, MY Jo. An early form of this song, written about 1560, ridiculing the sacraments of the Church, begins thus John Anderson, my jo, cum in as ze gae by, In the eighteenth century there existed a coarse version, which Burns transformed; it contained these lines: John Anderson, my jo, John, I wonder what you mean, (369) TAM O' SHANTER. The poem is based upon a tale current in the neighborhood. Alloway Kirk is some two hundred yards from the old bridge over the Doon, and both are within a mile of Burns's birthplace. The poem was a favorite with the author: "I look on 'Tam o' Shanter' to be my standard performance in the poetical line. 'Tis true both the one [his newborn son] and the other discover a spice of roguish waggery that might perhaps be well spared; but then they also show, in my opinion, a force of genius and a finishing polish that I despair of ever excelling."-Letter to Mrs. Dunlop, April 11, 1791. 7. lang Scots miles: a Scotch mile was about one-eighth longer than an English mile. ¶ 22. market-day: the market-day came once a week. (370) 27, 28. The reference is to some landlady, perhaps Jean Kennedy of Kirkoswald, whose tavern was near the church. ("Kirkton"-a farm or village near the kirk.) ¶ 50. When Burns recited the poem to a friend, Robert Ainslie, he inserted these lines at this point: The crickets joined the chirping cry, The kittlin chased her tail for joy. (373) 154. seventeen hunder linen: very fine linen, with 1.700 threads to a breadth. 177. pund Scots: a Scotch pound was only one twelfth of an English pound, or about forty cents. (374) 194. herds-herders of cattle. ¶ 195. open begin to bark. 251. fairin: literally, a present from a fair, but used ironically for a beating. (375) YE FLOWERY BANKS. The song exists in three different forms, all by Burns: the first form is entitled, "Sweet Are the Banks"; the third, "The Banks o' Doon"; the second form, given here, is the simplest. (377) SAW YE BONIE LESLEY. "Mr. B. [Baillie], with his two daughters, . . . . pass ing through Dumfries a few days ago on their way to England, did me the honor of calling on me; on which I took my horse-though God knows I could ill spare the time-and accompanied them fourteen or fifteen miles, and dined and spent the day with them. 'Twas about nine, I think, that I left them, and riding home I composed the following ballad."-Letter to Mrs. Dunlop, August 22, 1792. (377) DUNCAN GRAY. The second set. "Duncan Gray' is that kind of lighthorse gallop of an air which precludes sentiment. The ludicrous is its ruling feature."-Letter to Thomson, December 4, 1792. (378) 11. Ailsa Craig: a rocky island in the Firth of Clyde, some twenty-five miles from Ayr, frequented by screaming sea-fowl. (379) HIGHLAND MARY. The subject of the song was Mary Campbell, daughter of a sailor at Clyde. "My 'Highland Lassie' was a warm-hearted, charming young creature as ever blessed a man with generous love. After a pretty long tract of the most ardent reciprocal attachment, we met by appointment on the second Sunday of May, in a sequestered spot by the banks of Ayr, where we spent the day in taking farewell, before she should embark for the West Highlands to arrange matters for our projected change of life. At the close of the autumn following she crossed the sea to meet me at Greenock, where she bac scarce landed when she was seized with a malignant fever, which hurried my dear girl to the grave in a few days, before I could even hear of her illness."-Burns's note about "My Highland Lassie, O." For a caustic note on Mary Campbell and Burns's relation to her, see Henley and Henderson's edition of Burns, III. 309. (379) SCOTS WHA HAE. "This thought [that a certain old Scotch air was Robert Bruce's march at the battle of Bannockburn], in my yesternight's evening walk, roused me to a pitch of enthusiasm on the theme of liberty and independence, which I threw into a kind of Scots ode, fitted to the air, that one might suppose to be the gallant Scot's address to his heroic followers on that eventful morning."-Letter to Thomson, August or September, 1793. "This battle [Bannockburn, 1314] was the decisive blow which first put Robert the First, commonly called Robert de Bruce, in quiet possession of the Scottish throne."-Burns. (380) 7. Edward's: the reference is to Edward II, of England. ¶ 21-24. "I have borrowed the last stanza from the common stall edition of 'Wallace': A false usurper sinks in every foe, -a couplet worthy of Homer."-Burns. (380) IS THERE FOR HONEST POVERTY. For meter and phrase Burns was indebted to older songs, one of which (a Jacobite song, published in 1750) has a chorus as follows: For a' that and a' that, And twice as muckle 's a' that, He's far beyond the seas the night, Yet he 'll be here for a' that. (381) 22. ribband, star: badges of noble orders, as the Star and Garter. ¶25-27. Cf. "The Cotter's Saturday Night," l. 165, 166 (p. 357). (383) A RED, RED ROSF The song is little more than an artful mosaic from several old ballads, the most relevant parts of which are the following: Her cheeks are like the roses O, she 's like a new-strung instrument The Wanton Wife of Castle Gate." Now fare thee well, my dearest dear, And fare thee well awhile; Altho' I go, I'll come again If I go ten thousand mile. If I go ten thousand mile. -"The Unkind Parents." The day shall turn to night, dear love, Before that I prove false to thee, -The Loyal Lover's Faithful Promise.' The seas they shall run dry, (383) LAST MAY A BRAW WOOER. -The Young Man's Farewell to His Love." 14. wi'm with him. (384) 18. Gate Slack: a pass in the Lowther Hills. (384) O WERT THOU IN THE CAULD BLAST. The poem was written in honor of Jessie Lewars, a good angel in the poet's household during his last illness. CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM "Those who view him with the severity of lettered criticism, and judge him by the fastidious rules of art, will discover that he has not the Doric simplicity of Ramsay nor the brilliant imagination of Fergusson; but to those who admire the exertions of untutored fancy, and are blind to many faults for the sake of numberless beauties, his poems will afford singular gratification. His observations on human characters are acute and sagacious, and his descriptions are lively and just. Of rustic pleasantry he has a rich fund; and some of his softer scenes are touched with inimitable delicacy."-The Edinburgh Magazine, October, 1786. "His simple strains, artless and unadorned, seem to flow without effort from the native feelings of the heart. They are always nervous, sometimes inelegant, often natural, simple, and sublime. The objects that have obtained the attention of the author are humble, for he himself, born in a low station and following a laborious employment, has had no opportunity of observing scenes in the higher walks of life; yet his verses are sometimes struck off with a delicacy and artless simplicity that charms like the bewitching though irregular touches of a Shakespear. We much regret that these poems are written in some measure in an unknown tongue, which must deprive most of our readers of the pleasure they would otherwise naturally create..... The modern ear will be somewhat disgusted with the measure of many of these pieces, which is faithfully copied from that which was most in fashion among the ancient Scottish bards, but hath been, we think with good reason, laid aside by later poets The versification is in general easy, and it seems to have been a matter of indifference to our author in what measure he wrote. But if ever he should think of offering anything more to the public, we are of opinion his performances would be more highly valued were they written ʼn measures less antiquated."-The Monthly Review, December, 1786. "I know not if I shall be accused of enthusiasm and partiality when I introduce to the notice of my readers a poet of our own country, with whose writings I have lately become acquainted; but if I am not greatly deceived, I think I may safely pronounce him a genius of no ordinary rank. The person to whom I allude is Robert Burns, an Ayrshire ploughman. His poetry, considered abstractedly, and without the apologies arising from his situation, seems to me fully entitled to command our feelings and to obtain our applause. One bar, indeed, his birth and education have opposed to his fame, the language in which most of his poems are written. Even in Scotland the provincial dialect which Ramsay and he have used is now read with a difficulty which damps the pleasure of the reader; in England it cannot be read at all without such a constant reference to a glossary as nearly to destroy that pleasure. I have seldom met with an image more truly pastoral than that of the lark, in the second stanza [of "To a Mountain Daisy," which is quoted entire]. Such strokes as these mark the pencil of the poet, which delineates nature with the precision of intimacy, yet with the delicate coloring of beauty and of taste. . . . . Though I am very far from meaning to compare our rustic bard to Shakespeare, yet whoever will read his lighter and more humorous poems will perceive with what uncommon penetration and sagacity this heaven-taught ploughman, from his humble and unlettered station, has looked upon men and manners."-Henry Mackenzie, in The Lounger, No. 97, December 16, 1786. (The article was republished in full in The Gentleman's Magazine, July, 1787.) .... "Whatever excites the jaded appetite of an epicure will be prized, and a red herring from Greenock or Dunbar will be reckoned a delice. From this propensity in human nature, a musical child, a rhyming milk-woman, a learned pig, or a Russian poet will 'strut their hour upon the stage' and gain the applause of the moment. . . . . Robert Burns, the Ayrshire ploughman, whose poems are now before us, does not belong to this class of obscurorum virorum. Although he is by no means such a poetical prodigy as some of his malicious friends have represented, he has a genuine title to the attention and approbation of the public as a natural though not a legitimate son of the Muses. The first poems in this collection are of the humorous and satirical kind, and in these our author appears to be most at home. In his serious poems we can trace imitations of almost every English author of celebrity; but his humor is entirely his own. His 'Address to the Deil (Devil),' 'The Holy Fair' (a country sacrament), and his 'Epistle,' in which he disguises an amour under the veil of partridge shooting, are his master-pieces in this line; and, happily, in these instances his humor is neither local nor transient, for the Devil, the world, and the flesh will always keep their ground. .. 'The Cotter's (Cottager's) Saturday Night' is without exception the best poem in the collection. It is written in the stanza of Spenser, which probably our bard acquired from Thomson's 'Castle of Indolence' and Beattie's 'Minstrel.' It describes one of the happiest and most affecting scenes to be found in a country life; and draws a domestic picture of rustic simplicity, natural tenderness, and innocent passion, that must please every reader whose feelings are not perverted. The odes 'To a Mouse on Turning up Her Nest' and 'To a Mountain Daisy' are of a similar nature, and will strike every reader for the elegant fancy and the vein of senti mental reflection that runs through them. The stanza of Mr. Burns is generally ill chosen, and his provincial dialect confines his beauties to one half of the island. But he possesses the genuine characteristics of a poet-a vigorous mind, a lively fancy, a surprising knowledge of human nature, and an expression rich, various, and abundant. In the plaintive or pathetic he does not excel; his love poems (though he confesses, or rather professes, a penchant to the belle passion) are execrable; but in the midst of vulgarity and commonplace, which occupy one half of the volume, we meet with many striking beauties that make ample compensation."-The English Review, February, 1787. .... "We do not recollect to have ever met with a more signal instance of true and uncultivated genius than in the author of these poems. His occupation is that of a common ploughman, and his life has hitherto been spent in struggling with poverty. But all the rigors of fortune have not been able to repress the frequent efforts of his lively and vigorous imagination. Some of these poems are of a serious cast; but the strain which seems most natural to the author is the sportive and humorous. It is to be regretted that the Scottish dialect in which these poems are written must obscure the native beauties with which they appear to abound, and renders the sense often unintelligible to an English reader."-The Critical Review, May, 1787. "I have therefore read Burns's poems, and have read them twice; and though they be written in a language that is new to me, and many of them on subjects much inferior to the author's ability, I think them on the whole a very extraordinary production. He is, I believe, the only poet these kingdoms have produced in the lower rank of life, since Shakespeare (I should rather say, since Prior), who need not be indebted for any part of his praise to a charitable consideration of his origin and the disadvantages under which he has labored. It will be a pity if he should not hereafter divest himself of barbarism, and content himself with writing pure English, in which he appears perfectly qualified to excel. He who can command admiration dishonors himself if he aims no higher than to raise a laugh."-William Cowper in a letter to Rose, July 24, 1787. (389) THE BOOK OF THEL. WILLIAM BLAKE Blake prefixed the following lines: 14. Cf. Gen. 3:8. (391) 70. Cf. Rom. 14:7, "For none of us liveth to himself." (394) THE MENTAL TRAVEller. ""The Mental Traveller' indicates an explorer of mental phenomena. The mental phenomenon here symbolized seems to be the career of any great idea or intellectual movement-as, for instance, Christianity, chivalry, art, etc.—represented as going through the stages of-1, birth; 2, adversity and persecution; 3, triumph and maturity; 4, decadence through over-ripeness; 5, gradual transformation, under new conditions, into another renovated idea, which again has to pass through all the same stages. In other words, the poem represents the action and re-action of ideas upon society, and of society upon ideas."-W. M. Rossetti. "The babe.... I take to signify human genius or intellect, which none can touch and not be consumed except the 'woman old,' faith or fear: all weaker things, pain and pleasure, hatred and love, fly with shrieking, averted faces from before it. The grey and cruel nurse, custom or religion, crucifies and torments the child, feeding herself upon his agony to false fresh youth. Grown older, ....he weds her; custom, the daily life of men, once married to the fresh intellect, bears fruit to him of profit and pleasure; but through such union he grows old the sooner, soon can but wander round and look over his finished work and gathered treasure, the tragic passions and splendid achievements of his spirit, kept fresh in verse or color. The 'female babe' sprung from the fire that burns always on his hearth is the issue or result of genius, which, being too strong for the father, flows into new channels and follows after fresh ways. The outcast intellect can then be vivified only by a new love. . . . . Then follow the stages of love, and the phases of action and passion bred from either stage."-A. C. Swinburne. .... .... (397) AUGURIES OF INNOCENCE. The lines are printed in the order in which they come in the manuscript, not rearranged according to subject-matter as in some editions. (401) TO THE QUEEN. The lines were the dedication of Blake's designs for Blair's poem, "The Grave." (401) THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL. 7. Meletus: an Athenian tragic poet, one of the accusers of Socrates. 9. Caiphas: see Matthew 26:57-68. GEORGE CRABBE "It has been already acknowledged that these compositions have no pretensions to be estimated with the more lofty and heroic kind of poems, but I feel great reluctance in admitting that they have not a fair and legitimate claim to the poetic character; .... nor was I aware that, by describing as faithfully as I could men, manners, and things, I was forfeiting a just title to a name which has been freely granted to many whom to equal and even to excel is but a very stinted commendation. A considerable part of the poems, as they have been hitherto denominated, of Chaucer are of this naked and unveiled character. . . . . Dryden has given us much of this poetry, in which the force of expression and accuracy of description have neither needed nor obtained assistance from the fancy of the writer. . . It will be found that Pope himself has no small portion of this actuality of relation, this nudity of descrip tion, and poetry without an atmosphere. . I must allow that the effect of poetry should be to lift the mind from the painful realities of actual existence, from its everyday concerns, and its perpetually occurring vexations, and to give it repose by substituting objects in their place which it may contemplate with some degree of interest and satisfaction: but what is there in all this which may not be effected by a fair representation of existing character ? nay, by a faithful delineation of those painful realities, those everyday concerns, and those perpetually occurring vexations themselves, provided they be not (which is hardly to be supposed) the very concerns and distresses of the reader? for when it is admitted that they have no particular relation to him, but are the troubles and anxieties of other men, they excite and interest his feelings as the imaginary exploits, adventures, and perils of romance.' -Preface to Tales (1812). (403) THE VILLAGE. Book I. 1-62. 17-14. Cf. Pope's "Spring," p. 79. |