{"id":91,"date":"2023-02-06T03:07:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T03:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/?p=91"},"modified":"2023-02-06T03:07:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T03:07:35","slug":"begin-the-scottish-marriage-waltz-though-tragic-is-the-morrow-behold-the-poets-joyful-bliss-the-maiden-left-in-sorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/2023\/02\/06\/begin-the-scottish-marriage-waltz-though-tragic-is-the-morrow-behold-the-poets-joyful-bliss-the-maiden-left-in-sorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Begin the Scottish Marriage Waltz, Though Tragic is the Morrow; Behold the Poet’s Joyful Bliss, The Maiden Left in Sorrow."},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance, Robert Burns\u2019 poem, \u201cA Red Red Rose\u201d is a pure love poem, but examining the literal content alongside the formal elements reveals a darker turn. This poem describes a private profession of love\u00a0at a wedding. The groom sings, \u201cO my luve\u2019s like a red, red rose, \/ That\u2019s newly sprung June; \/ O my luve\u2019s like a melodie \/ That\u2019s sweetly played in tune:\u201d (l.1-4). In these lines it isn\u2019t clear whether \u201cmy luve\u201d is the bride (my <\/span>luve<\/span><\/i>), or a description of the way he loves her\u00a0(<\/span>my<\/span><\/i> luve), but these lines reveal that the poet has lost the distinction between his art and his wife: she became his poetry.\u00a0 Both the metrical and\u00a0rhyme\u00a0schemes of the poem reinforce this all-encompassing love.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The rhyme scheme of this poem is <\/span>abcb<\/span><\/i>, a ballad rhyme. This form was originally\u00a0sung and still carries a musical quality which is only reinforced by the meter: the odd numbered lines contain four metrical feet, and the even lines have three. This description of the form of the poem is necessary because it places the lovers in the setting of the poem while allowing the poet to focus solely on his bride and share his private vows. There is an odd number of beats in the line, so as the poet pauses to catch his breath in the even numbered lines of the poem, he twirls his bride. He is only sharing his promises when he is looking directly at her. For example, in the next stanza, \u201cAs <\/span>fair <\/span><\/i>art<\/span> thou,<\/span><\/i> my <\/span>bon<\/span><\/i>nie <\/span>lass<\/span><\/i>, \/ So <\/span>deep<\/span><\/i> in<\/span> luve<\/span><\/i> am<\/span> I;<\/span><\/i>\u201d (twirl) \u201cAnd <\/span>I<\/span><\/i> will <\/span>love<\/span><\/i> thee <\/span>still<\/span><\/i> my <\/span>dear<\/span><\/i>, \/ Till <\/span>a\u2019<\/span><\/i> the <\/span>seas<\/span><\/i> gang <\/span>dry<\/span><\/i> – \u201d (twirl) (l. 5-8). The italicized pieces of the words note the accented syllables. Note also the combination of an accented syllable and the strong punctuation at the end of the even numbered lines which emphasize that pause of breath where the lover increases his beloved\u2019s anticipation of the completion of the rhyme (and likewise his promise) with the romantic twirl. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As beautiful as\u00a0the opening stanzas of the poem are, there is also a darker turn to this scene. The poem contains sixteen\u00a0lines, and a clear dramatic volta at the twelfth line, where the repeated allusions to the sea, sun and rocks reveal the lover\u2019s occupation as a sailor, and one who has been called away on his wedding night to fulfil his latest voyage.\u00a0\u00a0Dragged away from the scene, he calls, \u201cAnd fare thee weel, my only luve, \/ And fare thee weel, a while – \/ And I will come again, my luve, \/ Tho\u2019 it were ten thousand mile!\u201d (l. 12-16). At the volta, the rhyme scheme breaks from the more complex <\/span>abcb<\/span><\/i> to a more solemn <\/span>abab.<\/span><\/i> In addition, the word \u201cfair\u201d used in the second stanza used to describe the poet\u2019s wife when he only had eyes and a mind for her has been transformed into \u201cfare\u201d as an admission of defeat, and another indicator of weather and travel as used in the term \u201cwayfarer.\u201d Most interestingly though, this poem could function as a sonnet, stopping after fourteen lines with a dramatically abrupt final couplet. But the poet adds two extra lines to the end of the poem as if to reassure his bride that he will return. The final lines of the poem read almost as if he is being dragged away from the ceremony and has managed to escape for just long enough to blow a final kiss to his beloved.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first glance, Robert Burns\u2019 poem, \u201cA Red Red Rose\u201d is a pure love poem, but examining the literal content alongside the formal elements reveals a darker turn. This poem describes a private profession of love\u00a0at a wedding. The groom sings, \u201cO my luve\u2019s like a red, red rose, \/ That\u2019s newly sprung June; \/ … Continue reading Begin the Scottish Marriage Waltz, Though Tragic is the Morrow; Behold the Poet’s Joyful Bliss, The Maiden Left in Sorrow.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4758,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}