Analysis of It Was A' For Our Rightfu' King

Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)



It was a' for our rightfu' king
That we left fair Scotland's strand;
It was a' for our rightfu' king
We e'er saw Irish land, my dear,
We e'er saw Irish land.

Now a' is done that men can do,
And a' is done in vain!
My love, and native land, fareweel,
For I maun cross the main, my dear,
For I maun cross the main.

He turn'd him right and round about,
Upon the Irish shore,
He gave his bridle-reins a shake,
With, Adieu for evermore, my dear,
And adieu for evermore.

The soldier frae the war returns,
And the merchant frae the main.
But I hae parted frae my love,
Never to meet again, my dear,
Never to meet again.

When day is gone and night is come,
And a' folk bound to sleep,
I think on him that's far awa
The lee-lang night, and weep, my dear,
The lee-lang night, and weep.


Scheme AbAcb xdxcd xexce xdxcx xfxcf
Poetic Form
Metre 11011011 1111101 11011011 110110111 1101101 10111111 001101 1101011 11110111 111101 11110101 010101 11110101 10111011 001110 01010101 0010101 11110111 10110111 101101 11110111 001111 1111111 01110111 011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 760
Words 157
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 115
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 07, 2023

48 sec read
115

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist. more…

All Robert Burns poems | Robert Burns Books

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