Analysis of The Banks o' Doon

Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)



YE flowery banks o' bonnie Doon,
   How can ye blume sae fair!
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
   And I sae fu' o' care!

Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
   That sings upon the bough;
Thou minds me o' the happy days
   When my fause luve was true.

Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
   That sings beside thy mate;
For sae I sat, and sae I sang,
   And wistna o' my fate.

Aft hae I roved by bonnie Doon,
   To see the woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o' its luve,
   And sae did I o' mine.

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose
   Upon a morn in June;
And sae I flourish'd on the morn,
   And sae was pu'd or' noon.

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose
   Upon its thorny tree;
But my fause luver staw my rose,
   And left the thorn wi' me.


Scheme abxb Cxxx Cdxd aaxa Eaaa Efef
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 110011101 111111 11111101 011111 11111101 110101 11110101 111111 11111101 110111 11110111 01111 11111101 11011 01011111 011111 1111101 010101 01110101 011111 1111101 011101 1111111 010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 761
Words 151
Sentences 8
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 88
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

47 sec read
228

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist. more…

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