Analysis of To A Louse
Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)
On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church
Ha! whare ye gaun' ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely
Owre gauze and lace,
Tho faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.
Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her---
Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.
Swith! in some beggar's hauffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle;
Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle;
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.
Now haud you there! ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rils, snug an tight,
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right,
Till ye've got on it---
The vera tapmost, tow'rin height
O' Miss's bonnet.
My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an grey as onie grozet:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I'd gie you sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum!
I wad na been surpris'd to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi! fye!
How daur ye do't?
O Jeany, dinna toss your head,
An set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin!
Thae winks an finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin!
O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An foolish notion:
What airs in dress an gait wad lea'es us,
An ev'n devotion!
Scheme | X AAABAB CCCDCD AAAEAE FFFXFX XDDGDG HIIDHD JDXKJK LLLMLM |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110101011 1111111 110111 11111110 1101 11111111 1101 110111 010111110 111111010 11010 11101110 11110 101111 11110101 11101010 01010 111111010 1110 111111111 0101111 11111111 111111 010111 1110 111111111 1111111 111101001 1111 1111010111 1111 11110111 1111111 111111 11 11111 11111 111111 1111001 1101111 0110 11110111 1101 111100111 1111111 111101011 11010 1101111111 111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,553 |
Words | 285 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 1:31 min read
- 1,330 Views
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"To A Louse" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30592/to-a-louse>.
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