Analysis of Song XXX. The Lovely Brown Maid

Robert Anderson 1750 (Carnwath) – 1830



When May--scented zephyrs breathe gladness around,
Enliv'ning the meadow and grove,
And in each mossy cottage Contentment is found,
Crown'd with health, peace, retirement, and love;
Then far from the village the swains they retire,
At noon to the lonely sweet shade;
Grant me Health, rosy Health, all I ask and desire,
With a smile from my lovely brown maid.

When my flocks bleat around me upon the wide plain,
Contented I lie at my ease;
And at eve I retire, free from sorrow and pain,
To enjoy the soft fragrant breeze:
When music and gladness are heard thro' the grove,
By moonlight I steal from the shade,
And o'er hills and deep valleys unheeded I rove,
For a smile from my lovely brown maid.

Each morn I rise happy, each night I lie down
With a heart free from envy and care;
In my plain humble cottage, far from the gay town
With my neighbours each comfort I share:
I envy no monarch, I boast not of wealth,
No troubles my cot e'er invade:
All the blessings I ask is the blessing of health,
And a smile from my lovely brown maid.


Scheme ABAXXCXC DEDEBCBC FGFGHCHC
Poetic Form
Metre 1110101101 10101 00111001011 1111010001 11101001101 11101011 1111011110010 101111011 111101101011 01011111 011101111001 10101101 1100111101 1111101 0101011001011 101111011 11111011111 101111001 011101011011 11111011 1101111111 110111001 101011101011 001111011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,021
Words 195
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 269
Words per stanza (avg) 64
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
232

Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson was a Scottish author and critic. He was born at Carnwath, Lanarkshire. He studied first divinity and then medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently, after some experience as a surgeon, took his M.D. at the University of St Andrews in 1778. He began to practise as a physician at Alnwick in Northumberland, but he became financially independent by his marriage with the daughter of John Gray, and abandoned his profession for a literary life in Edinburgh. For several years his attention was occupied with his edition of The Works of the British Poets, with Prefaces Biographical and Critical. His other publications were: The Miscellaneous Works of Tobias Smollett, M.D., with Memoirs of his Life and Writings Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., with Critical Observations on his Works The Works of John Moore, M.D., with Memoirs of his Life and Writings The Grave and other Poems, by Robert Blair; to which are prefixed some Account of his Life and Observations on his Writings. more…

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