Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ELEGY ON THE YEAR 1788, by ROBERT BURNS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: For lords or kings I dinna mourn Last Line: As muckle better as you can. Subject(s): Holidays; New Year | ||||||||
For lords or kings I dinna mourn, E'en let them die -- for that they're born: But oh! prodigious to reflec'! A Towmont, sirs, is gane to wreck! O Eighty-eight, in thy sma' space, What dire events hae taken place! Of what enjoyments thou hast reft us! In what a pickle thou has left us! The Spanish empire's tint a head, And my auld teethless, Bawtie's dead: The tulyie's teugh 'tween Pitt and Fox, And 'tween our Maggie's twa wee cocks; The tane is game, a bluidy devil, But to the hen-birds unco civil; The tither's something dour o' treadin, But better stuff ne'er claw'd a middin. Ye ministers, come mount the poupit, An' cry till ye be hearse an' roupit, For Eighty-eight, he wished you weel, An' gied ye a' baith gear an' meal; E'en monc a plack, and mony a peck, Ye ken yoursels, for little feck! Ye bonnie lasses, dight your e'en, For some o' you hae tint a frien'; In Eighty-eight, ye ken, was taen, What ye'll ne'er hae to gie again. Observe the very nowt an' sheep, How dowff an' daviely they creep; Nay, even the yirth itsel' does cry, For E'nburgh wells are grutten dry. O Eighty-nine, thou's but a bairn, An' no owre auld, I hope, to learn! Thou beardless boy, I pray tak care, Thou now hast got thy Daddy's chair; Nae handcuff'd, mizl'd, hap-shackl'd Regent, But, like himsel, a full free agent, Be sure ye follow out the plan Nae waur than he did, honest man! As muckle better as you can. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NEW YEAR'S POEM by MARGARET AVISON A SPEED OF HISTORY by MARGARET AVISON NEW YEAR'S DAY by DAVID LEHMAN LINES FOR THE NEW YEAR by JULIE CARR I AM RUNNING INTO A NEW YEAR by LUCILLE CLIFTON FOR THE NEW YEAR (2) by ROBERT CREELEY A BARD'S EPITAPH by ROBERT BURNS A POET'S WELCOME TO HIS LOVE-BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by ROBERT BURNS |
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