On The Death Of A Lap-Dog, Named Echo.

    In wood and wild, ye warbling throng,
        Your heavy loss deplore;
    Now half extinct your powers of song,
        Sweet Echo is no more.

    Ye jarring, screeching things around,
        Scream your discordant joys;
    Now half your din of tuneless sound
        With Echo silent lies.

Robert Burns

Robert Burns, also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. Born on January 25, 1759, in Alloway, he is best known for works such as 'Auld Lang Syne,' 'Scots Wha Hae,' and 'A Red, Red Rose.' He passed away on July 21, 1796, in Dumfries.

Robert Burns

On The Same. (On A Henpecked Country Squire.)

Robert Burns, Simple Poetry

On Seeing Miss Fontenelle In A Favourite Character.

Robert Burns, Simple Poetry

Second Epistle To Davie, - A Brother Poet.

Robert Burns, Simple Poetry

The Day Returns.

Robert Burns, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

On The Death Of Robert Dundas, Esq., Of Arniston, Late Lord President Of The Court Of Session.

    Lone on the bleaky hills the straying flocks
    Shun the fierce storms among the sheltering rocks;
    Down from the rivulets, red with dashing rains,
    The gathering floods burst o'er the distant plains;
    Beneath the blasts the leafless forests groan;
    The hollow caves return a sullen moan.

    Ye hills, ye plains, ye forests and ye caves,
    Ye howling winds, and wintry swelling waves!
    Unheard, unseen, by human ear or eye,
    Sad to your sympathetic scenes I fly;
    Where to the whistling blast and waters' roar
    Pale Scotia's recent wound I may deplore.

    O heavy loss, thy country ill could bear!
    A loss these evil days can ne'er repair!
    Justice, the high vicegerent of her God,
    Her doubtful balance ey'd, and sway'd ...

Robert Burns

Sonnet, On The Death Of Robert Riddel, Esq. Of Glenriddel, April, 1794.

    No more, ye warblers of the wood, no more!
        Nor pour your descant, grating, on my soul;
        Thou young-eyed Spring, gay in thy verdant stole,
    More welcome were to me grim Winter's wildest roar.

    How can ye charm, ye flow'rs, with all your dyes?
        Ye blow upon the sod that wraps my friend:
        How can I to the tuneful strain attend?
    That strain flows round th' untimely tomb where Riddel lies.

    Yes, pour, ye warblers, pour the notes of woe!
        And soothe the Virtues weeping on this bier:
        The Man of Worth, who has not left his peer,
    Is in his "narrow house" for ever darkly low.

    Thee, Spring, again with joy shall others greet,
    Me, mem'ry of my loss will only meet.

Robert Burns

Address To The Wood-Lark.

Tune - "Where'll bonnie Ann lie."

I.

    O stay, sweet warbling woodlark, stay!
    Nor quit for me the trembling spray;
    A hapless lover courts thy lay,
        Thy soothing fond complaining.

II.

    Again, again that tender part,
        That I may catch thy melting art;
    For surely that would touch her heart,
        Wha kills me wi' disdaining.

III.

    Say, was thy little mate unkind,
    And heard thee as the careless wind?
    Oh, nocht but love and sorrow join'd,
        Sic notes o' woe could wauken.

IV.

    Thou tells o' never-ending care;
    O' speechless grief and dark despair:
    For pity's sake, sweet bird, nae mair!
        Or my poor heart is broken!

Robert Burns

Poor Mailie's Elegy.

    Lament in rhyme, lament in prose,
    Wi' saut tears trickling down your nose;
    Our bardie's fate is at a close,
        Past a' remead;
    The last sad cape-stane of his woes;
        Poor Mailie's dead.

    It's no the loss o' warl's gear,
    That could sae bitter draw the tear,
    Or mak our bardie, dowie, wear
        The mourning weed;
    He's lost a friend and neebor dear,
        In Mailie dead.

    Thro' a' the toun she trotted by him;
    A long half-mile she could descry him;
    Wi' kindly bleat, when she did spy him,
        She run wi' speed:
    A friend mair faithfu' ne'er cam nigh him,
        Than Mailie dead.

    I wat she was a sheep o' sense,
    An' could behave hersel wi' mense:
    I'll sa...

Robert Burns

Memorials Of A Tour In Scotland, 1803 II. At The Grave Of Burns, 1803

SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

I shiver, Spirit fierce and bold,
At thought of what I now behold:
As vapours breathed from dungeons cold,
Strike pleasure dead,
So sadness comes from out the mould
Where Burns is laid.

And have I then thy bones so near,
And thou forbidden to appear?
As if it were thyself that's here
I shrink with pain;
And both my wishes and my fear
Alike are vain.

Off weight, nor press on weight! away
Dark thoughts! they came, but not to stay;
With chastened feelings would I pay
The tribute due
To him, and aught that hides his clay
From mortal view.

Fresh as the flower, whose modest worth
He sang, his genius "glinted" forth,
Rose like a star that touching earth,
For so it seems,
Doth glori...

William Wordsworth

Statio Quinta

The shepherd calls,
How these great niountain walls
Re-echo! See his dog
Come limping from the bog!
How far he holds him
With that thin clamour! Scolds him?
Or cheers him, which?
Say both, most like. The pitch
Is steep, poor fellow!
And still that bellow;
Ya, ya!
Whoop  tittivat
And Echo from her niche
Shrieks challenged. Shout,
O shepherd! flout
The irritable Echo till she raves
As man behaves,
So God apportions, doing what is best
For you, and for the rest.
As man behaves! You do not help me much,
Nay, sir, nor touch
The central point at all,
Retributive, mechanical,
I see it. But outside all this
I miss . . . I miss . . .
Sir, know you Death?
Permit me introduce
No? Whats the use?
The use! . . . ...

Thomas Edward Brown