A Red, Red Rose : Robert Burns

 

 

About the Poem

 

The poem is composed by Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. It was first published in 1794 in a collection of traditional Scottish songs set to music. The poem has the form of a ballad and is meant to be sung aloud. It describes the speaker’s deep love for his beloved and promises that this love will last longer than human life and even the planet itself, remaining fresh and constant forever.

 

Summary

 

The speaker describes his or her love as being as beautiful, vivid, and fresh as a rose that has just recently bloomed. This love is as sweet as a beautiful song played by a skilled musician.

The beloved is so beautiful that the speaker loves her with a deep and strong passion—so strong, in fact, that the speaker's love will last until the oceans have become dry.

Even after the seas have evaporated and the earth has decayed, the speaker will still love the beloved. This love will endure until his own life has ended and even until all human life has ended.

The speaker concludes by saying goodbye to the beloved—who is, the speaker reminds her, the only person the speaker loves. The speaker wishes her well during their temporary separation. The speaker reaffirms his faithful love by promising to return even if the journey covers a very long distance and takes a very long time.

 

Understanding the text

 

Answer the following questions.

a. To which two things does the speaker compare his love in the first stanza?

The speaker compares his love to the young and delicate red rose that has just bloomed in June in the first stanza. Further, he compares it to a sweet melody that is played on a fine-tuning.

 

b. What does the speaker promise in the second and third stanza?

In the second and third stanzas, the speaker promises multiple promises to his beloved. He vows to love her until the earthly seas have dried up, the heat of the sun has melted the rocks and human life has been wiped out.

c. What imagery does he use in his promise, and why do you think he uses such language?

The love of the speaker being passionate and profound he uses various imagery to express his commitment to his beloved. The imagery that has been used is that of dry seas and melted rocks in the first stanza and the mentioning of a long journey in the last stanza.

d. In the last stanza, what event is about to happen by mentioning the number of miles?

The speaker promises to return to his beloved after a sojourn. The reunion will take place even if the speaker has to undertake a journey of thousand miles.

e. Which image in the poem do you find the most memorable or surprising and why?

I wonder if the image of the water in the seas going dry is the most memorable and surprising because in such a situation will life continue to exist on the mother planet earth.

 

Reference to the context

 

a. What can you infer about the speaker’s devotion to his beloved from the following lines?

And I will come again, my love,

Tho’it were ten thousand miles!

The lines clearly reinforce the speaker’s commitment to return to his beloved after a temporary separation from her. This reunion is destined to occur even if he has to undertake a journey of ten thousand miles. Thus we understand his devotion and the bond of attachment with her.

 

b. What is the theme of the poem?

The poem raises the issue of immortality of love as the prominent theme. The bond of love relationship lasts forever provided there is devotion and commitment in the lovers.

c. Paraphrase the whole poem into simple prose form.

The speaker begins by using a simile to compare his love to a rose Comparing the beloved to a rose emphasizes her youth and beauty, while comparing the speaker's emotions to a rose emphasizes how intense, exciting, and new those feelings are. The rose is also a key of love in many cultures, including in Western literature. The speaker then says this love is like a beautiful melody played in fine tune

Then, however, the speaker goes on to emphasize how long this love will last. The speaker uses three images to measure how long these feelings of love will last: the seas going dry, the rocks melting, and the sands of life running out. It seems now that the speaker’s love will actually endure longer than human life. Although these conflicting descriptions of the speaker’s love sound like a paradox, the speaker continues to insist that true love really can embody these seemingly opposite qualities of newness and permanence.

In the final stanza, the speaker bids farewell to the beloved, as if the speaker is planning to leave on a journey. The beloved doesn’t need to worry, though, because the speaker promises to return, even if the journey is ten thousand miles. The reunion is bound to happen one day as the speaker has devotion and bond of love with his beloved.

d. Literary devices are tools that enable the writers to present their ideas, emotions, and feelings and also help the readers understand those more profound meanings. Analyze the poem in terms of the literary devices such as simile, symbolism, imagery, alliteration and assonance.

Various figures of speech are skillfully used in this short poem. To begin with, the simile is a comparison of two similar objects with the use of ‘as  adjective as ‘or ‘like’. In the first stanza itself, the speaker compares his love using a simile to two beautiful things in nature, a freshly blossomed rose in June and a fine melody. Next, symbolism implies the use of symbols to extend meaning beyond the literal meaning. The red rose and sweet melody are symbolically used to portray the devotion and bond of love of the speaker.  Imagery implies the use of images as figures of speech. The images of red rose, melted rocks, dry seas, the end of human life, bidding of farewell, and mentioning of a long journey are a few examples of imagery in the poem. Repetition of the initial consonant sound in successive words in a sentence is called alliteration. In the title of the poem itself, there is the repetition of the sound ‘r'. And finally, assonance takes place when a vowel sound is repeated in successive lines in a poem. There are many instances in the poem where vowel sound is repeated.

 

e. What is hyperbole? Explain its purpose by citing examples of hyperbole used in the poem.

Hyperbole is a literary device used to exaggerate a sentence? The speaker has used hyperbole to intensify his bond of love for his beloved when he says that his love would outlast the happenings like the seas going dry or rocks melting by the heat of the sun or enduring his love until human life exists. In the same vein, in the last stanza, he exaggerates the distance of the journey that he would make to seek a reunion with his love. The speaker is parting away from her temporarily now.

f. What is refraining? Why is it used in the poem? Explain citing an example from the poem.

Refrain is a literary device usually followed in poetry where a line is repeated at the end of each stanza? The refrain reestablishes the tone of the poem or reemphasizes an idea in the poem. Example: ‘And I will love thee still, my dear’; or ‘Till a’ the seas gang dry’.

Reference beyond the text

 

a. What kind of love is expressed in “A Red, Red Rose”?

The poem expresses the romantic, passionate and profound love of the speaker for his beloved. His love is compared with the beautiful things in nature like the recently blossomed rose or sweetly-played tune.

 

b. Do you think that love has power? Why do the poets compose poems addressing their beloved?

 

Certainly, love is associated with authority and perfection. Poets often write about their emotions associate with love in verses. Love is generally poeticized and associated with good and beautiful things of life and the world. Poets as individuals often spend time addressing the bond of love with their beloved in writing.

 

c. Poetry is the expression of feelings and emotions. Explain.

 

Romantic poets defined poetry as the spontaneous outpouring of emotions and feelings recollected in tranquility. Poetry is a medium to communicate with the larger world outside. It’s a creative form of art, a perfect way to relieve one’s emotions, feelings, imaginations, and thoughts. The poet’s inner thoughts and feelings are expressed through the verses in a poem. Poetry shape human thoughts and feelings.