Verified Document

Burns' "Luve" Robert Burns' Ballad Essay

One who loves should not need to speak of it so frequently if he intends rather on showing it. Burns' "Luve" is merely to draw attention to two things: her charms and the emotions they inspire in him. Thus, Burns' ode is not to a girl -- it is to himself. It is distinctly modern in this sense, just as Cervantes' poet shepherds mooning over the loss of innocence in the girl they have all adored sing not so much for her but for the sorrow in their own hearts. Gerard Manley Hopkins put it more aptly: "Margaret, are you grieving… / & #8230;It is the blight man was born for / It is Margaret you mourn for."

However, Burns is not mourning (though the object of his affections may be): he is exalting. Here is the modern ballad in all its glory: it exalts not the beloved but the power of feeling in the...

It is not directed outward but rather inward. Burns is writing a ballad but not a ballad for her: it is for himself: it is an ode to Self -- just as nearly all Romantic/Enlightenment poetry and doctrine would be. Transcendence was part and parcel with the old world -- and Protestant Scotland had cut itself off from it. It is no surprise that Burns became its official poet: he sang not of significance but of sentimentality -- the guiding light of our modern era.
In conclusion, Burns' "O, My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose" is a poem in the ballad tradition and it is an ode -- but not an ode to a girl -- even though it may at first seem that way. It is an ode to Burns' own feelings, which he promises will never run dry -- but of course they did: he died at 37 and his feelings no doubt died with him.

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Beloved Is a 1987 Novel
Words: 2142 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Slow, lingering death lies in the daily carnage of body and spirit- not only of her own, but more so with Tom's. And so on that night, before Steven came and start his abusing spree of the mother and child, Julie prepared a special dinner for her and Tom. She and her son then devoured a delicious bowl of meatball soup, mixed with insecticide. In a matter of hours,

Beloved Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize
Words: 1074 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Clearly, color, specifically the color red, plays a significant symbolic role in developing these aforementioned central themes. At the most basic level, in a book that is primarily about slavery, color is a powerful theme as the colors of black and white divide society and is the entire reasoning for the conflicts of slavery. Even after emancipation, the colors of black and white continue to create conflict, as even Sethe

Beloved Is a Contemporary Novel With the
Words: 1064 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Beloved is a contemporary novel with the appeal of a ghost story, a mystery, and a work of historical fiction. It is a complex literary work that pieces together a story line of complexity with descriptions of how African-American people were treated before, during, and directly after the Civil War. This beautifully written and Pulitzer-Prize wining novel examines three generations of women -- one who was born in Africa and

Beloved by Toni Morrison Is a Haunting,
Words: 580 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Beloved by Toni Morrison is a haunting, darkly beautiful and intensely moving novel that depicts the profound traumatic reality of slavery and its repercussions on one woman's life, her mental stability and psychological well-being, her ideas of and abilities in motherhood, her entire sense of self, even her basic humanity. Beloved tells the story of an escaped slave woman who, when faced with capture, slipped into a state of psychosis

Beloved -- Treatment of Ghost
Words: 1400 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

"The best thing [Sethe] was, was her children. Whites might dirty her all right, but not her best thing, her beautiful, magical best thing -- the part of her that was clean" (250). She had been made to endure a lot which most slave women experienced during enslavement. They were brutally raped, used and beaten and often had to work as prostitutes. "I got close. I got close. To

Beloved Toni Morrison's Novel Beloved
Words: 1482 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood.... But it wasn't the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other place. It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread....The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own. (Morrison, 198-199) The strong bond between Sethe and her children reflects

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now