A Red, Red Rose

                                                          – Robert Burns

Robert Burns as a Poet:

    Robert Burns was a Romantic poet. He was a Scottish Poet. He was popularly known as a Ploughman poet. He is considered as a national poet of Scotland. He wrote his poetry in three languages – Scottish, English and and Scots-English dialect. He was a pioneer of Romantic Movement in English literature. He left deep impression on other Romantic poets like William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge and P. B. Shelley. His poem, “A Red, Red Rose” is very popular and widely read poem.

Introduction:

    “A Red, Red Rose” is a very popular poem by Robert Burns. It is a Romantic poem. It was first published in 1794. It is in ballad form. It has four stanzas only. The poem is about the speaker’s passionate love for his beloved. The speaker tells us that his love will last longer than human life. It will even be longer than the planet itself. It will remain fresh and constant forever. The images used in are vivid and concrete. 

Analysis of Poem

    In the first stanza, the speaker compares his love with a fresh, beautiful and delicate red rose newly sprung in June. He tells that his love is as melodious as sweet tune played on a musical instrument. He uses the figure of speech ‘simile’ in the stanza. 

    The second stanza is addressed to the speaker’s beloved. He calls her ‘bonnie lass’. He tells her that she is so fair and beautiful. He is deeply in love with her. He will love her till all the seas become dry. He wants to convey the idea that his love is eternal. In short, he promises her that his love for her is permanent. 

    The third stanza is also about immortality of the speaker’s love for his beloved. He promises her that he will love her till the seas go dry, the rocks melt with the sun and till the end of his life. Thus, in the third stanza also, he assures her that his for her is immortal and permanent. 

    In the last stanza, the speaker bids farewell to his beloved. This stanza brings home to us that the speaker is going far away from his beloved for a while. The phrase ‘only luve’ highlights his deep love for his beloved. He promises her that he will come back again though he is going miles away from her. 

    Thus, the poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a love poem. It is about the speaker’s deep and immortal love for his beloved. The poet makes abundant use of poetic devices like simile, repetition and alliteration.    

Choose the correct alternatives from those given below:

1) My Luve is like red, red………….

    a) lotus         b) lily     

    c) rose     d) primrose 

2) The poem “A Red, Red Rose” was first published in………..

    a) 1791     b) 1792     

    c) 1793     d) 1794      

3) The form of the poem “A Red, Red Rose” is…………..

    a) elegy    b) ballad    

    c) sonnet    d) ode

4) The figure of speech used in the sentence ‘My Luve is like a red, red rose’ is…….

    a) simile    b) metaphor     

    c) pun    d) oxymoron 

5) The poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a……………

    a) Romantic poem        b) Victorian poem    

    c) Modern poem            d) Post-modern poem

6) The phrase ‘bonnie lass’ refers to…………..

    a) the speaker’s mother         b) speaker’s sister        

    c) the speaker’s daughter     c) the speaker’s beloved

7) The speaker will love his beloved till………..

    a) the rivers become dry        

    b) the seas become dry

    c) the earth becomes old       

    d) the sun fades away 

8)   The speaker promises his beloved that……….

    a) he would come back again            

    b) he would stay away from her forever

    c) he would bring her ornaments         

    d) None of the above

9) The speaker is……………thousand miles away from his beloved.

    a) nine            b) ten        

    c) eleven        d) twelve

10) The poet……………..to his beloved in the last stanza.

  a) bids farewell    

  b) scolds

  c) helps

  d) hugs