A Red, Red Rose - Robert Burns (Complete Summary and Analysis)

 A Red, Red Rose

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

A Red, Red Rose is a poem composed by Scotland's national poet, 
Robert Burns. It was first published in 1794 in a collection of traditional Scottish songs set to music. Burns poem was inspired both by a simple Scots song he had heard in the country and by published ballads from the period. The poem 'A Red, Red Rose' is a lyrical ballad (a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically of unknown authorship, having been passed on orally from one generation to the next.) that 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 afresh and constant forever. The beloved of the speaker is as beautiful as the red rose and as sweet as the music. With the help of the literary devices (simile, metaphor, repetition etc.), the poet has sketched a very vivid and realistic picture of his profound (deep) love.  It encompasses (covers) the narrator’s attempt to express the depth of his love. Since its publication, it has gained a lot of popularity across the globe. 

The poem opens with the speaker comparing his love to a "A Red, Red Rose" and to a "melodie / That's sweetly play'd in tune!" In the second and third stanzas, the speaker describes how deep his love is. And it's deep. He will love his "bonnie lass (lovely girl)" as long as he is alive, and until the world ends. At the end, he says adios (good-bye/farewell), and notes that he will return, even if he has to walk ten thousand miles.

 

The poetic narrator starts off by saying that 'my Luve is like a red, red rose / That's newly sprung in June' and further compares her to a well-played piece of music. In the second stanza, he claims that this beauty is so extraordinary that he will love her until the seas have gone dry.

 

As the third stanza opens, the narrative voice repeats his claim about the seas going dry and even says he'll go on loving her longer - as long as 'the sands o' life shall run.' In the fourth and final stanza, this passionate lover bids his 'only luve' farewell, but proclaims he'll return to her 'Though (the journey) were ten thousand miles.'

Summary: 

The speaker describes his or her love—meaning either the person the speaker loves or the speaker's feelings of love for that person—as being as beautiful, vivid, and fresh as a flower 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 their own lives have 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 or her faithful love by promising to return even if the journey covers a very long distance and takes a very long time. 

What is hyperbole?

Hyperbole is a type of figure of speech that contains an exaggerated statement or claims not to meant to be taken literally. It is an overstatement that exaggerates a particular condition for emphasis. For example: “There's enough food in the cupboard to feed an entire army!” In this example, the speaker doesn't literally mean that there's enough food in the cupboard to feed the hundreds of people in the army. In A Red Red Rose the poet has used hyperbole in the last line of the second stanza, “Till a’ the seas gang dry.” He says that his love will flow even when the seas dry up. The second is used in the third stanza, “And the rocks melt wi’ the sun.”

What is refrain?

In poetry, a refrain is a word, line or phrase that is repeated within the lines or stanzas of the poem itself. In A Red Red Rose the line, “And I will love thee still, my dear” has become a refrain, as it has been repeated in second and the third stanzas.

 

Sources:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43812/a-red-red-rose

https://literaryterms.net/ballad/

Devlin McNair, Maria. "A Red, Red Rose." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 8 May 2019. Web. 22 Apr 2020. 

https://literariness.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/LitCharts-a-red-red-rose-2.pdf