LITERATURE

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A Red, Red Rose is a poem written by the renowned Scottish poet Robert Burns that majorly revolves around love and separation between the persona, Burns, and his significant other. This is seen in the second stanza of lines six and seven, "O my luv’s like a red, red rose that’s newly sprung in June." When one reads through the poem, it is evident that the poem evokes certain emotions, especially for someone who is in love, like the persona, really open with how expressive he is about his love for his woman. He gets emotional with his words as he describes he has to go away from his partner for a while. Some of the emotions that the poem evokes include emotions like excitement, sadness, and passion.

The poem brings out the feeling of excitement in the first lines of the first stanza. In the poem, Burns seems excited with his state of romantic life as he feels he has found the one that he loves dearly. He compares his newfound love to a sweet melody played in tune (lines 3 and 4). The persona further demonstrates the feeling of being excitedly in love when he affirms his commitment in the relationship he has with his woman in line 6 when he says, “So deep in luve am I;”

The aspect of sadness as one of the emotions one experiences when reading the poem is also present. At the end of the poem, the reader feels a sense of sorrow. He, the persona, announces that he has to go away for a while. This looks like a setback to the love story and the strong connections the persona has for his lover. The thought of the persona going away a while brings sadness to the reader, "And fare thee weel awhile! And I will come again, my luve,” Moreover, it seems the persona in the poem is going somewhere far away, “Though it were ten thousand mile." meaning the two are going to stay for a while before seeing one another, which brings a sense of sadness (Line 16).

Throughout the poem, one gets the sense of feeling of passion between the persona and his woman. The two are romantically in love that he cannot hide from expressing that fact. In stanza three, the persona says, “Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.” (Lines 9, 10, 11, and 12). These lines are a true testimony of how passionately the two lovers are involved with one another. There is also the use of passionate words like "my bonnie," "my dear," "red rose," and "my only luve," among other words described as passionate and full of emotions throughout the lengths of the poem.

To conclude, it is evident that the poem arouses different emotions as one reads through, with these emotions bringing out the romantic side of the poem. Love is a phenomenon that always evokes other emotions in different stages; thus, the ballad being instrumental in the message it was meant to pass to its readers.

References

Burns, R. (2016). Red, Red Rose. Caroline Shaw Editions.