Analysis of Bonie Lesley

Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)



O saw ye bonie Lesley
As she gaed o'er the Border?
She 's gane, like Alexander,
To spread her conquests farther.

To see her is to love her,
And love but her for ever;
For Nature made her what she is,
And ne'er made sic anither!

Thou art a queen, fair Lesley,
Thy subjects we, before thee:
Thou art divine, fair Lesley,
The hearts o' men adore thee.

The Deil he couldna scaith thee,
Or aught that wad belang thee;
He'd look into thy bonnie face
And say, 'I canna wrang thee!'

The Powers aboon will tent thee,
Misfortune sha'na steer thee:
Thou'rt like themsel' sae lovely,
That ill they'll ne'er let near thee.

Return again, fair Lesley,
Return to Caledonie!
That we may brag we hae a lass
There 's nane again sae bonie!


Scheme ABBB BBXB AAAA AAXA AAAA ACXC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (50%)
Metre 111110 11110010 1111010 110110 1101110 0110110 11010111 01111 1101110 1101011 1101110 0111011 011111 111111 11011101 011111 0101111 0101111 111110 1111111 0101110 0111 11111101 1110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 704
Words 138
Sentences 9
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 91
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
99

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist. more…

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