Song XXX. The Lovely Brown Maid

Robert Anderson 1750 (Carnwath) – 1830



When May--scented zephyrs breathe gladness around,
Enliv'ning the meadow and grove,
And in each mossy cottage Contentment is found,
Crown'd with health, peace, retirement, and love;
Then far from the village the swains they retire,
At noon to the lonely sweet shade;
Grant me Health, rosy Health, all I ask and desire,
With a smile from my lovely brown maid.

When my flocks bleat around me upon the wide plain,
Contented I lie at my ease;
And at eve I retire, free from sorrow and pain,
To enjoy the soft fragrant breeze:
When music and gladness are heard thro' the grove,
By moonlight I steal from the shade,
And o'er hills and deep valleys unheeded I rove,
For a smile from my lovely brown maid.

Each morn I rise happy, each night I lie down
With a heart free from envy and care;
In my plain humble cottage, far from the gay town
With my neighbours each comfort I share:
I envy no monarch, I boast not of wealth,
No troubles my cot e'er invade:
All the blessings I ask is the blessing of health,
And a smile from my lovely brown maid.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
232

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAXXCXC DEDEBCBC FGFGHCHC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,021
Words 195
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson was a Scottish author and critic. He was born at Carnwath, Lanarkshire. He studied first divinity and then medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently, after some experience as a surgeon, took his M.D. at the University of St Andrews in 1778. He began to practise as a physician at Alnwick in Northumberland, but he became financially independent by his marriage with the daughter of John Gray, and abandoned his profession for a literary life in Edinburgh. For several years his attention was occupied with his edition of The Works of the British Poets, with Prefaces Biographical and Critical. His other publications were: The Miscellaneous Works of Tobias Smollett, M.D., with Memoirs of his Life and Writings Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., with Critical Observations on his Works The Works of John Moore, M.D., with Memoirs of his Life and Writings The Grave and other Poems, by Robert Blair; to which are prefixed some Account of his Life and Observations on his Writings. more…

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