Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 166: Verses Intended To Be Written Below A Noble Earl’s Picture1

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About This Book

The collection assembles lyrical songs, narrative poems, satirical pieces, epistles, epitaphs, and fragments that shift between convivial drinking verses, tender laments, and comic storytelling. Many lyrics were shaped to traditional airs and preserve vernacular speech, while longer works portray rural labor, domestic scenes, and compassionate encounters with animals. Satire targets religious hypocrisy and social pretension, and several poems take a direct, personal tone of moral reflection or affectionate address. The selections alternate moods and forms, emphasizing melodic phrasing and a versatile technical range.

Verses Intended To Be Written Below A Noble Earl’s Picture¹

Whose is that noble, dauntless brow? And whose that eye of fire? And whose that generous princely mien, E’en rooted foes admire? Stranger! to justly show that brow, And mark that eye of fire, Would take His hand, whose vernal tints His other works admire. Bright as a cloudless summer sun, With stately port he moves; His guardian Seraph eyes with awe The noble Ward he loves. Among the illustrious Scottish sons That chief thou may’st discern, Mark Scotia’s fond-returning eye,— It dwells upon Glencairn.