Burns' "Luve" Robert Burns' Ballad Essay

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One who loves should not need to speak of it so frequently if he intends rather on showing it. Burns' "Luve" is merely to draw attention to two things: her charms and the emotions they inspire in him.

Thus, Burns' ode is not to a girl -- it is to himself. It is distinctly modern in this sense, just as Cervantes' poet shepherds mooning over the loss of innocence in the girl they have all adored sing not so much for her but for the sorrow in their own hearts. Gerard Manley Hopkins put it more aptly: "Margaret, are you grieving… / …It is the blight man was born for / It is Margaret you mourn for."

However, Burns is not mourning (though the object of his affections may be): he is exalting. Here is the modern ballad in all its glory: it exalts not the beloved but the power of feeling in the lover. It is not directed outward but rather inward.

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Burns is writing a ballad but not a ballad for her: it is for himself: it is an ode to Self -- just as nearly all Romantic/Enlightenment poetry and doctrine would be. Transcendence was part and parcel with the old world -- and Protestant Scotland had cut itself off from it. It is no surprise that Burns became its official poet: he sang not of significance but of sentimentality -- the guiding light of our modern era.

In conclusion, Burns' "O, My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose" is a poem in the ballad tradition and it is an ode -- but not an ode to a girl -- even though it may at first seem that way. It is an ode to Burns' own feelings, which he promises will never run dry -- but of course they did: he died at 37 and his feelings no doubt….....

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