A Red, Red Rose -SUMMARY

BY ROBERT BURNS

A Red, Red Rose

by ROBERT BURNS

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

   That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

   That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

   So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

   Till a’ the seas gang dry.

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.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

   And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

   Though it were ten thousand mile.

A Red, Red Rose – SUMMARY

Summary

Introduction : The poem “A Red, Red Rose” is a lyrical ballad which was composed by Scotland national poet Robert Burns. It describes the speaker’s deep love for his beloved and promises that his love will last longer than human life and even the planet itself remaining fresh and constant forever.

Context: In this poem, the speaker describes his beloved with images that are beautiful, fresh, and charming as a flower that has just bloomed. The love is as sweet as a beautiful song played by a skilled musician. Meanwhile, it also represents a new relationship with all the freshness and the excitement but the relationship doesn’t need to be long-lasting. Then, however, the speaker goes on to emphasize how long this love will last. Here, the speaker uses three images to measure these feelings of love. According to him, it will last till the seas and oceans going dry, till the rocks melt and the earth has decayed. His love will endure until the end of human life.

Meaning: The speaker compares his beloved to the delicate, fresh, charming and lovely red rose of July that has just bloomed. Then he compares his love to a sweet melody song that is played sweetly with a fine tune.  Poet represents his love as a new relationship with all the freshness and the excitement then he goes on to emphasize how long this love will last.

The speaker promises different things to his beloved. He vows to love his beloved until the earthly seas have dried up, the fire of the Sun has melted the rocks and human life is over.  His comparison of love with such things will show us how much genuine and profound his love is for his beloved. The event of reconciliation is about to happen by mentioning the number of miles. The speaker promises to return to his beloved after a brief separation with his beloved, though the journey is so long and takes the long time.

In the final stanza, he concludes by saying goodbye to his beloved as if the speaker is planning to leave on a journey. His beloved doesn’t need to worry because the speaker promises to return even if the journey covers a very long distance or takes a very long time. With time, the beloved will likely be older, less youthful, and perhaps less beautiful but the speaker’s feelings for her will remain constant. Here, the speaker focuses on pure love or spiritual love that never fades with time whereas youth and beauty end with time and its temporary attraction.

Conclusion: The beloved of the speaker is as beautiful as the Red Rose and as sweet as the music.  With the help of the literary devises the poet has sketched a very vivid and realistic picture of his profound love. The poet shared his romantic love for his beloved in the poem, A Red, Red Rose where his feelings are so profound. He also made several promises to always love his beloved.

The immortality of the bond of love and its feelings is the primary theme of this poem. Red Rose demonstrates the idea that the relationship of love never dies. It continues to travel till the end of life.