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Poetry · Poem

The Banks o’ Doon

Robert BurnsScottish Romantic eraPoem
SOURCE TEXT · English original
YE flowery banks o’ bonnie Doon,
How can ye blume sae fair!
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae fu’ o’ care!

Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
That sings upon the bough;
Thou minds me o’ the happy days
When my fause luve was true.

Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,
That sings beside thy mate;
For sae I sat, and sae I sang,
And wistna o’ my fate.

Aft hae I roved by bonnie Doon,
To see the woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o’ its luve,
And sae did I o’ mine.

Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose
Upon a morn in June;
And sae I flourish’d on the morn,
And sae was pu’d or’ noon.

Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose
Upon its thorny tree;
But my fause luver staw my rose,
And left the thorn wi’ me.
Cultural reading

Reading the poem

Standing by the flowering banks of Doon, the speaker reproaches the blossom and the singing bird for their brightness, recalls roving there when every bird sang of its love, and ends with a false lover who stole the rose and left the thorn.

Language notes

Text and edition

The text is in Scots (blume, fu', fause, luve, ilka, pu'd, staw, wistna); one line, 'And sae was pu'd or' noon', reads as a corrupt or unusual form in this copy.