A Mother's Lament by Robert Burns
A bereaved mother mourns the death of her beloved son, whose heart has been struck by Fate and whose loss has taken away every joy life could offer her. She compares him to a young sapling cut down and dishonourably laid in the dust, the pride of her hopes and the future support of her old age. Like a mother-linnet grieving for her stolen young, she laments for her darling throughout the day. Though she once feared death, she now welcomes it, asking to be laid peacefully at rest with the son she loves.
By Robert Burns · First published 1792 · Genre: Elegy, Lament, Lyric Poetry · 163 words
First lines
For the Death of Her Son.
Fate gave the word, the arrow sped, / And pierc'd my darling's heart; / And with him all the joys are fled / Life can to me impart.
By cruel hands the sapling drops, / In dust dishonour'd laid; / So fell the pride of all my hopes, / My age's future shade.
The mother-linnet in the brake / Bewails her ravish'd young; / So I, for my lost darling's sake, / Lament the live-day long.
Similar titles
- In Memory Of J B by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- Poor Mailies Elegy by Robert Burns
- When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloomd by Walt Whitman
- Elegy On The Lord Chancellor by John Donne
- The Morning Glory by Maria Lowell
- The Little Bird by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Genres
- Elegy — The poem mourns the death of a beloved son, centering on bereavement, praise of the lost child, and a longing for reunion in death.
- Lament — Its first-person speaker gives sustained expression to a mother's grief, despair, and emotional suffering after her son's violent death.
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, musical, intensely personal poem focused on the speaker's interior feeling rather than narrative action.
- Mourning Poetry — Death, burial, devastated hopes, and the rituals and language of grief are the poem's dominant subjects.
Tags
bereaved mother · death of a son · maternal grief · mourning · fatalism · Fate · premature death · loss of joy · lament · elegy · mother's voice · desire for death
What this Textopian page supports
A Mother's Lament is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1792 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1792 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Elegy, Lament, Lyric Poetry, Mourning Poetry, Pastoral Elegy
- Length: 163 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
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