Braving Angry Winter's Storms by Robert Burns
The speaker recalls first seeing Peggy amid the sheltered shade of the lofty Ochils, which rise against winter storms. Her beauty struck him like a lone jewel beside a savage stream, made even more brilliant by refined art. He blesses the secluded place and the moment in which he first felt the power of her charms, declaring that death may take his life but cannot remove Peggy from his soul without inflicting a greater death.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Scottish Poetry · 164 words
First lines
Tune-"Neil Gow's Lament for Abercairny."
Where, braving angry winter's storms, / The lofty Ochils rise, / Far in their shade my Peggy's charms / First blest my wondering eyes; / As one who by some savage stream / A lonely gem surveys, / Astonish'd, doubly marks it beam / With art's most polish'd blaze.
Blest be the wild, sequester'd shade, / And blest the day and hour, / Where Peggy's charms I first survey'd, / When first I felt their pow'r! / The tyrant Death, with grim control, / May seize my fleeting breath; / But tearing Peggy from my soul / Must be a stronger death.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A short, highly musical first-person poem expressing intense personal feeling through compressed imagery, rhythm, and song-like structure.
- Love Poetry — The speaker celebrates Peggy's beauty, recalls the moment he first saw her, and declares that losing her would be worse than physical death.
- Scottish Poetry — The poem is rooted in the Scottish landscape, especially the Ochil Hills, and is designated to the tune of 'Neil Gow's Lament for Abercairny.'
- Romantic Poetry — It idealizes beloved beauty, emphasizes overwhelming emotion, and links love to sublime natural scenery and mortality.
Tags
love · first encounter · devotion · mountain landscape · mortality
What this Textopian page supports
Braving Angry Winter's Storms is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated Date unknown.
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: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Scottish Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 164 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
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