Castle Gordon by Robert Burns
The speaker rejects distant streams and evergreen forests associated with tyranny, enslaved labor, and bloodshed. He prefers the waters and storm-facing groves beside Castle Gordon, where nature rules freely, and imagines spending his life musing and sheltering at night in a cave.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Nature Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 255 words
First lines
Streams that glide in orient plains, / Never bound by Winter's chains; / Glowing here on golden sands, / There immix'd with foulest stains / From Tyranny's empurpled hands; / These, their richly gleaming waves, / I leave to tyrants and their slaves; / Give me the stream that sweetly laves / The banks by Castle Gordon.
Spicy forests, ever gray, / Shading from the burning ray / Hapless wretches sold to toil; / Or the ruthless native's way, / Bent on slaughter, blood, and spoil: / Woods that ever verdant wave, / I leave the tyrant and the slave; / Give me the groves that lofty brave / The storms by Castle Gordon.
What this Textopian page supports
Castle Gordon 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: Nature Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 255 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Castle Gordon by Robert Burns
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Nature Poetry — Streams, forests, storms, and a sheltering cave define the landscape the speaker prefers.
- Lyric Poetry — Three rhymed stanzas express the speaker's personal preference for Castle Gordon and his imagined life of reflection there.
Tags
streams · forests · tyranny · slavery · contemplation