Lady Mary Ann by Robert Burns
Lady Mary Ann sees three bonie boys playing at the ba', wi' the youngest the flower amang them. A voice asks a faither tae send the laddie tae college for a year and sew a green ribbon round his hat tae let folk ken he's tae marry. Mary Ann is likened tae a blossoming flower and Charlie Cochran tae an aik sprout, while the last verse trusts in better days as the young laddie grows.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Ballad, Love Poetry · 267 words
First lines
O lady Mary Ann looks o'er the Castle wa', / She saw three bonie boys playing at the ba', / The youngest he was the flower amang them a', / My bonie laddie's young, but he's growin' yet.
O father, O father, an ye think it fit, / We'll send him a year to the college yet, / We'll sew a green ribbon round about his hat, / And that will let them ken he's to marry yet.
Lady Mary Ann was a flower in the dew, / Sweet was its smell and bonie was its hue, / And the longer it blossom'd the sweeter it grew, / For the lily in the bud will be bonier yet.
Genres
- Ballad — Five rhyming stanzas tell o' young folk and a proposed marriage, wi' the line about the laddie's growth returning at the end.
- Love Poetry — The fond words for the bonie laddie and the green ribbon tae shaw he's tae marry link affection wi' his youth and growth.
Tags
young luve · marriage · college · growin' up · ballad
What this Textopian page supports
Lady Mary Ann is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: Date unknown
- Genres: Ballad, Love Poetry
- Length: 267 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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