My Lord a-Hunting by Robert Burns
The song contrasts my lady’s rich gown, beauty, rank, and dowry with the stronger attraction my lord feels for Colin’s daughter Jenny. Though he goes “a-hunting,” he takes neither hounds nor hawks, because his true game lies near Colin’s cottage if Jenny is at home. My lady is white and red, finely dressed, and connected by blood to Cassillis, but my lord loved chiefly her ten-pound lands of dowry. Jenny, who lives beyond the moor and moss among the heather, is portrayed as a beautiful lily in a wilderness, with graceful limbs, blue eyes bright with loving laughter, and a simple dress that my lord values more than my lady’s splendid gown. The refrain repeatedly insists that Jenny’s “jimps and jirkinet” occupy my lord’s thoughts far more than my lady’s costly clothing.
By Robert Burns · First published 1792 · Genre: Satirical Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Ballad · 315 words
First lines
Chorus. -My lady's gown, there's gairs upon't, / And gowden flowers sae rare upon't; / But Jenny's jimps and jirkinet, / My lord thinks meikle mair upon't.
My lord a-hunting he is gone, / But hounds or hawks wi' him are nane; / By Colin's cottage lies his game, / If Colin's Jenny be at hame. / My lady's gown, &c.
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My Lord a-Hunting is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1792 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1792 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Satirical Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Ballad, Love Poetry, Pastoral Poetry
- Length: 315 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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Genres
- Satirical Poetry — The poem sharply ridicules a lord whose supposed hunting excursion is actually a pursuit of Colin's daughter, exposing aristocratic hypocrisy and self-interested marriage.
- Scottish Vernacular Poetry — Burns writes extensively in Scots dialect, using vocabulary such as 'sae,' 'bonie,' 'lassie,' 'muir,' and 'tocher,' and situating the poem in a recognizably Scottish social landscape.
- Ballad — Its short narrative stanzas, recurring chorus, rural setting, and songlike construction place it strongly within the traditional Scottish ballad and lyric-song tradition.
- Love Poetry — The central contrast concerns the lord's attraction to Jenny, whose beauty and sensual charm are described in idealizing and erotic imagery.
Tags
Scottish song · Scots-language poetry · pastoral courtship · romantic desire · adultery · class contrast · aristocracy · rural Scotland · moorland · heather · hunting metaphor · forbidden attraction