My Love, she's but a Lassie Yet by Robert Burns
The speaker calls his beloved too young and saucy, saying they should wait a year or two before she may be less spirited. He regrets having sought her, since anyone who wins her cannot truly claim to have wooed her but may only say he has bought her. The song then turns to drinking and pleasure, urging the company to draw the best drink. Amid their heavy drinking, the minister kisses the fiddler’s wife and becomes so distracted by it that he cannot preach.
By Robert Burns · First published 1792 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Scottish Folk Song, Love Poetry · 201 words
First lines
My love, she's but a lassie yet, / My love, she's but a lassie yet; / We'll let her stand a year or twa, / She'll no be half sae saucy yet; / I rue the day I sought her, O! / I rue the day I sought her, O! / Wha gets her needs na say she's woo'd, / But he may say he's bought her, O.
Come, draw a drap o' the best o't yet, / Come, draw a drap o' the best o't yet, / Gae seek for pleasure whare you will, / But here I never miss'd it yet, / We're a' dry wi' drinkin o't, / We're a' dry wi' drinkin o't; / The minister kiss'd the fiddler's wife; / He could na preach for thinkin o't.
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, song-like poem built from repeated lines, refrains, compressed feeling, and a strongly rhythmic voice.
- Scottish Folk Song — Its Scots dialect, communal drinking setting, refrain structure, and colloquial humor align it closely with traditional Scottish song and folk culture.
- Love Poetry — The speaker centers the poem on a young beloved, courtship, desire, disappointment, and the transactional implications of marriage.
- Comic Poetry — The poem treats romantic frustration and drunken social behavior with wit, irony, and comic exaggeration, especially in the minister-and-fiddler's-wife anecdote.
Tags
Scottish vernacular song · lyric poetry · courtship · young beloved · romantic hesitation · female spiritedness · regretful lover · marriage and wooing · transactional marriage · love and money · drinking song · conviviality
What this Textopian page supports
My Love, she's but a Lassie Yet 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: Lyric Poetry, Scottish Folk Song, Love Poetry, Comic Poetry, Satirical Poetry
- Length: 201 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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