O, were I on Parnassus Hill by Robert Burns
The speaker longs for the poetic inspiration of Parnassus or Helicon so that he can adequately sing of his beloved, yet resolves to draw his muse from Nith, from the beloved herself, and from gazing toward Corsincon. He calls on the Muse to inspire him because even through the whole summer day he cannot fully express how deeply he loves her. He praises her dancing, slender waist, graceful limbs, tempting lips, and roguish eyes, swearing by Heaven and Earth that he loves her. Thoughts of her inflame him everywhere, by night and day, in the fields and at home; he continually thinks and sings of her name and lives only to love her. Even if condemned to wander beyond sea and sun until death, he would continue to love her.
By Robert Burns · First published 1790 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry · 275 words
First lines
Tune-"My love is lost to me."
O, were I on Parnassus hill, / Or had o' Helicon my fill, / That I might catch poetic skill, / To sing how dear I love thee! / But Nith maun be my Muse's well, / My Muse maun be thy bonie sel', / On Corsincon I'll glowr and spell, / And write how dear I love thee.
Then come, sweet Muse, inspire my lay! / For a' the lee-lang simmer's day / I couldna sing, I couldna say, / How much, how dear, I love thee, / I see thee dancing o'er the green, / Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean, / Thy tempting lips, thy roguish een- / By Heaven and Earth I love thee!
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A short, song-like first-person poem centered on the speaker's intense personal feeling rather than narrative plot.
- Love Poetry — Its dominant subject is ardent devotion to a beloved, repeatedly expressed through declarations of enduring love.
- Scottish Vernacular Poetry — Burns employs Scots vocabulary and idiom, including words such as 'bonie,' 'lee-lang,' 'canna,' and 'a-field,' while grounding the poem in Scottish places.
- Song — The specified tune and regular stanzaic, refrained structure indicate that the poem was designed as a lyric to be sung.
Tags
love lyric · Scottish poetry · Scots language · romantic devotion · unrequited longing · beloved woman · poetic inspiration · the Muse · Parnassus · Helicon · classical allusion · Nith River
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O, were I on Parnassus Hill is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1790 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: 1790 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Song, Pastoral Poetry
- Length: 275 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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