Scotch Drink by Robert Burns (1786)
“Scotch Drink” celebrates whisky and the spirit distilled from “John Barleycorn” as Scotland’s finest drink. The speaker rejects poetic fuss about foreign wines and Bacchus, asking his muse, “guid auld Scotch drink,” to inspire him until he can scarcely speak. Though barley serves as food in scones, porridge, and broth, it is most glorious when it yields its “strong heart’s blood” as drink. Whisky is praised as a remedy for sorrow, labour, care, dullness, and despair: it lightens life’s burdens, strengthens workers, and gives even despair a grim smile. It is enjoyed by gentlefolk in silver vessels but is also the poor man’s wine, able to turn a modest meal of porridge or bread into a feast. It enlivens public gatherings, fairs, religious meetings, harvest celebrations, New-year mornings, and the forge, where ploughmen drink before striking iron and steel with renewed force. The speaker also presents drink as a social bond. It can reconcile neighbours enraged by a lawsuit more cheaply than lawyers, yet negligent fathers who spend their money drinking leave women and newborn children without proper support. The poem’s admiration is therefore directed particularly toward native Scotch drink, not indiscriminate drunkenness or costly imported spirits. The speaker condemns Scots who consume expensive liquors, especially brandy, which brings illness, shortens poor drinkers’ lives, and sends Scotland’s money to her enemies. He urges those who wish Scotland well, including poor men like himself, not to meddle with bitter wines or foreign drink. He curses anyone who scorns whisky-punch shared with honest men. Whisky is finally thanked as the source of the poet’s own lively verse: without it his lines are dull, but with it they spring into rhythm. The loss of Ferintosh whisky is mourned as a national calamity, and the Excise men who seize whisky stills are fiercely cursed. The speaker asks Fortune only for sound clothes, a scone, a measure of whisky, and abundant rhyme, surrendering every other blessing to chance.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Poetry, Ode, Scottish Poetry · 1,356 words
First lines
Gie him strong drink until he wink, / That's sinking in despair; / An' liquor guid to fire his bluid, / That's prest wi' grief and care: / There let him bouse, an' deep carouse, / Wi' bumpers flowing o'er, / Till he forgets his loves or debts, / An' minds his griefs no more. / (Solomon's Proverbs, xxxi. 6, 7.)
Let other poets raise a fracas / 'Bout vines, an' wines, an' drucken Bacchus, / An' crabbit names an'stories wrack us, / An' grate our lug: / I sing the juice Scotch bear can mak us, / In glass or jug.
Similar titles
- The Twa Herds Or The Holy Tulyie by Robert Burns
- John Barleycorn A Ballad by Robert Burns
- Third Epistle To J Lapraik by Robert Burns
- The Ordination by Robert Burns
- To A Louse On Seeing One On A Ladys Bonnet At Church by Robert Burns
- The Inventory by Robert Burns
Genres
- Poetry — A lyric verse work composed in regular stanzas, employing rhyme, rhythm, figurative language, and a speaking poetic persona.
- Ode — The poem directly invokes and praises Scotch whisky as its muse and subject, using the elevated address and celebratory manner characteristic of an ode.
- Scottish Poetry — It is written substantially in Scots dialect and is rooted in Scottish rural life, customs, labour, food, drink, and national identity.
- Drinking Song — Its central subject is the pleasures, social uses, and cultural importance of whisky, with an exuberant, convivial tone suited to communal drinking.
Tags
Scottish whisky · Scotland · eighteenth-century Scotland · Scots language · drinking song · comic praise poem · national identity · John Barleycorn · barley · working-class life · rural labor · harvest celebration
What this Textopian page supports
Scotch Drink is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1786 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: 1786 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Ode, Scottish Poetry, Drinking Song, Satirical Poetry
- Length: 1,356 words
- Structure: 1 section, 23 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Scotch Drink by Robert Burns
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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