Song Inscribed to Alexander Cunningham
Amid spring growth and birdsong, the speaker contrasts nature's joy with his sorrow, comparing his former carefree life to a trout, a sheltered flower and a skylark. He blames love for consuming his youth and joy, and wishes he had never known Peggy.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Melancholic Poetry · 385 words
First lines
Now spring has clad the grove in green, / And strew'd the lea wi' flowers; / The furrow'd, waving corn is seen / Rejoice in fostering showers. / While ilka thing in nature join / Their sorrows to forego, / O why thus all alone are mine / The weary steps o' woe!
The trout in yonder wimpling burn / That glides, a silver dart, / And, safe beneath the shady thorn, / Defies the angler's art- / My life was ance that careless stream, / That wanton trout was I; / But Love, wi' unrelenting beam, / Has scorch'd my fountains dry.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Five rhymed stanzas express a speaker's sorrow through comparisons with a trout, a flower and a skylark.
- Love Poetry — The speaker attributes his lost freedom and joy to love, ending with the wish that he had never known Peggy.
- Melancholic Poetry — The speaker contrasts spring's flourishing life with his own consuming sorrow and closes in hopelessness.
Tags
love · despair · spring · lost joy · song
What this Textopian page supports
Song Inscribed to Alexander Cunningham is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated Date unknown.
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: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Melancholic Poetry
- Length: 385 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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