Suppressed Stanza's of "the Vision"
In the suppressed stanzas of “The Vision,” the speaker surveys scenes and people linked to his native land with intense personal feeling. He first beholds the cottage of his birth and a noble Lindsay family emerging in youthful pride. Near a Pict-built mansion at Sundrum, he sees two women whose appearance reflects both high maternal blood and their father’s air. An ancient tower at Stair recalls a hero of Dettingen and its present lord, who fought in western climates. The speaker notices a graceful, martial boy whose shining soldierly eye delights him, especially because the boy bears a noble badge that makes the speaker call him brother. He then sees the fine mansion of Auchinleck, a home of elevated classical Muses rather than rustic poetry. Thoughts of the bonie Whitefoords at Ballochmyle bring mourning over Fortune’s dealings, but the nearby village of Mauchline awakens tender impressions of Nature, Friendship, and Love united. He praises these passions as forces stronger than death or life’s changing course. The same power that stirred affection in Whitefoord’s rosy beauty still threatens hearts through the feathered arms and barbed dart of lovely Wilhelmina. At Cumnock, where Lugar leaves its moorland course, the speaker observes bustling Trade replacing Want through the assistance of a noble patroness. He surveys wild hills and flocks, yet prefers scenes of rural refinement, where polished manners live in ease with Gray. At Auchinskieth, Cessnock gurgles while Irwine moves slowly through a landscape it seems to love; there the speaker finds a doubly honoured name, Caprington, endowed with knightly grace. He sees Brydon’s brave ward, Colonel Fullerton, with Fame modestly offering her hand, while the ward’s kinsman and rustic band lament that their blessed land must pass to another lord. Finally, he notices the owner of Orangefield, a man sometimes overcome by an excessively warm heart and hot pulse, but unmistakably great and generous in every feature.
By Robert Burns · First published 1808 · Genre: Poetry, Scottish poetry, Occasional poetry · 1,086 words
First lines
[To Mrs. Stewart of Stair, Burns presented a manuscript copy of the Vision. That copy embraces about twenty stanzas at the end of Duan First, which he cancelled when he came to print the price in his Kilmarnock volume. Seven of these he restored in printing his second edition, as noted on p. 174. The following are the verses which he left unpublished.]
After 18th stanza of the text (at "His native land"): -
Similar titles
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Genres
- Poetry — The work consists of metrical stanzas with rhyme, compressed imagery, elevated diction, and lyrical expression.
- Scottish poetry — Burns situates the verses in Ayrshire through Scottish places, families, dialectal phrasing, and local cultural references.
- Occasional poetry — The stanzas commemorate and address particular people, estates, local events, and patrons connected to Burns's social circle.
- Topographical poetry — Its poetic movement surveys named landscapes, rivers, villages, mansions, and estates, turning geography into a subject of reflection.
Tags
Scottish vernacular poetry · eighteenth-century Scotland · Ayrshire landscape · rural Scotland · poetic vision · native land · birthplace and memory · country estates · noble families · local patronage · ancestry and lineage · martial heroism
What this Textopian page supports
Suppressed Stanza's of "the Vision" is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1808 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: 1808 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Scottish poetry, Occasional poetry, Topographical poetry, Panegyric poetry
- Length: 1,086 words
- Structure: 1 section, 31 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Suppressed Stanza's of "the Vision" by Robert Burns
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