The Jolly Beggars: a Cantata by Robert Burns
In Poosie-Nansie’s, on a bitter winter night, a merry company of wandering, ragged drinkers gather to quaff, laugh, sing, and make the girdle ring with their noise. A scarred old soldier, seated by the fire with his doxy beside him, begins the entertainment. He recalls his service in many wars, the wounds he received in battles and among floating batteries, and the arm and leg he lost. Though he now begs in rags with wooden limbs, he declares himself as happy with wallet, bottle, and callet as he was following the drum, and still ready to meet any danger if called upon. His companion answers with a song of her lifelong fondness for soldiers. Born to a father among dragoons, she has loved swaggering military men, briefly forsook one for a chaplain, then tired of her sanctified husband and took the regiment at large for her husband. Reduced by peace to begging, she rejoices in meeting the old soldier again and drinks to her heroic sodger laddie. Merry-Andrew, drinking and courting Grizzie in a corner, rises to sing of his profession as a fool. He mocks wisdom, knavery, school learning, moral censure, church discipline, courtly tumblers, and reverend performers who ridicule mountebanks. He maintains that one who is a fool for himself is dafter than a fool by profession. A raucle carlin mourns her former lover, John Highlandman. Faithful to his clan and contemptuous of Lalland laws, he travelled with her from Tweed to Spey, splendid in philibeg, tartan plaid, and claymore. He was banished beyond the sea, later captured, imprisoned, and hanged. Now a widow, she finds her remaining comfort in a hearty can while remembering him. A little fiddler, captivated by the carlin’s appearance, offers to wipe her tears and make her his dear. He promises a life of music at kirns and weddings, drinking, leisure, and disregard for hunger, cold, and care. A sturdy caird, also attracted to her, threatens the fiddler with a rusty rapier unless he renounces her. The frightened fiddler submits, while the caird invites the lass to share the wandering tinkler’s life, his budget and apron, and his resolve to clout the cauldron. The caird wins her embraces, aided by love and drink. The fiddler outwardly wishes the pair harmony, but later takes revenge by seducing the woman behind the chicken cavie. Her limping husband, a ballad-singer likened to Homer, discovers them and leaps up in fury, singing “Dainty Davie.” Careless of Fortune and devoted only to gladness, drink, and freedom from sadness, he calls himself a bard of no regard who wanders from town to town. He praises women while refusing to be ruled by them, accepts love as long as inclination permits, and drinks a toast to the sex. The gathering applauds so fiercely that Nansie’s walls shake. They empty their pockets and pawn their clothes to satisfy their thirst, then urge the bard to choose another song. Between his two Deborahs, he leads the company in a chorus celebrating their ragged fellowship and scorning the protections of law, courts, churches, title, treasure, reputation, marriage, and decorum. They exalt wandering freely by day, sleeping in barns or stables with their doxies by night, and toast budgets, bags, wallets, ragged brats, callets, and the liberty they prize above all.
By Robert Burns · First published 1799 · Genre: Cantata, Narrative Poetry, Scots Poetry · 3,749 words
First lines
Not published by Burns.
Recitativo
Similar titles
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Genres
- Cantata — The work is explicitly structured as a cantata, alternating recitatives with airs, choruses, named tunes, and multiple singing characters.
- Narrative Poetry — Recitative passages establish a tavern setting, introduce a group of itinerant figures, and connect their individual songs into a loose dramatic narrative.
- Scots Poetry — It is written predominantly in Scots dialect, using vernacular vocabulary, rhythms, and social idioms central to Burns's Scots literary practice.
- Comic Poetry — The work relies on exuberant drinking, sexual rivalry, caricature, comic reversals, and deliberately coarse humour.
Tags
Scottish vernacular poetry · cantata · comic ballad sequence · eighteenth-century Scotland · winter tavern gathering · Poosie-Nansie's alehouse · beggars and vagrants · wandering musicians · drinking songs · ragged fellowship · liberty and independence · anti-establishment satire
What this Textopian page supports
The Jolly Beggars: a Cantata is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1799 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: 1799 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Cantata, Narrative Poetry, Scots Poetry, Comic Poetry, Satire
- Length: 3,749 words
- Structure: 1 section, 93 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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