The Lament by Robert Burns (1786)
The speaker laments the loss of a beloved woman whose pledged faith and mutual love had seemed sacred and enduring. Wandering at night beneath the moon, he finds no comfort in its light or in the surrounding hills and stream, because remembrance continually renews his pain. He insists that his grief is real rather than a conventional poetic complaint: their love had been confirmed by vows, by appeals to heaven, and by the promise of a father’s tender name. He recalls the happiness of being held in her arms and wishing for fortune only to serve her. Now he fears that she has gone forever and no longer cares for his anguish. He condemns the heart that could leave her devoted lover and promised husband, while also worrying that hardship may lie ahead for her without anyone to soothe or share her suffering. Memories of their joyful hours leave his heart empty and destroy all hope. Day brings only long, painful hours of work and recollection; night offers no rest, for grief keeps him wakeful or fills his sleep with terrifying visions. Addressing the moon that once watched the lovers wander together, he remembers their exchanged looks and the unnoticed passage of happy time. He resolves to wander through life’s weary vale without hope or comfort, mourning the broken vow of a faithless woman.
By Robert Burns · First published 1786 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Elegy, Love Poetry · 865 words
First lines
Occasioned by the unfortunate issue of a Friend's Amour.
Alas! how oft does goodness would itself, / And sweet affection prove the spring of woe!
Similar titles
- Lament by Thomas Hardy
- I Thought My Heart by Thomas Hardy
- If You Had Been True by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- Only A Sad Mistake by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- How Great My Grief Triolet by Thomas Hardy
- The Relic Taken What Avails The Shrine by Robert Louis Stevenson
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a first-person, emotionally concentrated poem organized in regular stanzas and devoted to the speaker's personal grief.
- Elegy — Its dominant mode is sustained lamentation for a lost beloved and the vanished happiness of their relationship.
- Love Poetry — The poem centers on mutual passion, pledged faith, memories of intimacy, and anguish over a lover's apparent betrayal or departure.
- Romantic Poetry — It foregrounds solitary feeling, nocturnal landscape, moonlight, memory, emotional intensity, and the suffering individual consciousness.
Tags
love lament · betrayal · broken vows · faithless beloved · lost love · unrequited devotion · romantic grief · heartbreak · night wandering · moonlight · Scottish landscape · hills and stream
What this Textopian page supports
The Lament 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: Lyric Poetry, Elegy, Love Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Lament
- Length: 865 words
- Structure: 1 section, 13 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Lament by Robert Burns
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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