The Tarbolton Lasses by Robert Burns
The poem guides a listener through several young women encountered in different places, judging each by beauty, manner, fortune, and character. On a hill-top is bonie Peggy, who knows that her father is a laird and considers herself a leddy. Sophy is bright and has a handsome fortune; the speaker suggests that any man unable to win her quickly lacks skill in courting. Near Faile is Mysie, who is dour and noisy, with “a deil within,” though she may still please some. If Mysie does not suit, her sister Jenny may be preferred, provided one can overlook her want of sense, since Jenny knows herself to be bonie. The strongest praise is reserved for bonie Bessy on the hillside: she will beckon, invite a visitor to stop, and address him handsomely. Bessy is declared unmatched in beauty and goodness throughout King George’s dominion, though the final joke is that this judgment is Bessy’s own opinion.
By Robert Burns · First published 1808 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Pastoral Poetry · 244 words
First lines
If ye gae up to yon hill-tap, / Ye'll there see bonie Peggy; / She kens her father is a laird, / And she forsooth's a leddy.
There Sophy tight, a lassie bright, / Besides a handsome fortune: / Wha canna win her in a night, / Has little art in courtin'.
Gae down by Faile, and taste the ale, / And tak a look o' Mysie; / She's dour and din, a deil within, / But aiblins she may please ye.
If she be shy, her sister try, / Ye'll maybe fancy Jenny; / If ye'll dispense wi' want o' sense- / She kens hersel she's bonie.
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The Tarbolton Lasses is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated 1808 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: 1808 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Scottish Vernacular Poetry, Pastoral Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Courtship Poetry
- Length: 244 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, stanzaic poem with a strong rhythmic and rhyming structure, focused on vivid character sketches rather than sustained narrative.
- Scottish Vernacular Poetry — Burns writes extensively in Scots dialect, using regional vocabulary and speech patterns such as 'gae,' 'lassie,' 'bonie,' and 'kens.'
- Pastoral Poetry — Its rural Scottish setting of hillsides, local villages, lairds, ale, and courtship gives the poem a distinctly pastoral social landscape.
- Satirical Poetry — The poem humorously mocks the women’s vanity, social pretensions, tempers, and self-regard, especially in its final joke about Bessy's opinion of herself.
Tags
Scottish vernacular poetry · eighteenth-century Scotland · Tarbolton countryside · rural courtship · young women · beauty and attraction · romantic rivalry · courtship advice · female self-regard · social class · laird and lady · marriage prospects