To A Louse Analysis

ON SEEING ONE ON A LADY'S BONNET AT CHURCH

Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie!
Your impudence protects you sairly:
I canna say but ye strunt rarely
Owre gauze and lace;
Tho' faith, I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunned by saunt an' sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her,
Sae fine a lady!
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner,
On some poor body.

Swith, in some beggar's haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle
Wi' ither kindred, jumpin cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whare horn or bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.

Now haud ye there, ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rels, snug an' tight;
Na faith ye yet! ye'll no be right
Till ye've got on it,
The vera tapmost, towering height
O' Miss's bonnet.

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an' grey as onie grozet:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I'd gie ye sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum!

I wad na been surprised to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy;
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi!—fie!
How daur ye do't?

O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin!
Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin!

O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
And ev'n Devotion!

.: :.

Analysis of Robert Burns
In Robert Burns’ poem “To A Louse”, he describes how he was sitting in church behind a woman that had a bug crawling around in her hair and around the ribbons in her hat. This entire poem entails how he feels about the bug crawling on this woman that he’s been watching and he also jokes about the whole situation about how the bug should be on someone dirty rather that on the apparently unsuspecting woman.
In the first stanza, Burns first notices the bug crawling on the woman. He asks himself (and the bug) where it’s going. He also says that the bug has probably been in the woman’s hat or hair for quite some time because his reaction is the same as seeing the bug for the first time on her. He also says that the bug has probably been well taken care with this woman, but I now in sear
. . .
The downside about the bug being present on the woman is because in that day in age, personal hygiene wasn’t as big of a deal as it is in present times; only for those of the higher class.
In the second stanza, Burns is upset that this bug has decided to dwell with this woman that he has described as “such a fine lady.
In the last stanza, Burns thinks that the woman should be given the gift of seeing herself as people see her and it would save her from embarrassment and give her some kind of insight. She could be the old woman that he was describing, or the mother of the poor boy.
However in the seventh stanza, Burns takes it upon himself to tell the woman sitting in front of him about the bug. He says that he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had spotted the bug on some old woman’s flannel hat or underneath the clothes of a poor boy. This could be why the bug is roaming around. Burns probably felt that a woman, such as the one being the part of the object of this poem, looked too pleasant to have this invader travel all over her and feed off of her. Or that God should allow us to see ourselves as others see us. He tells her not to make too much movement to draw attention to herself. ” In the conversation with himself, he tells the bug to find someplace else to roam such as on someone that is poor.
In conclusion, Robert Burns’ poem “To A Louse” is a humorous poem that has some satire in it. This could be why Burns is questioning the bug’s reason for being around the woman.

| Posted on 2009-03-23 | by a guest