Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Tam O 'Shanter
1 When chapman billies leave the street,
2And drouthy neebors neebors meet,
3As market-days are wearing late,
4And folk begin to tak the gate;
5While we sit bousin, at the nappy,
6And gettin fou and unco happy,
7We think na on the lang Scots miles,
8The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles,
9That lie between us and our hame,
10Whare sits our sulky, sullen dame,
11Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
12Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.
13 This truth fand honest Tam o' Shanter,
14As he frae Ayr ae night did canter:
15(Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses,
16For honest men and bonie lasses.)
17 O Tam! had'st thou but been sae wise
18As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
19She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,
20A bletherin, blusterin, drunken blellum;
21That frae November till October,
22Ae market-day thou was na sober;
23That ilka melder wi' the miller,
24Thou sat as lang as thou had siller;
25That ev'ry naig was ca'd a shoe on,
26The smith and thee gat roarin fou on;
27That at the Lord's house, ev'n on Sunday,
28Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday.
29She prophesied, that, late or soon,
30Thou would be found deep drown'd in Doon;
31Ot catch'd wi' warlocks in the mirk,
32By Alloway's auld haunted kirk.
33 Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet,
34To think how mony counsels sweet,
35How mony lengthen'd sage advices,
36The husband frae the wife despises!
37 But to our tale:--Ae market night,
38Tam had got planted unco right,
39Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely,
40Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely;
41And at his elbow, Souter Johnie,
42His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony:
43Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither;
44They had been fou for weeks thegither.
45The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter;
46And ay the ale was growing better:
47The landlady and Tam grew gracious
48Wi' secret favours, sweet, and precious:
49The souter tauld his queerest stories;
50The landlord's laugh was ready chorus:
51The storm without might rair and rustle,
52Tam did na mind the storm a whistle.
53 Care, mad to see a man sae happy,
54E'en drown'd himsel amang the nappy:
55As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,
56The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure;
57Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,
58O'er a' the ills o' life victorious!
59 But pleasures are like poppies spread,
60You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;
61Or like the snow falls in the river,
62A moment white--then melts forever;
63Or like the borealis race,
64That flit ere you can point their place;
65Or like the rainbow's lovely form
66Evanishing amid the storm.
67Nae man can tether time or tide:
68The hour approaches Tam maun ride,--
69That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane
70That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;
71And sic a night he taks the road in,
72As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in.
73 The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last;
74The rattling show'rs rose on the blast;
75The speedy gleams the darkness swallow'd;
76Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellow'd:
77That night, a child might understand,
78The Deil had business on his hand.
79 Weel mounted on his grey mare, Meg,--
80A better never lifted leg,--
81Tam skelpit on thro' dub and mire,
82Despising wind and rain and fire;
83Whiles holding fast his guid blue bonnet,
84Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet,
85Whiles glowrin round wi' prudent cares,
86Lest bogles catch him unawares.
87Kirk-Alloway was drawing nigh,
88Whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry.
89 By this time he was cross the ford,
90Whare in the snaw the chapman smoor'd;
91And past the birks and meikle stane,
92Whare drucken Charlie brak's neckbane:
93And thro' the whins, and by the cairn,
94Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn;
95And near the thorn, aboon the well,
96Whare Mungo's mither hang'd hersel.
97Before him Doon pours all his floods;
98The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;
99The lightnings flash from pole to pole,
100Near and more near the thunders roll;
101When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,
102Kirk-Alloway seem'd in a bleeze:
103Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing,
104And loud resounded mirth and dancing.
105 Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
106What dangers thou can'st make us scorn!
107Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil;
108Wi' usquebae we'll face the devil!
109The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle,
110Fair play, he car'd na deils a boddle.
111But Maggie stood right sair astonish'd,
112Till, by the heel and hand admonish'd,
113She ventur'd forward on the light;
114And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight!
115 Warlocks and witches in a dance;
116Nae cotillion brent-new frae France,
117But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels
118Put life and mettle in their heels.
119A winnock bunker in the east,
120There sat Auld Nick in shape o' beast:
121A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,
122To gie them music was his charge;
123He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl,
124Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.--
125Coffins stood round like open presses,
126That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses;
127And by some devilish cantraip sleight
128Each in its cauld hand held a light,
129By which heroic Tam was able
130To note upon the haly table
131A murderer's banes in gibbet airns;
132Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns;
133A thief, new-cutted frae the rape--
134Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape;
135Five tomahawks, wi' blude red-rusted;
136Five scimitars, wi' murder crusted;
137A garter, which a babe had strangled;
138A knife, a father's throat had mangled,
139Whom his ain son o' life bereft--
140The grey hairs yet stack to the heft;
141Wi' mair o' horrible and awfu',
142Which ev'n to name wad be unlawfu'.
143 As Tammie glowr'd, amaz'd and curious,
144The mirth and fun grew fast and furious:
145The piper loud and louder blew,
146The dancers quick and quicker flew;
147They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit
148Till ilka carlin swat and reekit
149And coost her duddies to the wark
150And linket at it in her sark!
151 Now Tam, O Tam! had thae been queans,
152A' plump and strapping in their teens!
153Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen,
154Been snaw-white seventeen hunder linen!--
155Thir breeks o' mine, my only pair,
156That ance were plush, o' gude blue hair,
157I wad hae gien them aff y hurdies,
158For ae blink o' the bonie burdies!
159 But wither'd beldams, auld and droll,
160Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal,
161Lowping and flinging on a crummock.
162I wonder didna turn thy stomach.
163 But Tam ken'd what was what fu' brawlie;
164There was ae winsom wench and walie,
165That night enlisted in the core
166(Lang after ken'd on Carrick shore.
167For mony a beast to dead she shot,
168And perish'd mony a bonie boat,
169And shook baith meikle corn and bear,
170And kept the country-side in fear);
171Her cutty sark o' Paisley harn,
172That while a lassie she had worn,
173In longitude tho' sorely scanty,
174It was her best, and she was vauntie.
175Ah! little ken'd thy reverend grannie,
176That sark she coft for her wee Nannie,
177Wi' twa pund Scots ('twas a' her riches),
178Wad ever grac'd a dance of witches!
179 But here my Muse her wing maun cow'r,
180Sic flights are far beyond her pow'r;
181To sing how Nannie lap and flang,
182(A souple jad she was and strang),
183And how Tam stood like ane bewitch'd,
184And thought his very een enrich'd;
185Even Satan glowr'd and fidg'd fu' fain,
186And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main:
187Till first ae caper, syne anither,
188Tam tint his reason a' thegither,
189And roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!"
190And in an instant all was dark:
191And scarcely had he Maggie rallied,
192When out the hellish legion sallied.
193 As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke,
194When plundering herds assail their byke;
195As open pussie's mortal foes,
196When, pop! she starts before their nose;
197As eager runs the market-crowd,
198When "Catch the thief!" resounds aloud;
199So Maggie runs, the witches follow,
200Wi' mony an eldritch skriech and hollo.
201 Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin!
202In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin!
203In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin!
204Kate soon will be a woefu' woman!
205Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,
206And win the key-stane of the brig:
207There at them thou thy tail may toss,
208A running stream they dare na cross.
209But ere the key-stane she could make,
210The fient a tail she had to shake!
211For Nannie far before the rest,
212Hard upon noble Maggie prest,
213And flew at Tam wi' furious ettle;
214But little wist she Maggie's mettle--
215Ae spring brought aff her master hale
216But left behind her ain grey tail:
217The carlin claught her by the rump,
218And left poor Maggie scarce a stump.
219 Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read,
220Ilk man and mother's son, take heed,
221Whene'er to drink you are inclin'd,
222Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
223Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear,
224Remember Tam o' Shanter's mear.
Notes
1] This poem is based on a story current in Burns's neighbourhood with regard to the deserted and ruinous Alloway Kirk, which stood on the banks of the Doon about three-quarters of a mile from his birthplace. It was written at the request of Captain Grose, the antiquarian, in whose Antiquities (1791) it appeared along with a drawing of the Church.
Shanter was the name of a farm in the neighbourhood; the farmer afforded a suggestion for the hero of the poem.
chapman: a pedlar.
billies: fellows.
2] drouthy: afflicted with drouth.
4] gate: road.
5] bousing: boozing.
nappy: ale.
8] slaps: passages through the hedges.
19] skellum: good-for-nothing.
20] bletherin: talkative.
blellum: babbler.
23] melder: an instalment of grain sent to the mill.
25] ca'd: driven.
31] mirk: dark.
33] gars me greet: makes me weep.
38] unco: uncommonly.
39] ingle, bleezin: fire-place, blazing.
40] reaming swats: foaming ale.
41] Souter: cobbler.
51] rair: roar.
54] nappy: ale.
68] maun: must.
81] skelpit an: clattered along.
dub: puddle.
85] glowrin: staring.
86] bogles: spirits.
88] houlets: owls.
90] smoor'd: smothered.
91] birks: birches.
meikle: big.
93] whins: furze.
95] aboon: above.
103] bore: hole.
107] tippeny: a weak ale at twopence a pint.
108] usquebae: whiskey.
110] boddle: farthing.
116] brent-new: brand-new.
119] winnock bunker: window-seat.
121] towzie tyke: shaggy dog.
123] gar them skirl: made them shriek.
124] dirl: resound.
127] cantraip: magic.
131] airns: irons.
133] Cut down from the rope; he had been hanged.
134] gab: mouth.
147] set: faced their partners.
cleekit: hooked together.
148] Till every woman sweat and steamed.
149] duddies: clothes.
150] linket: tripped.
sark: shirt.
151] queans: wenches.
153] creeshie: greasy.
154] Very fine linen; linen with 1700 threads to a width.
155] Thir breeks: these breeches.
157] hurdies: buttocks.
158] burdies: Girls.
160] rigwoodie: perhaps means "lean."
spean: wean.
161] Lowping: leaping.
crummock: staff with a curved handle.
164] walie: choice.
166] Carrick shore. Carrick is the southern district of Ayrshire.
169] bear: barley.
171] cutty: short.
harn: coarse linen.
174] vauntie: vaunting, proud.
176] coft: bought.
185] fidg'd fu' fain: fidgeted with eagerness.
186] hotch'd: jerked (refers to the movement of the arm in playing the bagpipes).
188] tint: lost.
193] fyke: fuss, agitation.
194] byke: nest of bees.
195] open: give tongue.
pussie's: hare's.
200] eldritch: unearthly.
201] fairin: reward, literally, a gift at a fair.
210] The fient a tale: the devil a tale.
213] ettle: endeavour.
215] hale: whole.
217] claught: clutched.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Edinburgh Magazine (March 1791).
First publication date:
1791
RPO poem editor: G. G. Falle
RP edition: 3RP 2.313.
Recent editing: 4:2002/3/19
Composition date:
1790
Composition date note: autumn 1790
Form: Short Couplets
Other poems by Robert Burns
