A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

Robert Burns, as a Scottish lyricist and poet, inspired many of the Romanticism poets and writers as well as to the founders of liberalism and socialism. He wrote in his native Celtic language, English with a Scots dialect, and standard English.

A Red, Red Rose

O my Luve is like a red, red rose 

   That’s newly sprung in June; 

O my Luve is like the melodie 

   That’s sweetly played in tune. 

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, 

   So deep in luve am I; 

And I will luve thee still, my dear, 

   Till a’ the seas gang dry. 

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, 

   And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; 

I will love thee still, my dear, 

   While the sands o’ life shall run. 

And fare thee weel, my only luve! 

   And fare thee weel awhile! 

And I will come again, my luve, 

   Though it were ten thousand mile.

In this poem the first thing to realize is that when the author says "Luve" he means love, and that is most likely the Scottish dialect appearing in his writing. This is the first time on the blog when the bio came into play in the analysis I made, so it is pretty exciting. 

In the first stanza of the poem there are two direct similes that compare love to a "red rose" and a "sweet melody." These phrases use the word "like" which differentiates a metaphor from a simile. In reading this poem, I couldn't establish any metaphors that could accompany the simile to further develop the comparison but to each reader, a rose and a melody are backed by positive connotations helping to develop the tone of the poem. This shows that metaphors and similes are related closely to diction and work in somewhat of the same way. The similes that are in this poem help to develop an analogy. The main comparison that the author is trying to draw is between the love he has for his "bonnie lass" and something that is always happy and never ends. The analogy that the figurative language creates is supported by rhetorical devices such as repetition of "Till a' the seas gang dry" to reinforce the eternity of the relationship because chances are the sea will never dry up completely. 

Similes are hard to create an entire poem around. They are a much harder of type figurative language to use but metaphors are a different story. Although this is true, both similes and metaphors complement diction, description, and every other "blog post topic" to develop the tone and speaker. This was a good poem to reinforce that realization and it was a good way to start the end of the poetry unit.