Robert Burns & O My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose

The poem dates from 1794 and Burns can best be considered as the compiler or redactor of the poem, rather than its author. He took fragments and lines from other poems and ballads of the time, and exerted his magic on them. It was published in 1799. Since then, those words have been set to many tunes, but today the usual one is the traditional tune of ‘Low Down in the Broom’ with which the words were paired in 1821. The composer Schumann set the words (translated into German) to music for voice and piano. It has been translated into many languages. Bob Dylan claims the poem has been a huge inspiration to his own creativity.

It is, of course, a poem about love. The image of the rose suggests that the speaker’s love is generated by youth and beauty, qualities that will fade as time passes. But then the speaker affirms that these qualities give rise to eternal feelings that will persist, even through death. We then get wonderful images of eternal love – till “a’ the seas gang dry”, till the “rocks melt wi’ the sun”, and until the sands of life run out. The speaker confronts the reality of ageing and death, not only in the beloved, but also in the natural world. The love inspired by youthful beauty, need not end when youth ends.

I had this song played at my wedding – hard to think of anything more romantic!