Poem by Robert Burns 'The Rosebud'

Poem by Robert Burns: 'A Rose-bud by my early walk' Tune: A Rose-bud by D. Sillar (page 2 of 2)

Introduction:

As so often with Robert Burns he pains a word picture to set the tone and ambience of his poem. Here he put us in the early summer countryside in a cornfield with a linnet on a dewy hedge. He goes on to compare his young subject, Jeany to the bird with its trembling voice and also to a rose-bud which will flower in beauty to he parents delight and care in later years. (poem No 213)

Image Rights Holder:

National Trust for Scotland

Ref:

BMT342A

Project:

618:The Burns Manuscripts at Alloway

What:

Poem by Robert Burns 'The Rosebud'

Subject:

This poem was composed on Miss Jean Cruikshank the 12 year old daughter of William Cruikshank with whose family Burns lodged in Edinburgh from autumn 1787 to Feb 1788. Their daughter caught Burns affection and he wrote two poems on her. She was a good musician able to sing Burns airs and accompany herself. Even at that tender age she assisted Burns by adjusting words and music by repeated trials of the effect.

Who:

Robert Burns (1759-1796) (author)

William Cruikshank (d 1795) (landlord and friend of Burns while in Edinburgh)

Miss Janet Cruikshank (b 1786) (subject of poem)

When:

1791 (when written)

Where:

The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, South Ayrshire

Background:

This poem was composed on Miss Jean Cruikshank the 12 year old daughter of William Cruikshank with whose family Burns lodged in Edinburgh from autumn 1787 to Feb 1788. Their daughter caught Burns affection and he wrote two poems on her. She was a good musician able to sing Burns airs and accompany herself. Even at that tender age she assisted Burns by adjusting words and music by repeated trials of the effect.

Description:

On this first page of three verses, Burns describes a slightly chilly, dew bedecked morning, the corn scents the air, with the linnet in her nest ready to hear her brood 'awake the early morning'.