Here is a complete summary and explanation of the poem A Red Red Rose by Robert Burns.
AT A GLANCE: |
Form: Four Quatrains Rhyme scheme: abab Setting: June (Spring Season) Speaker: Lover Addressee: Beloved Central Idea: This poem is an expression of the romantic love of the speaker for his beloved. This poem conveys the passion and intensity that is involved in being in love with someone. |

LINE BY LINE EXPLANATION: A RED RED ROSE BY ROBERT BURNS
The speaker begins the poem with a note of comparison comparing his beloved with a red rose using a simile. The speaker states that she is like a red rose that has newly emerged in the month of June. June stands for the spring season which is strategically chosen by the poet as the spring season is the appropriate time for romance or love. Rose stands for something beautiful, the red rose stands for something more beautiful, and the red red rose implies something the most beautiful. In that sense, the speaker in the first two lines of the poem through the comparison implies that his beloved is beautiful and young like the newly bloomed rose and she is also the most beautiful one. Readers also can notice the alliteration in ‘red red rose’ as there is the repetition of the /r/ sound. Similarly, in the last two lines of the first stanza, the speaker once again uses simile and compares his beloved with the melody that is sweetly played in June; she is not only beautiful in her appearance but she is equally melodious in her voice too. When she speaks it’s like music and melody. So, through these two comparisons in the first stanza, the speaker implies her beautiful and young appearance on the one hand and her melodious voice on the other hand.
The speaker begins the second stanza once again appreciating the beauty of his beloved and declaring his passionate love for her. ‘Fair art thou’ in Scottish English is equivalent to ‘You are beautiful’ in English. Similarly, ‘bonnie lass’ is also an example of Scottish language which means ‘sweetheart’ in English. The speaker declares that he is head over heels in love with her. What is striking in this stanza is the promise that the speaker makes in the last two lines. He promises that he will love her until all the seas on the earth go dry. The word ‘gang’ does not refer to the group of bad people but in Scotts, it is a verb meaning ‘go’. Needless to indicate, all the seas going dry is something impossible. So through this note of promise, the speaker implies that he will love her till eternity. Now comes a question; can a men’s love be as everlasting as the sea? the answer is ‘No’. So, this very note of promise is just an exaggeration. Readers can also notice elision in the last line as ‘a’ stands for ‘all’. Elision by definition is the literary device in which letters in a word are removed. When letters and sounds are omitted, they are replaced by apostrophes. Elision is very popular in Scottish English.
The third stanza continues the exaggerating mood of the speaker. The first line of the third stanza, ‘Till a’ the seas gang dry my dear’ is the repetition of the last line of the second stanza. In that sense, it is also a refrain, a repeated line in poetry. The third stanza incorporates two more promises of the speaker. He once again promises that he will love her until the rocks get melted with the heat of the Sun which is another example of exaggeration. In fact, through these two exaggerations, the speaker implies that he will love her till eternity. But towards the end of the third stanza, the speaker sounds realistic in his next promise when he states that he will love her until the last breath of his life. The speaker brings the image of the hourglass which measures time with sand and suggests that until the sand of his life passes into the compartment of death, he will be loving her. Readers can also notice the elision in the words ‘a’’, ‘wi’’ and ‘o’’ which means ‘all’, ‘with’ and ‘of’ respectively.
The last stanza incorporates the note of farewell. The speaker is about to go far away from his beloved saying goodbye to her. Throughout the poem, the speaker uses possessive pronouns ‘my love’, ‘my bonny lass’, ‘my dear’, ‘my only love’ while addressing his beloved to suggest how possessive he is for her. Though the speaker is going ten thousand miles away, he promises to return soon. The geographical distance does not stop the speaker from coming back to his beloved as he is madly in love with her. So he calls this separation momentary as suggested by the word ‘a while’ because he believes that a reunion is waiting for them.
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