A Short Summary of the Poem "O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns

O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns 

About the Author: 

Robert Burns was one of the early romantic poets. He wrote very simple and touching lyrics. He is called as the pioneer of the Romantic Movement in English literature. He also collected folk songs from all over Scotland and revised and adapted them for his use. Most of his poems are written in the Scottish dialect. They are about traditional Scottish culture, expressions of farm life and class and religious distinctions. Burns wrote in a variety of forms which include epistles to friends, ballads and songs. He is also well known for three hundred songs which he wrote about love, friendship, work and drink. He is called as the National Poet of Scotland. 

Summary of the Poem: 

The present poem is a simple and sweet song of love. It records the everlasting and permanent love that the speaker has for his beloved which cannot be shaken or removed at any cost. He makes a comparison of his love to the various things in the nature. In the first stanza the speaker compares his love to the red rose. The red rose is considered as a symbol of love. His love is new, fresh and young like a newly sprung red rose flower in June. He also compares his love to the melody that has been sweetly played in a tune. The speaker says that his beloved is very beautiful. She is very fair. The speaker says that he is so deeply in love with her as she is fair in skin deep. He uses an interesting comparison to emphasize the permanence of his love for the beloved. He says that his love will remain as long as the seas do not go dry. Since this is impossibility, it means that his love will never fade out. The other comparisons are to the point when rocks will melt with the sun which can never happen. He also compares his love to sands of life going on forever; since life cannot end that easily, this signifies permanence. In the last stanza, the speaker is saying goodbye to his beloved. He is going somewhere for a short time but he promises that he will come again. He promises her that though he will have to travel ten thousand miles he will definitely come again to see her. The poet has used simile quiet extensively in the poem. The title of the poem uses a simile when the poet says; "O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose". There are four stanzas of four lines each in the poem. All the stanzas follow the rhyme scheme abcb. The language used in the poem is an Old English language which varies in spellings and we have the Old English spellings of words like; 'Luve' for 'love', 'art' for 'are', 'thou' and 'thee' for 'you', 'gang' for 'go', and 'weel' for