Analysis of Ae Fond Kiss

Robert Burns 1759 (Alloway) – 1796 (Dumfries)



1     Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
2     Ae fareweel, and then forever!
3     Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
4     Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
5     Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
6     While the star of hope she leaves him?
7     Me, nae cheerfu' twinkle lights me;
8     Dark despair around benights me.

9     I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy,
10   Naething could resist my Nancy;
11   But to see her was to love her;
12   Love but her, and love forever.
13   Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
14   Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
15   Never met--or never parted--
16   We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

17   Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!
18   Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
19   Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
20   Peace. enjoyment, love, and pleasure!
21   Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
22   Ae fareweel, alas, forever!
23   Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
24   Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!


Scheme AABBCCBB BBAABBDD XXAAAABB
Poetic Form
Metre 11101110 1101010 10111111 10101111 11111011 10111111 1111011 10101011 11111010 1101110 11101110 11001010 11101110 11101110 10111010 11111010 11111010 11111010 11101010 10101010 11101110 1101010 10111111 10101111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 983
Words 174
Sentences 13
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 229
Words per stanza (avg) 79
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 24, 2023

54 sec read
199

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist. more…

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