H-Histsex
Long lost Robert Burns love poem features uncharacteristic
Classical references (OT)
Discussion published by Andrew Calimach on Sunday, April 9, 2017
The announcement copied below, freshly received from an academic poetry list,
speaks for itself.
By the way, for anyone unfamiliar with Scots dialect, sonsie=pretty; cannie=quiet;
caddie=ragamuffin; kirk=church.
Andrew Calimach
>As most here well know, Scotsmen and their friends traditionally gather
together on Burns Night to partake of the haggis and celebrate their national
poet. These affairs, frequently men-only occasions, typically revel in the poet’s
legendary penchant for lovely lasses. This past February, however, a post-doc
researcher affiliated with the the University of Glasgow's Centre for Robert
Burns Studies turned up a previously unknown manuscript poem, seemingly in
the poet’s own distinctive hand, in the library of Pluscarden Abbey, Morayshire.
If authenticated, it will shine a light on the poet’s unsuspected passion for
downy-cheeked “bosom laddies”.
The draft echoes Burns’ published song fragment “Green Grow the Rashes”, a
paean to the love of women that now would seem to be merely a watered-down
version of the long-lost original. The new text clarifies stanzas whose meaning
was previously obscure. In particular, it reveals that “the wisest man the worl’
e’er saw” was a subtle allusion to Socrates. It also sets up “Tam”, an
unidentified Scottish lad, as a paragon of beauty and truth among the poet’s
pantheon of intense but fleeting paramours, such as “Nancy” (“Ae fond kiss”)
and Anna Park (“The Gowden Locks of Anna”).
The discovery of the holograph manuscript has not been well received among
Scottish historical circles, and the matter is being kept under wraps while the
document's authenticity is being verified. Nonetheless, an unauthorized copy of
the text has begun to circulate informally among concerned academics. Some
have angrily denounced it as a clumsy fraud, while others have declared the
work authentic, a sterling example of the poet’s inimitable voice, and of great
Citation: Andrew Calimach. Long lost Robert Burns love poem features uncharacteristic Classical references (OT). H-Histsex. 04-0-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/6056/discussions/173977/long-lost-robert-burns-love-poem-features-uncharacteristic
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
1
H-Histsex
significance for a fuller understanding of Burns as well as the Scottish mores of
his times.
For the sake of academic transparency I have copied the poem below. Any
comments regarding this situation should not be sent to this list. Please address
them directly to [email protected]
MS poem (unnamed at this time)
[Chorus]
Gran’ grow my hardies, O!
Gran’ grow my hardies, O!
The truest luves that e’er I lived
I lived wi’ bosom laddies, O!
“There's nought but care on ev’ry han’,
In ev’ry hour that tarries, O:
What signifies the life o’ man,
‘Twere na for lissom Laddies, O?
Gran' grow, &c.
The war’ly race may lasses chase,
An’ lasses may all fly them, O!
An’ tho’ at last they wed them fast,
Their hearts shall come to rue it, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
Fair dreams to dust will aften turn
An’ sonsie girls to dowdies, O!
Then coy luve tunes to shrill harangues
‘Til strong men flee their houses, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
But gie me a cannie hour at e’en
My arms ‘round cuddlin’ laddies, O!
And war’ly cares and war’ly men
Citation: Andrew Calimach. Long lost Robert Burns love poem features uncharacteristic Classical references (OT). H-Histsex. 04-0-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/6056/discussions/173977/long-lost-robert-burns-love-poem-features-uncharacteristic
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
2
H-Histsex
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
For you sae douce, ye sneer at this,
Ye're naught but senseless caddies, O!
The wisest Man the warl e'er saw,
He dearly luv’d the laddies, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
There’s ane true luve, taught Socrates,
That lust fo’ lasses quenches, O!
Yon’ kilted bairn wi’ downy cheek
To shame puts fickle wenches, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
‘Neath raven sky in Annie’s arms,
‘Neath starlight wi’ fair Nancy, O!
But shine ye Sun on Tam’s rough charms,
His lithe limbs more to fancy, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
When han’ in han’ owre hill and crest
We rove’d in joy sincere, O!
When Tam his brow press’t to my breast,
Nae Kirk nor King I fear’d, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
A hungered man wi’ pith o’ sense
Wad be a thing of wonder, O!
Wha’ fain enjoys a saucy goose
To turn his nose at ganders, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
Auld Nature swears, the comly Lads
She wrought as Heaven’s darlings, O!
Her ‘prentice han’ she try’d on dames,
Citation: Andrew Calimach. Long lost Robert Burns love poem features uncharacteristic Classical references (OT). H-Histsex. 04-0-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/6056/discussions/173977/long-lost-robert-burns-love-poem-features-uncharacteristic
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
3
H-Histsex
An’ then she made their striplings, O!
Gran' grow, &c.
Citation: Andrew Calimach. Long lost Robert Burns love poem features uncharacteristic Classical references (OT). H-Histsex. 04-0-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/6056/discussions/173977/long-lost-robert-burns-love-poem-features-uncharacteristic
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
4