The Auld Man's Mare's Dead
written in 1795
The Auld Man's Mare's Dead - meaning Summary
Rural Loss with Wry Humor
Robert Burns presents the death of an old poor man’s mare in a brisk, plain account that mixes grim detail and dry humor. The speaker lists the animal’s decrepit body and ailments in Scots dialect while a refrain—placing the mare "a mile aboon Dundee"—returns like a bleak chorus. The narrative voice hints at social imbalance: the master rides off, the servant is tied up and denied care, yet the mare still dies. The poem balances sympathy for rural hardship with comic bluntness, making loss feel both ordinary and pointedly observed.
Read Complete AnalysesShe was cut-luggit, painch-lippit, Steel-waimit, staincher-fittit, Chanler-chaftit, lang-neckit, Yet the brute did die. The auld man's mare's dead, The poor man's mare's dead, The auld man's mare's dead A mile aboon Dundee. Her lunzie-banes were knaggs and neuks, She had the cleeks, the cauld, the crooks, The jawpish and the wanton yeuks, And the howks aboon her e'e. The auld man's mare's dead, The poor man's mare's dead, The auld man's mare's dead A mile aboon Dundee. My Master rade me to the town, He ty'd me to a staincher round, He took a chappin till himsel, But fient a drap gae me. The auld man's mare's dead, The poor man's mare's dead, The peats and tours and a' to lead And yet the bitch did die.
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