The Auld Man's Winter Thought
written in 1794
The Auld Man's Winter Thought - meaning Summary
Aging Winter of Life
The poem contrasts the seasonal revival of nature with the speaker’s personal decline. Spring returns to renew woods and flowers, promising cyclical rebirth, but the aging narrator finds no thaw for his "white pow" or relief from bodily decay. It registers quiet resignation and longing: the memory of youthful vigor persists while present days bring weariness and sleepless nights. The tone mixes natural consolation with poignant recognition that human life does not regenerate as the year does, reflecting Burns’s late preoccupation with mortality and the passage of time.
Read Complete AnalysesBut lately seen in gladsome green The woods rejoic'd the day, Thro' gentle showers, the laughing flowers In double pride were gay: But now our joys are fled On winter blasts awa; Yet maiden May, in rich array, Again shall bring them a'. But my white pow, nae kindly thowe Shall melt the snaws of Age; My trunk of eild, but buss or beild, Sinks in Time's wintry rage. Oh, Age has weary days, And nights o' sleepless pain! Thou golden time, o' Youthfu' prime, Why comes thou not again!
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