The Banks O' Doon (Second Version)
written in 1791
The Banks O' Doon (Second Version) - meaning Summary
Loss Beside the Doon
The poem is a speaker’s lament for a lost and unfaithful lover, set beside the river Doon. Addressing the banks and the singing birds, the speaker contrasts the outward beauty of nature with inward grief. Recollections of past joy—plucking a rose in June—become stinging memories when the “false luve” takes the rose and leaves the thorn. The natural scene both provokes and mirrors the speaker’s heartbreak, turning ordinary pastoral images into symbols of betrayal and regret.
Read Complete AnalysesYe flowery banks o' bonie Doon, How can ye blume sae fair? How can ye chant, ye little birds, And I sae fu' o care! Thou'll break my heart, thou bonie bird, That sings upon the bough! Thou minds me o' the happy days When my fause Luve was true. Thou'll break my heart, thou bonie bird, That sings beside thy mate; For sae I sat, and sae I sang, And wist na o' my fate. Aft hae I rov'd by bonie Doon, To see the woodbine twine; And ilka bird sang o' its Luve, And sae did I o' mine. Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, Upon its thorny tree; But my fause Luver staw my rose, And left the thorn wi' me. Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, Upon a morn in June; And sae I flourished on the morn, And sae was pu'd or noon.
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