The Banks of Nith
written in 1788
The Banks of Nith - context Summary
Homesick in Dumfries, 1788
Written in 1788 while Burns was living in Dumfries, this short lyric records the poet’s homesickness for the Nith valley. He contrasts the grandeur of the Thames with the intimate sweetness of the Nith, recalling local landscape and friends. The tone is yearning and elegiac: he imagines returning to the "honour'd land" and wishes to spend his final hours among the familiar banks and braes. The poem functions as a personal expression of nostalgia and attachment to place rather than a public statement or political tract.
Read Complete AnalysesThe Thames flows proudly to the sea, Where royal cities stately stand; But sweeter flows the Nith, to me, Where Cummins ance had high command: When shall I see that honor'd land, That winding Stream I love so dear! Must wayward Fortune's adverse hand For ever, ever keep me here. How lovely, Nith, thy fruitful vales, Where bounding hawthorns gayly bloom; And sweetly spread thy sloping dales Where lambkins wanton through the broom! Tho' wandering, now, must be my doom, Far from thy bonie banks and braes, May there my latest hours consume, Amang the friends of early days!
Feel free to be first to leave comment.