Bannocks O' Bear Meal
written in 1794
Bannocks O' Bear Meal - meaning Summary
Toasting Highland Loyalty
Robert Burns' brief song reads like a convivial toast to Highland men and their simple bread, the bannock. Repeated refrains cheer "bannocks o' barley," while rhetorical questions ask who remained loyal to "Charlie" in hard times and answer that it was those with the bannocks. The poem links everyday food, communal identity, and steadfastness, presenting loyalty as rooted in ordinary sustenance. Its short, repetitive structure gives it the tone of a drinking or camp tune that celebrates solidarity and shared experience rather than a detailed narrative.
Read Complete AnalysesBannocks o' bear meal, Bannocks o' barley, Here's to the Highlandman's bannocks o' barley. Wha, in a brulzie, will first cry a parley? Never the lads wi' the bannocks o' barley. Bannocks o' bear meal, Bannocks o' barley, Here's to the Highlandman's bannocks o' barley. Wha, in his wae days, were loyal to Charlie? Wha but the lads wi' the bannocks o' barley! Bannocks o' bear meal, Bannocks o' barley, Here's to the Highlandman's bannocks o' barley.
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