Cauld Is the E'enin Blast
Cauld Is the E'enin Blast - meaning Summary
Winter, Hardship, and a Small Kindness
In plain Scots, the poem sketches a harsh winter evening: a biting north wind, frosty drift, and landscape swallowed by darkness. The speaker emphasizes the physical severity of the cold and how it erases familiar hills and glens. Despite the bleak setting, the final image—Peg Ramsey receiving grist for her mill—introduces a small, resilient human detail that counters the desolation. The poem contrasts elemental chill with everyday survival and community continuity, suggesting that ordinary necessities and care persist even in severe weather.
Read Complete AnalysesCauld is the e'enin blast O' Boreas o'er the pool, And dawin it is dreary, When birks are bare at Yule. O cauld blaws the e'enin blast When bitter bites the frost, And in the mirk and dreary drift The hills and glens are lost. Ne'er sae murky blew the night That drifted o'er the hill, But bonie Peg a Ramsey Gat grist to her mill.
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