On the Duchess of Gordon's Reel Dancing
written in
On the Duchess of Gordon's Reel Dancing - meaning Summary
Dance, Awe, and Comic Contrast
Burns offers a comic, vivid snapshot of a lively country dance. The speaker watches the Duchess of Gordon lift her skirt to display her nimble step while others fumble or thrash about awkwardly. Gordon himself leaps with exaggerated bravura, prompting the narrator’s amused astonishment—he claims never to have seen anything like it since boyhood. The poem uses plain, earthy humor and dialect to celebrate social spectacle, contrast grace with clumsiness, and convey the speaker’s mixture of admiration and playful incredulity toward the dancers' energetic display.
Read Complete AnalysesShe kiltit up her kirtle weel To show her bonie cutes sae sma', And walloped about the reel, The lightest louper o' them a'! While some, like slav'ring, doited stots Stoit'ring out thro' the midden dub, Fankit their heels amang their coats And gart the floor their backsides rub; Gordon, the great the gay, the gallant, Skip't like a maukin owre a dyke: Deil tak me, since I was a callant, Gif e'er my een beheld the like!
Feel free to be first to leave comment.