Frae the Friends and Land I Love
written in 1792
Frae the Friends and Land I Love - fact Summary
Exile and Longing in 1792
Composed in 1792, the poem expresses a speaker’s exile and yearning for homeland and loved ones after being driven away by ill fortune. It moves from sorrow—loss of delight and the torment of memory—to a guarded hope that fate will relent. The closing images invoke restitution: friendship, love, and peace restored, the “banished” brought home, and loyal young men returning across the seas. The tone balances bitter resignation with a patriotic, almost vindicative anticipation of return and reunion.
Read Complete AnalysesFrae the friends and Land I love, Driv'n by Fortune's felly spite; Frae my best Beloved I rove, Never mair to taste delight. Never mair maun hope to find Ease frae toil, relief frae care: When Remembrance wracks the mind, Pleasures but unveil Despair. Brightest climes shall mirk appear, Desart ilka blooming shore; Till the Fates, nae mair severe, Friendship, Love and Peace restore. Till Revenge, wi' laurell'd head, Bring our Banished hame again; And ilk loyal, bonie lad Cross the seas, and win his ain.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.