The Highland Widow's Lament
written in 1794
The Highland Widow's Lament - context Summary
After Culloden, 1794
Written in 1794, the poem adopts the voice of a Highland widow who has been dispossessed and driven "to the low Countrie" after the Jacobite defeat. It links personal loss — ruined cattle, wool, and the death of her husband Donald — to the larger catastrophe of Culloden and the mobilization for Bonnie Prince Charlie. The speaker contrasts former prosperity and community with present poverty and isolation, using repetitive lamentation to register communal dispossession and the emotional cost of political defeat. The poem situates private grief within the historical aftermath of the 1746 battle.
Read Complete AnalysesOh, I am come to the low Countrie, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Without a penny in my purse, To buy a meal to me. It was na sae in the Highland hills, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Nae woman in the Country wide Sae happy was as me. For then I had a score o' kye, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Feeding on yon hill sae high, And giving milk to me. And there I had three score o' yowes, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Skipping on yon bonie knowes, And casting woo' to me. I was the happiest of a' the Clan, Sair, sair may I repine; For Donald was the brawest man, And Donald he was mine. Till Charlie Stewart cam at last, Sae far to set us free; My Donald's arm was wanted then For Scotland and for me. Their waefu' fate what need I tell, Right to the wrang did yield; My Donald and his Country fell, Upon Culloden field. Ochon, O, Donald, Oh! Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Nae woman in the warld wide, Sae wretched now as me.
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