Inconstancy in Love
written in 1794
Inconstancy in Love - meaning Summary
Change as Natural Law
Burns addresses a woman’s complaint about male inconstancy by arguing that change is an inherent law of nature. He points to winds, skies, tides, celestial cycles, and seasons as evidence that instability and flux are universal. The speaker treats human fickleness as an extension of these natural rhythms, suggesting it is unreasonable to expect perpetual constancy. The tone is pragmatic and mildly consoling: men will be faithful "while we can," but expecting anything else contradicts Nature’s pattern. The poem reframes personal disappointment as part of a larger, inevitable order.
Read Complete AnalysesLet not Woman e'er complain Of inconstancy in love; Let not Woman e'er complain, Fickle Man is apt to rove: Look abroad through Nature's range, Nature's mighty law is CHANGE; Ladies would it not seem strange Man should then a monster prove. Mark the winds, and mark the skies; Oceans ebb, and oceans flow; Sun and moon but set to rise; Round and round the seasons go: Why then ask of silly Man, To oppose great Nature's plan? We'll be constant while we can You can be no more, you know.
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