Lines on the Fall of Fyers, Near Loch Ness
written in 1787
Lines on the Fall of Fyers, Near Loch Ness - meaning Summary
Wild Cascade and Echo
Burns presents a vivid, physical description of a tumultuous waterfall and its surrounding landscape. The poem focuses on the movement and sound of the Fyers as it surges through a broken rock gap, plunges in sheets, and generates mist, spray, and an overwhelming echo. The language emphasizes sensory impact—the visual whiteness of falling water, the roaring and recoiling surges, and a brooding cavern—conveying nature’s raw power and relentless motion rather than narration or personal reflection. The scene feels both awe-inspiring and slightly menacing.
Read Complete AnalysesAmong the heathy hills and ragged woods The roaring Fyers pours his mossy floods; Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds, Where, thro' a shapeless breach, his stream resounds. As high in air the bursting torrents flow, As deep recoiling surges foam below, Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends, And viewless Echo's ear, astonished, rends. Dim-seen, through rising mists and ceaseless showers, The hoary cavern, wide-surrounding, lowers: Still thro' the gap the struggling river toils, And still, below, the horrid cauldron boils.
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