I Look to the North
written in 1796
I Look to the North - meaning Summary
Longing Toward the West
This short lyric expresses the speaker's geographic and emotional orientation: looking north, south, and east brings no comfort, but thoughts of the West bring peace. The West stands for the beloved who lives far away and whose presence blesses the speaker’s dreams and sleep. The concluding line identifies that beloved as the man dear to both the speaker and their child, adding intimacy and domestic stakes to the yearning. The poem is primarily about longing and consolation found in remembering a distant partner rather than in any particular landscape detail.
Read Complete AnalysesOut over the Forth, I look to the North, But what is the North and its Highlands to me; The South, nor the East, gie ease to my breast, The far foreign land, or the wide rolling sea: But I look to the West, when I gae to rest, That happy my dreams and my slumbers may be; For far in the West lives he I lo'e best, The man that is dear to my babie and me.
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