Lord Gregory
written in 1793
Lord Gregory - context Summary
Written in 1793
Composed in 1793, "Lord Gregory" belongs to Robert Burns’s late-period engagement with Scots ballad and song traditions. The poem stages a nocturnal appeal: a rejected woman seeks shelter and pleads with a once-promising lover who has hardened his heart. In context, the piece fits Burns’s habit of reworking traditional material into brief, dramatic narratives and songs intended for oral performance. Its simple, direct stanzas and urgent voice suit the popular ballad form of the era, making the poem both a personal lament and a conventional cautionary tale about love and betrayal.
Read Complete AnalysesO mirk, mirk is this midnight hour, And loud the tempest's roar: A waefu' wanderer seeks thy tower, Lord Gregory ope thy door. An exile frae her father's ha', And a' for loving thee; At least some pity on me shae, If love it may na be. Lord Gregory, mind'st thou not the grove, By bonie Irwine-side, Where first I own'd that virgin-love I lang, lang had denied. How aften didst thou pledge and vow, Thou wad for ay be mine; And my fond heart, itsel sae true, It ne'er mistrusted thine. Hard is thy heart, Lord Gregory, And flinty is thy breast: Thou dart of Heaven that flashest by, O wilt thou give me rest! Ye mustering thunders from above Your willing victim see! But spare, and pardon my fause Love, His wrangs to Heaven and me!
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