O Saw Ye My Maggie
O Saw Ye My Maggie - meaning Summary
Playful Erotic Affection
This short Scots lyric presents a speaker searching for and celebrating his Maggie. In plain, repetitive questions and answers he describes a physical identifying mark and promises intimate, secret pleasures reserved for himself. The tone mixes playful eroticism with sincere devotion, moving from teasing identification to private rapture and worshipful adoration. The poem’s dialect and straightforwardness foreground bodily detail and personal longing. The exact identity of Maggie is uncertain, but the piece fits the convivial, ribald collection in which it appears and reflects Burns’s interest in earthy, affectionate portrayals of love.
Read Complete AnalysesSaw ye my Maggie? Saw ye my Maggie? Saw ye my Maggie? Comin oer the lea? What mark has your Maggie, What mark has your Maggie, What mark has your Maggie, That ane may ken her be? My Maggie has a mark, You'll find it in the dark, It's in below her sark, A little aboon her knee. What wealth has your Maggie, What wealth has your Maggie, What wealth has your Maggie, In tocher, gear, or fee? My Maggie has a treasure, A hidden mine o' pleasure, I'll howk it at my leisure, It's alane for me. How loe ye your Maggy, How loe ye your Maggy, How loe ye your Maggy, And loe nane but she? Ein that tell our wishes, Eager glowing kisses, Then diviner blisses, In holy ecstacy! How meet ye your Maggie, How meet ye your Maggie, How meet ye your Maggie, When nane's to hear or see? Heavenly joys before me, Rapture trembling o'er me, Maggie I adore thee, On my bended knee!!!
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