My Nanie's Awa
written in 1794
My Nanie's Awa - meaning Summary
Seasonal Grief for Absence
The speaker mourns the departure of a loved one named Nanie by contrasting the usual cheer of the seasons with his personal sorrow. Spring and summer scenes—flowers, birds, and pastoral life—fail to lift him because they remind him of Nanie. He addresses birds and seasons directly, asking them to cease their rejoicing. Only the bleakness of autumn and winter seems appropriate to his mood; decline and cold mirror his emptiness. The poem presents absence as a lens that darkens even nature’s brightest moments.
Read Complete AnalysesNow in her green mantle blythe Nature arrays, And listens the lambkins that bleat o'er the braes, While birds warble welcomes in ilka green shaw; But to me it's delightless - my Nanie's awa. The snawdrap and primrose our woodlands adorn, And violets bathe in the weet o' the morn; They pain my sad bosom, sae sweetly they blaw, They mind me o' Nanie - and Nanie's awa. Thou lavrock that springs frae the dews of the lawn The shepherd to warn o' the grey-breaking dawn, And thou mellow mavis that hails the night-fa', Give over for pity - my Nanie's awa. Come Autumn, sae pensive, in yellow and grey, And soothe me wi' tydings o' Nature's decay: The dark, dreary Winter, and wild-driving snaw, Alane can delight me - now Nanie's awa.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.