Robert Burns

The Reel O' Stumpie

The Reel O' Stumpie - meaning Summary

A Playful Dance-song

This short Scots song presents a lively, celebratory speaker who revels in dance and family life. In plain, colloquial voice the narrator invokes a rhythmic refrain Wap and rowe and names relatives—"daddie" the fiddler and "minnie" the maker of manties—before declaring herself a "thumpin quine" who danced the Reel o' Stumpie. The poem is essentially a snapshot of communal joy, music, and youthful energy, using dialect and repetition to convey movement, local color, and spirited confidence.

Read Complete Analyses

Wap and rowe, wap and rowe, Wap and rowe the feetie o't, I thought I was a maiden fair, Till I heard the greetie o't! My daddie was a fiddler fine, My minnie she made mantie, O, And I myself a thumpin quine, And danc'd the Reel o' Stumpie, O.

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