The Seventh of November
written in 1788
The Seventh of November - meaning Summary
Celebrating a Remembered Meeting
Burns' short lyric recalls a single joyful meeting and the sustained love that arose from it. The speaker contrasts the remembered day’s warmth and sweetness with harsh winter and material grandeur, arguing that the personal bond outvalues earthly power and wealth. The poem links abiding emotional devotion to nature’s pleasures and frames separation and death as the only real threats: mortality’s "iron hand" can sever the union and crush his happiness. Overall it is a plain, heartfelt celebration of romantic memory and the vulnerability of human attachment.
Read Complete AnalysesThe day returns, my bosom burns, The blissful day we twa did meet: Tho' Winter wild, in tempest toil'd, Ne'er simmer-sun was half sae sweet. Than a' the pride that loads the tide, And crosses o'er the sultry Line; Than kingly robes, than crowns and globes, Heav'n gave me more - it made thee mine. While day and night can bring delight, Or Nature aught of pleasure give; While Joys Above, my mind can move, For Thee, and Thee alone, I live! When that grim foe of life below Comes in between to make us part; The iron hand that breaks our Band, It breaks my bliss - it breaks my heart!
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