Thine Am I, My Chloris Fair
written in 1794
Thine Am I, My Chloris Fair - meaning Summary
Unabashed Lover's Devotion
Robert Burns presents a speaker who declares total, physical and emotional surrender to his beloved Chloris. The poem registers bodily signs of passion — pulse, heart, lips, eyes — as evidence of overwhelming desire and willingness to endure anguish for love. The speaker alternates pleading and exaltation: he begs closeness even as its intensity threatens him, then generalizes love into a life-giving force. The closing image casts love as a "cloudless summer sun," suggesting that without love existence is bleak and diminished, with love restoring pleasure and meaning.
Read Complete AnalysesThine am I, my Chloris fair, Well thou may'st discover; Every pulse along my veins Tells the ardent Lover. To thy bosom lay my heart, There to throb and languish: Tho' Despair had wrung its core, That would heal its anguish. Take away these rosy lips, Rich with balmy treasure: Turn away thine eyes of love, Lest I die with pleasure! What is Life when wanting Love? Night without a morning: Love's the cloudless summer sun, Nature gay adorning.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.