He Till't and She Till't
written in 1796
He Till't and She Till't - meaning Summary
Conception, Comic and Blunt
This short, playful Scots lyric depicts a couple’s blunt, comic attempt to conceive. Using earthy language and repetition, the speaker recounts vigorous sexual activity meant to “mak a laddie,” while the final line wryly reports failure to produce a daughter. The poem compresses a folk belief about sexual activity and procreation into a few brisk lines, mixing bawdy humor with plain narrative voice. Its tone is boisterous and unsentimental, offering a frank, folkloric glimpse of sex, fertility, and gender expectations in a rural register.
Read Complete AnalysesHe till't, and she till't, An' a' to mak a lad again; The auld beld carl, Whan he wan on did nod again; An' he dang, an' she flang, An' a' to mak a laddie o't; But he bor'd and she roar'd, An couldna mak a lassie o't.
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