What Will I Do Gin My Hoggie Die
written in 1788
What Will I Do Gin My Hoggie Die - context Summary
Composed in 1788
Written in 1788 and set in Burns’ Scots diction, the poem records a speaker’s anxious lament about the possible death of his "Hoggie," a cherished pig. It frames a single rural episode — a sleepless night beside the fold, eerie animal cries, foggy dawn, and a dog and tyke threatening the beast — to register small-scale loss and vulnerability in pastoral life. The short piece uses narrative immediacy and local speech to make a domestic worry feel vivid and communal rather than private.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat will I do gin my Hoggie die, My joy, my pride, my Hoggie: My only beast, I had nae mae, And vow but I was vogie. The lee-lang night we watch'd the fauld, Me and my faithfu' doggie; We heard nought but the roaring linn Amang the braes sae scroggie. But the houlet cry'd frae the Castle-wa', The blitter frae the boggie, The tod reply'd upon the hill, I trembled for my Hoggie. When day did daw and cocks did craw, The morning it was foggie; An unco tyke lap o'er the dyke And maist has kill'd my Hoggie.
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