Will Ye Na Can Ye Na Let Me Be
Will Ye Na Can Ye Na Let Me Be - context Summary
From the Merry Muses
This short, comic Scots song presents a bawdy rural scene centered on a teasing, resourceful wife of Whistle-cockpen. Using plain, colloquial language and a repeating refrain, the poem stages flirtation and sexual innuendo around domestic objects (flail, work gear) and a traveller’s presence. It treats desire as earthy, humorous, and pragmatic: the woman negotiates goods and favors with playful bargaining rather than sentiment. The tone and diction mark it as vernacular and convivial rather than solemn, placing it among Burns’s lighter, popular pieces in a collection of ribald songs.
Read Complete AnalysesThere liv'd a wife in Whistle-cockpen Will ye na can ye na let me be, She brews gude yill for gentleman, And ay she waggit it wantonlie. The night blew sair wi' wind and weet, Will ye na can ye na let me be, She shaw'd the traveller ben to sleep, And ay she waggit it wantonlie. She saw a sight below his sark, Will ye na can ye na let me be, She wadna wanted it for a mark, And ay she waggit it wantonlie. She saw a sight aboon his knee, Will ye na can ye na let me be, She wadna wanted it for three, And ay she waggit it wantonlie. O whare live ye, and what's your trade? Will ye na can ye na let me be, I am a thresher gude, he said, And ay she waggit it wantonlie. And that's my flail and workin' graith, Will ye na can ye na let me be, And noble tools, quo' she, by my faith! And ay she waggit it wantonlie. I wad gie a browst, the best I hae, Will ye na can ye na let me be, For a gude darge o' graith like thae, And ay she waggit it wantonlie. I wad sell the hair frae aff my tail, Will ye na can ye na let me be, To buy our Andrew siccan a flail, And ay she waggit it wantonlie.
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