Had I the Wyte She Bade Me
written in 1796
Had I the Wyte She Bade Me - meaning Summary
Seduction and Social Excuse
In this playful first-person ballad, a narrator recounts being urged into a woman’s house for a secret tryst. He describes her coaxing at the gate, her warnings about a quarrelsome neighbor or husband "o'er ayont the water," and his own professed inability to refuse without losing face. When an aggressive husband is used as justification, the speaker defends his behaviour as natural and unavoidable. The poem blends humor, sexual frankness, and local dialect to depict rural courtship, social excuses, and the narrator’s boastful retelling of a night of passion.
Read Complete AnalysesHad I the wyte, had I the wyte, Had I the wyte, she bade me; She watch'd me by the hie-gate-side, And up the loan she shaw'd me. And when I wad na venture in, A coward loon she ca'd me: Had Kirk and State been in the gate, I'd lighted when she bade me. Sae craftilie she took me ben, And bade me mak nae clatter; 'For our ramgunshoch, glum Goodman 'Is o'er ayont the water:' Whae'er shall say I wanted grace, When I did kiss and dawte her, Let him be planted in my place, Syne, say, I was the fautor. Could I for shame, could I for shame, Could I for shame refus'd her; And wad na Manhood been to blame, Had I unkindly us'd her! He claw'd her wi' the ripplin-kame, And blae and bluidy bruis'd her; When sic a husband was frae hame, What wife but wad excus'd her? I dighted aye her een sae blue, An' bann'd the cruel randy, And weel I wat her willin mou Was sweet as succarcandie. At glomin-shote, it was, I wat, I lighted on the Monday; But I cam thro' the Tiseday's dew, To wanton Willie's brandy.
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