Robert Burns

You're Welcome, Willie Stewart

written in 1796

You're Welcome, Willie Stewart - context Summary

Welcoming William Stewart, 1796

This short piece is a convivial welcome poem Robert Burns wrote in 1796 to greet his friend William (Willie) Stewart at Burns's home in Dumfries. It repeats a cheerful chorus to emphasize hospitality and celebration, urging drink and food and wishing ill-favored people to rue wrongs against Stewart. The tone is intimate, colloquial, and playful, reflecting Burns’s use of Scots idiom and his social life in Dumfries late in his career. The poem functions as a personal toast meant for a private gathering rather than a public manifesto.

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You're welcome, Willie Stewart, You're welcome, Willie Stewart, There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May, That's half sae welcome's thou art! Come, bumpers high, express your joy, The bowl we maun renew it, The tappet hen, gae bring her ben, To welcome Willie Stewart, You're welcome, Willie Stewart, You're welcome, Willie Stewart, There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May, That's half sae welcome's thou art! May foes be strang, and friends be slack Ilk action, may he rue it, May woman on him turn her back That wrangs thee, Willie Stewart, You're welcome, Willie Stewart, You're welcome, Willie Stewart, There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May, That's half sae welcome's thou art!

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