My love is a red red rose

Robert burns

Brief Introduction of BurnsBorn: 25 January 1759 Alloway ,Ayrshire,Scotland 英国苏格兰西南部 埃尔郡阿洛韦村庄 Died: 21 July 1796 Dumfries, Scotland英国苏格兰南部旧郡 : 敦夫里斯Occupation: Ploughman 农夫 Poet, lyricist 抒情诗人Nationality: Scottish

Robert burns is regarded as a pioneer （先驱） of the Romantic movement（浪漫主义运动：十八世纪末及十九世纪初西欧掀起的文学艺术运动） , and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism（自由主义） and socialism（社会主义） .

Influence

Eglinton Country Park

Burns’ cottage in Alloway, Scotland

Robert Burns was a peasant poet in Scotland. He wrote over 200 poems in Scottish dialect on the themes of politics, patriotism and love. This short lyric A Red, Red Rose is the most famous of his love poems. The speaker (it might or might not be the poet himself) professes his true love for his beloved girl.

His Life

Adapted from a Scottish ballad

苏格兰民谣改编

4 quatrainsStructure:

A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

Stanza 1:

1 O my luve is like a red, red rose,2 That's newly sprungsprung in June;

spring v. 开放

Britain’s climate is cold. Flowers aren’t

in bloom till June.

3 O my luve is like the melodie4 　 That's sweetly played in tune.

=melody, music

和谐

These 2 lines describe her pretty appearance.

Lines 3 & 4 praise her fine characters 温柔的性格 .

The man’s sweetheart is very pretty.

Stanza 2:

11 AsAs fair art thou, my bonnie lass,2 　 SoSo deep in luve am I;

=as…as… pretty prettygirl

3And I will luve thee still, my dear, 4 Till a' the seas gang dry.

You are as pretty, my dear girl, as I deeply love you.

all

go, become

The man pledges true love for her.

Stanza 3:

1 Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,2 And the rocks melt wi' the sun;3 And I will luve thee still , my dear,4 While the sands o' life shall run.

with

The ancient Europeans used a sandglass (or hourglass) to measure thetime. When all the sand in the glass was gone, it was the end of an hour. Here it is a hyperbole to say that the man’s life is measured by a sand glass. While he lives he’ll always love her.

sandglass

The man promises eternal love for her.

Stanza 4:

1 And farefare thee weelweel, my only luve,2 　 And fare thee weel a while;3 And I will come again, my luve,4 　 Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

farewell:say “Goodbye” to you=well

=though(Scottish)=miles

Summary: While stanza 1 is an introduction about her beauty, the next 3 describe his love for her from 3 dimensions: depth, length and distance.

The man vows to love her however far he may go.

The odd spellings in Scottish dialect:

1:1 luve: love 1:3 melodie: melody

2:1 bonnie: bonny 2:4 a’: all

3:2 wi’: with 3:4 o’: of

4:1 weel: well; 4:4 tho’: though, mile:miles

Summary( 概要 ) Stanza 1 The speaker presents two similes （明喻） , the first comparing his love to a rose and the second comparing his love to a melody( 美妙的歌曲 ). Stanza 2 The speaker addresses the young lady as bonnie (pretty). In the last line of the stanza, he present hyperbole( 夸张 ), a figure of speech that exaggerates. note: Bonnie is derived from the French word bon (good)Summary, Stanza 3 The man promises eternal love for her. Summary, Stanza 4 The man vows to love her however far he may go.

Format ( 格式 ) Burns wrote the poem in four quatrains (four-line stanzas) with the following characteristicsnote ： quatrains 四行诗 stanzas 诗的一节

Rhyme （韵脚） In each stanza, the second and fourth lines end with masculine rhyme （阳韵） . Rhyme also occurs （重现） in a repeated word at the end of the first and third lines of the third and fourth stanzas.

Meter （韵律） iambic tetrameter （四音步抑扬格） in lines 1&3 O,/ mÿ lùve/ īs lìke/ ā rèd,/ rēd ròse,/

iambic trimeter （三音步抑扬格） in lines2&4 /Thāt’s nèw/ lÿ sprùng / īn jùne./

Theme( 主题 ) a man professes his true love for his beloved girl

O, my Luve's like a red, red rose 啊，我的爱人像朵红红的玫瑰

That‘s newly sprung in June. 六月里迎风初开

O, my Luve's like a melody. 啊，我的爱人像支甜甜的曲子

That‘s sweetly played in tune. 奏得合拍又和谐

As fair as you, my bonnie lass, 我的好姑娘，多么美丽的人儿

So deep in luve am I; 请看我，多么深挚的爱情

And I will luve you still, my dear, 亲爱的，我永远爱你

Till all the seas gone dry. 纵使大海干涸水流尽

翻译：王佐良=love

Till all the seas gone dry, my dear, 纵使大海干涸水流尽

And the rocks melt with the sun; 太阳将岩石烧作灰尘

I will luve you till, my dear, 亲爱的，我永远爱你 While the sands of life shall run. 只要我一息犹存

And fare you well, my only luve 珍重吧，我唯一的爱人

And fare you well, a while! 珍重吧，让我们暂时别离

And I will come again, my luve, 但我定要回来Though it were ten thousand mile. 哪怕千里万里！