That happy night

Let's look at a poem by Burns today, and yes, I'm not just posting the text, I'm also blabbering about it afterwards  :)

The Rigs O' Barley 

By Robert Burns

It was upon a Lammas night,

When corn rigs are bonie,

Beneath the moon's unclouded light,

I held awa to Annie;

The time flew by, wi' tentless heed,

Till, 'tween the late and early,

Wi' sma' persuasion she agreed

To see me thro' the barley.

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,

An' corn rigs are bonie:

I'll ne'er forget that happy night,

Amang the rigs wi' Annie.

The sky was blue, the wind was still,

The moon was shining clearly;

I set her down, wi' right good will,

Amang the rigs o' barley:

I ken't her heart was a' my ain;

I lov'd her most sincerely;

I kiss'd her owre and owre again,

Amang the rigs o' barley.

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,

An' corn rigs are bonie:

I'll ne'er forget that happy night,

Amang the rigs wi' Annie.

I lock'd her in my fond embrace;

Her heart was beating rarely:

My blessings on that happy place,

Amang the rigs o' barley!

But by the moon and stars so bright,

That shone that hour so clearly!

She aye shall bless that happy night

Amang the rigs o' barley.

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,

An' corn rigs are bonie:

I'll ne'er forget that happy night,

Amang the rigs wi' Annie.

I hae been blythe wi' comrades dear;

I hae been merry drinking;

I hae been joyfu' gath'rin gear;

I hae been happy thinking:

But a' the pleasures e'er I saw,

Tho' three times doubl'd fairly,

That happy night was worth them a',

Amang the rigs o' barley.

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,

An' corn rigs are bonie:

I'll ne'er forget that happy night,

Amang the rigs wi' Annie.

One word I had to look up was Lammas, and it turns out that it means August 1.  It's amazing how specific the poem is:  It gives you the exact date, it tells you the lady's name, it shows you exactly what grew on the fields.

That is, the poem gives you specific details where it wants to give you specific details.  At other places---such as about what Annie and the poem's speaker looked like---it gives you ... that's right, there it gives you nothing  :)  The result is that, when reading the poem, you're forced to fill in those missing details yourself, for example by visualizing two people (real or fictitious) acting out the scene.  You could either imagine any two people other than yourself (and read the poem as a viewer) or---and this is the point---actually imagine yourself as one of the two people.  Had the poem described its dramatis personae, you'd have been restricted to a viewer's role; by withholding certain details, it lets you choose one of two possible roles.  It's almost as though it's two different poems in one!

I love the exquisite 'tween the late and early in the first stanza. 

I noticed how, in the fifth stanza (the third stanza if you don't count the refrain),  the speaker's blessings are on that happy place, whereas Annie should bless that happy night---I wonder what that should mean?

But how does an awesome poem end?  The speaker of the poem has already said multiple times (in the refrain) that he will ne'er forget that happy night,/Amang the rigs wi' Annie, and this is obviously not the kind of poem that would turn around and contradict such a protestation, so it needs a more intense statement of how unforgettable the night was.  And---for whatever reason---the honest Math of three times doubl'd fairly is not nearly intense enough by itself  :)  Enter the list I hae been blythe wi' comrades dear;/I hae been merry drinking;/I hae been joyfu' gath'rin gear;/I hae been happy thinking (he has been happy thinking?  Now that is a master's touch!).

A list, of course, can already be a great poem on its own.  Witness, for example, this gem by the contemporary Scottish poet Robert Crawford:

Honey

after a Gaelic lyric in the Book of the Dean of Lismore

Honey is the call of any bird;

Honey a human voice in the Land of Gold;

Honey a crane's song, and there is a heard

Honey Bun Da Threoir's waters hold.

Honey is the calling of the wind;

Honey the cuckoo's voice above Caise Con;

Honey in uncluttered, random sunlight,

Honey blackbirds' songs till sunset's gone.

Honey the eagle's cry at the Red Falls

Way above the Bay of Morna's Boy;

Honey the cuckoo's call beyond the thickets,

Honey is that pause in the crane's cry.

My father Finn MacCool had in his war-band

Seven squadrons ready to fight any

Man or beast; when we unleashed the deerhounds

They lept ahead, their baying pure wild honey.

Or you can enhance your list.  Burns is capping of his list with But a' the pleasures e'er I saw,/Tho' three times doubl'd fairly,/That happy night was worth them a',/Amang the rigs o' barley, turning the stanza into a priamel.

A priamel consists of a list of initial/secondary subjects that all serve as foils to a final/primary subject, which makes its appearance---as a counterpoint---right after the list.  The model example would be this old (at least as old as 1498) anonymous German poem:

Ich leb und waiß nit wie lang,

Ich stirb und waiß nit wann,

Ich far und waiß nit wahin:

Mich wundert, das ich frölich bin.

---or consider this English example from a popular movie song: 

Mavis and Sybil have ways that are winning,

And Prudence and Gwendolyn set your hearts spinning.

Phoebe's delightful; Maude is disarming;

Janice, Felicia, Lydia charming.

Cynthia's dashing; Vivian's sweet;

Stephanie's smashing; Priscilla a treat;

Veronica, Millicent, Agnes, and Jane

convivial company time and again.

Dorcas and Phyllis and Glynis are sorts

---I'll agree---are three jolly good sports.

But cream of the crop, tip of the top

Is Mary Poppins, and there we stop!

The effect should be obvious now  :)  And that is one way to end an awesome poem.