A Red Red Rose Analysis

1350 Words6 Pages
All famous poems are famous for a reason. The best are not simply written down, but there is a lot of process and thinking behind it. The poem “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns is a very popular poem, famous for his beautiful words and sound, which is done by using many key poetic devices to describe his eternal and passionate love. He describes his passion and emotion using a lot of imagery, symbolism, rhyme, and repetition which appeals to the senses including the heart which is why it can be truly considered one of the best poems ever written. Imagery is what poets use to appeal to a reader’s five senses; vision, smell, touch, taste, and sound. Burns uses several of these within his poem to describe his passion and emotion he feels towards his lover. He describes his love as a rose “That’s newly sprung in June; / my Luve's like the melodie/That’s sweetly play'd in tune.” (2-4 Burns). Not only does he appeal to the sense of vision of the rose springing out from the ground in a summer day of June, but also uses sound by describing a beautiful sweet melody which creates a sense of joy and pleasure to the mind. Burns also says he will love “Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,/And the rocks melt wi' the sun;” (9-10. Burns). These lines appeal to the sense of vision, touch, as well as taste. He creates an image of seas going dry, at the same time making the reader tastes a dry mouth. The rocks melting portrays a scorching heat which shows an image of rocks melting like metal. This imagery is intense, and is made so to express the amount of time he will dedicate to his love, and that he will wait until the impossible becomes possible. Burns creates this beautiful image that is pleasing and also intense to put the reader in his shoes, to describe his passion and unbreakable love he has. Structure of a poem is just as important as the content that is within it.
Open Document