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"To a mouse" By Robert Burns
A poem I have read recently in class is "To a mouse" by Robert Burns. Robert Burns is generally considered a Romantic poet. The Romantics believed that inner truths about life could be discovered through the contemplation of nature. "To a mouse" is an example of such contemplation. Throughout this essay I am going to explain my understanding of the true meaning of this poem and show how even now it still relates to all of us.
"To a mouse" is an eight-stanza poem in the form of an address, which means that the speaker talks directly to a mouse throughout the poem. The poem is very carefully constructed and is written using the Burns stanza. There is a rhyme scheme within the poem AAABAB, and all the'A' lines have eight or nine syllables while the'B' lines have five or six syllables. This tells us the poem has been put together very precisely.
The poem is about the speaker who was ploughing his field in late November when he destroyed a mouse's nest. The poem describes his guilt and empathy towards the mouse and how he understands the mouse's situation in that the mouse cannot make a new nest because winter is nearing and there is nothing left to make a shelter with.
The first stanza begins when the nest is destroyed. The terrified mouse runs away for safety while the speaker tells the mouse not to be scared, as he is not the kind of man to kill such an innocent creature. We know that the speaker has no intention of hurting the mouse from the line "I wad be laith to rin and chase thee, wi murdering pattle!". In this stanza there is a sympathetic tone. Also the use of diminutives "beastie" and "breastie" convey how small and vulnerable the mouse is, while also providing us with an image of the mouse. The effect on the reader of the description of the mouse is to make us sympathetic. The reader sympathises with the mouse because his home has been destroyed and there is little else to make a new one to shelter him through the winter months.
In stanza two there is an apologetic tone showing empathy towards the mouse. The speaker apologises due to the fact that the world of people is invading and upsetting the natural balance of nature. He says the mouse is right and justified in being afraid as humans are and have been destructive of nature
"I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken nature's social union,"
In stanza three the speaker tells of the mouse's right to co-exist. The speaker acknowledges that the mouse will eat some of his crop, but this is okay as the mouse has to live as well and it is such a small amount that the mouse takes that the speaker would not miss it, as he has more than enough for himself anyway.
Stanza four shows how the mouse's house has been destroyed and is blowing away in the wind.
"Tha wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa's the wins are strewin!"
There is also now nothing left for the mouse to use to build a new nest and winter is approaching. This, again, encourages the reader to sympathise with the mouse.
In the next stanza the speaker imagines the mouse's motives in building its nest and preparing for winter the mouse saw winter approaching and planned the nest as a shelter against the elements. The nest is then completely destroyed due to an accident of fate, which leaves the mouse in a dreadful position, despite its careful preparation.
In stanza six the speaker acknowledges how hard the mouse has worked and prepared for the winter months but all its preparations and careful planning were in vain. The speaker says that people are sometimes just like the mouse in that plans they make can sometimes go wrong. Things that are potentially enjoyable can occasionally go wrong and cause us misfortune.
In the final two stanzas of the poem there is an introduction of a philosophical tone. Robert Burns tries to teach us a lesson that no matter how much we plan your life and prepare, we never know what will happen, and you should take each day as it comes.
"In proving foresight may be vain
The best-laid schemes o mice an men, Gang aft agley"
In the last stanza the speaker now highlights an important difference between himself and the mouse whereas the mouse lives instinctively, the speaker, like us, is able to consider and remember past misfortunes and learn from them. The speaker then states he is fearful of the future.
"An forward, tho I canna see,
I guess in fear! "
Here he shows that he is worried of what the future holds and can only guess what may happen.
The first time I read this poem, I thought nothing of it, now I have considered it and studied it more closely I realise it says a lot more than it did at first glance and I have come to enjoy the poem more. It has a good lesson about life within it. My understanding of the poem is that it tells the reader to live life each day as it comes and not to plan and organise our lives to the last detail. I believe life should be lived in the moment and not in the past or spent worrying what the future holds. Instead, therefore, I can remember the past fondly and look forward to the future with hope.
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