Poetry of Robert Burns - Book Report/Review Example

In the poem, The Winter Night, Burns gives a record of his account with an evening in the bitter chill of winter. Burns refers to winter as "O' winter war" (16) to perhaps portray the furious winter as battle he must endure, until another season that is, as he writes: "Ilk happening bird,-wee, helpless thing! / That, in the merry months o' spring, / Delighted me to hear thee sing," (19-21). Moreover, Burns's moment in winter seems to provoke a rather thoughtful and insightful reflection, as we find in his poem, Winter, when he writes: "The leafless trees my fancy please, / Their fate resembles mine!" (15-16). Burns's reflection of himself through "the leafless trees" (15) symbolizes that his nature is continuously changing.

The rhyming pattern used in the lines of the poem flow rather beautifully together giving it a singing tone; hence, we find this in Burns's poetry because he intended to, as it has been stated: "to extol his native land in poetry and song" (Sitter 33). One final thing we can learn about Burns from this poem is that, winter of all seasons seems to be his least favorite, as he emphasizes the "pride of May" (12) while referring to winter as "The joyless winter day" (10). In the extract from the famously written poem, The Jolly Beggars, we are once again prevailed by nature and the notion of winter, but Burns opens the stanza with vibrant rhythm in the chilling movement of winter in the use of the words "Boreas' blast" (3) "hailstones" (4) "bitter skyte" (4) "infant frosts" (5) and 'bite" (5).

The poem, Halloween, though a bit obscure, has a meaning extending from Burn's experience with this newly Christian tradition: "Whyles glitter'd to the nightly ray's, / Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;" (5-6). There is a good use of personification here, but the images overall depict the proceedings of the infamous holiday known as, Halloween. In, The Brigs of Ayr, as with many of Burns poems, brings to life the traditional culture he was often accustomed to. Ayr is an old Scottish town, which has an "AULD BRIG" (1) or bridge as we understand, and Burns uses an impeccable use of imagery in describing it: "When heavy, dark, continued, a'-day rains, / Wi' deepening deluges o'erflow the plains;" (2-3).

Moreover, Burns's use of imagery, detail and rhyme pattern is utilized well here in the following lines, as he describes the surroundings of the old bridge: When from the hills where springs the brawling Coil, Or stately Lugar's mossy fountains boil; Or where the Greenock winds his moorland course. Or haunted Garpal draws his feeble source, Aroused by blustering winds an' spotting thowes, In mony a torrent down the snaw-broo rowes; While crashing ice, borne on the rolling spate, (Burns 114-120)In Burns poems we find an array of images that depict his rather ingenious sense of observation, it almost seems as if he never misses a moment, and is open to all of his native land with a feeling of passion that is evident in his writing.

In the, Epistle to Mrs. Scot, the reading of the second stanza depicts the enduring loyalty Burns had for his native culture, and he opens the stanza implying nothing less than his present desires: "E'en