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Red Rose

Love Theme in Robert Burns’ a Red, Red Rose

July 16, 2022 by Essay Writer

This poem is about a man who has just found love for a woman and is describing how much he loves her. Robert Burns is known for writing about love. “Till all the seas go dry, my Dear, And the rocks melt with the sun!”(9-10). The speaker is the person who has an unconditional love for someone and the audience is the person he loves dearly. The phrase “Till all the seas go dry”(8) is used twice in the poem among other repetitions. “And fare you well”(13) Is used twice as well as “O,my love”(1). These phrases are echoed a line or two later, making it easy to listen to or read. This also helps the reader remember what is said which is another good attribute when confessing your love for someone.

The phrase “And I will”(7) is used twice in different sections of the poem to link everything together. The speaker uses a simile to say that “O, my love is like a red,red rose”(1). The poem is named after this first line and the stanza it is in uses two couplets that start with “O,my love is”(3). In these couplets the speaker elaborates on the first line. In the first couplet he writes about how beautiful his love looks because it is like a rose sprung in June. In the second couplet the speaker complements the first to write about how his love is like a beautiful song. In the second stanza the speaker says “As fair are you, my lovely lass, so deep in love am I. And I will love you still my dear, Till all the seas go dry”(5-8). The speaker changes from talking about how beautiful his love is in the first stanza to talking about how deep and unconditional it is. The speaker says that his love is deep, giving the imagery of being deep undersea.

By saying he will love her until the seas go dry, the speaker means that no matter what happens he will still love her. In the third and final stanza the speaker sums up everything he has said. He says that he will love her “Till all the seas go dry, my Dear, And the rocks melt with the sun!”(9-10) showing his unconditional love. His great love for her is illustrated when he states that she is “my only love”(13). The speaker continues on to say more about how much he loves her by saying that “I will come again,my Love, Although it were ten thousand mile!”(15-16). He is saying that no matter how far he will come back, giving her hope for his return. There is nothing that can stop him from coming back to her.

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