Sunday, September 29, 2013

Does the poem "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns support or negate that delight, unlike some emotions, increases when it is expressed?"A Red, Red...

'The Red, Red Rose' is a ballad, and though it is read as
a poem it is a  Scottish high-land ditty by origin, altered by Burns and meant to be
“played to tune” or sung. The poem is structured gradually from simple to overpowering
similes and metaphors moving the theme of love from a very simple visual satisfaction to
an eternal emotion that conquers time.


In the very first
stanza the poet expresses the delight or joy that he feels on first seeing his lady
love. He compares it to the joy a nature lover may feel at the sight of a blooming red
rose. In the very next two lines to conclude the stanza he says “Oh my luve is like the
melodie, /That's sweetly play'd in tune.” There is a suggestion here that his joy is
increased manifold when he speaks of his love and joy to his
lady.


There is a double meaning here, where the ‘sweetly
play’d in tune’ indicates the poem, which is also the expression of the poet’s emotion
of delight, as declared to the world.


In this very first
stanza Robert Burn supports that the emotion of delight increases when it is experessed.
Since with each passing stanza the feeling of love moves to a climax where it ultimately
is equal to challenge even the ravages of time, by the order of placement of expression
after sighting, the poet seems to indicate that on declaring of his joy/delight, the
feeling was further strengthened.

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