August 27 The Harvard Classics, fifteen minutes a day

Priceless Treasures of Memory

Robert Burns, Poems and Songs and Robert Burns, Poems and Songs and Robert Burns, Poems and Songs and Robert Burns, Poems and Songs · about 5 minutes

“A man’s a man for a’ that.” “Should auld acquaintance be forgot.” “To see her is to love her and love but her forever.” “Flow gently, sweet Afton.” Every stanza of Burns is treasured. How many have you stored up?

From the 1930 Reading Guide

Poems and Songs

Robert Burns

Page 317 opens with the last stanza of “It is na, Jean, thy bonie face”; the reading starts at “Auld Lang Syne”.

AULD LANG SYNE

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,And never brought to mind?Should auld acquaintance be forgot,And auld lang syne!
Chorus.—For auld lang syne, my dear,For auld lang syne.We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!And surely I’ll be mine!And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,For auld lang syne.For auld, &c.
We twa hae run about the braes,And pou’d the gowans fine;But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,Sin’ auld lang syne.For auld, &c.
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,Frae morning sun till dine;But seas between us braid hae roar’dSin’ auld lang syne.For auld, &c.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!And gie’s a hand o’ thine!And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,For auld lang syne.For auld, &c.

Volume 6, page 317 · See the scanned page on archive.org

Poems and Songs

Robert Burns

Page 417 opens with the end of another poem; the reading starts at “MY BONIE BELL”.

MY BONIE BELL

THE smiling Spring comes in rejoicing,And surly Winter grimly flies;Now crystal clear are the falling waters,And bonie blue are the sunny skies.Fresh o’er the mountains breaks forth the morning,The ev’ning gilds the ocean’s swell;All creatures joy in the sun’s returning,And I rejoice in my bonie Bell.
The flowery Spring leads sunny Summer,The yellow Autumn presses near;Then in his turn comes gloomy Winter,Till smiling Spring again appear:Thus seasons dancing, life advancing,Old Time and Nature their changes tell;But never ranging, still unchanging,I adore my bonie Bell.

SWEET AFTON

FLOW gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes,Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise;My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro’ the glen,Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,Thou green-crested lapwing thy screaming forbear,I charge you, disturb not my slumbering Fair.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,Far mark’d with the courses of clear, winding rills;There daily I wander as noon rises high,My flocks and my Mary’s sweet cot in my eye.
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow;There oft, as mild Ev’ning weeps over the lea,The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.
Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,And winds by the cot where my Mary resides;How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes,Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

“Sweet Afton,” which begins low on page 417 and is quoted in the guide’s note for this day, is read to its end on page 418 (twelve lines).

Volume 6, page 417 · See the scanned page on archive.org

Poems and Songs

Robert Burns

Page 442 opens with the end of another poem; the reading starts at “LOVE FOR LOVE”.

LOVE FOR LOVE

ITHERS seek they ken na what,Features, carriage, and a’ that;Gie me love in her I court,Love to love maks a’ the sport.
Let love sparkle in her e’e;Let her lo’e nae man but me;That’s the tocher-gude I prize,There the luver’s treasure lies.

SAW YE BONIE LESLEY

O SAW ye bonie Lesley,As she gaed o’er the Border?She’s gane, like Alexander,To spread her conquests farther.
To see her is to love her,And love but her for ever;For Nature made her what she is,And never made anither!
Thou art a queen, fair Lesley,Thy subjects, we before thee;Thou art divine, fair Lesley,The hearts o’ men adore thee.
The deil he could na scaith thee,Or aught that wad belang thee;He’d look into thy bonie face,And say—“I canna wrang thee!”
The Powers aboon will tent thee,Misfortune sha’na steer thee;Thou’rt like themselves sae lovely,That ill they’ll ne’er let near thee.
Return again, fair Lesley,Return to Caledonie!That we may brag we hae a lassThere’s nane again sae bonie.

“Saw Ye Bonie Lesley,” which begins low on page 442 and is quoted in the guide’s note for this day, is read to its end at the top of page 443 (four lines).

Volume 6, page 442 · See the scanned page on archive.org

Poems and Songs

Robert Burns

A MAN’S A MAN FOR A’ THAT

Tune—“For a’ that.”
Is there for honest PovertyThat hings his head, an’ a’ that;The coward slave—we pass him by,We dare be poor for a’ that!For a’ that, an’ a’ that.Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that;Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;A Man’s a Man for a’ that:For a’ that, and a’ that,Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that:The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,He’s but a coof for a’ that:For a’ that, an’ a’ that,His ribband, star, an’ a’ that:The man o’ independent mindHe looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that;But an honest man’s aboon his might,Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!For a’ that, an’ a’ that,Their dignities an’ a’ that;The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may,(As come it will for a’ that,)That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.For a’ that, an’ a’ that,It’s coming yet for a’ that,That Man to Man, the world o’er,Shall brothers be for a’ that.

The poem’s last stanza is on page 512; the reading runs on to it (eight lines).

Volume 6, page 511 · See the scanned page on archive.org

This is the reading for August 27 in Fifteen Minutes a Day: The Reading Guide (1930 edition), page 70. There the assignment reads “Vol. 6, pp. 317–317” and “Vol. 6, pp. 417–417” and “Vol. 6, pp. 442–442” and “Vol. 6, pp. 511–511.” Read it in the guide.

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