A Complementary Essay of: a Red Red Rose, Robert Burns

Complementary essay
A Red Red Rose, Robert Burns
A Red Red Rose written by Robert Burns is an intriguing poem. The poem’s subject matter generally deals with the speaker’s love towards a young lady beyond measures. The poem comprises of powerful themes, captivating imagery and thought provoking language patterns. The overall tone at the beginning of the poem is loving and fanciful, though towards the end it has a sense of longing, which impacts the reader by giving them positive thoughts and an overall happy mood.
Powerful themes are demonstrated throughout the poem. They include love, death and hope. For instance in stanza four, line one, where the poet states, “And fare thee weel, my only luve”, it expresses the speaker’s immense love and sorrow of having to part from the young lady. Also in stanza four, line three, the poet states, “And I will come again, my luve”. This line indicates that the speaker has hope in reuniting with the speaker’s one true love. The implementation of such themes suggests that the underlying message of this poem is that love is everlasting. It is clear that the themes expressed in this poem are love, death and hope.
Captivating imagery is used throughout the poem. There is an immense amount present throughout this poem, especially the rose. This is evident in stanza one, line one where it states ‘o my luve’s like a red, red rose’. The poet uses this simile to create an illustration in the mind of the reader, a picture of rose. A rose can be associated with many things, which include love, passion and romance. Also the colour red can also be related to passionate feelings. Therefore, it is safe to say that the fascinating imagery used in this poem of the rose and the colour red successfully painted a colourful canvas in the minds of the readers. The language patterns used throughout this poem creates an impact towards the reader in various ways. In stanza one and two, line one is an Iambic tetrameter and line two to four is an iambic tri-meter, but in stanza three and four, line two until four is neither an iambic tetrameter nor a tri-meter, but it rather consists of seven syllables, but line one to three is an iambic tetrameter still. The poet also uses a lot of repetition to bring this poem to life, this is clearly shown in in stanza four, line one and two where it states ‘and fare thee well’. This repetition impacts the reader by showing the reader the deep love the speaker felt for the one the speaker loves, such emphasis allows the reader to feel a connection with the speaker’s deep emotions towards the lady.
Ultimately, the poet’s usage of devices and language features such as repetition, metaphors, iambic tetrameter and iambic tri-meter were used effectively and adequately, in conveying the overall message of the poem. The poem was brilliant and it had a very deep meaning of love that will put a smile on anyone’s face. The imagery used in this poem was excellent and painted a perfect picture in the imagination of all its readers.