https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox4K8bJzHNg&feature=youtu.be

 

“A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns is a love ballad written in 1794 in Burns’ native Scots dialect. The poem has four stanzas each with four lines and with a rhyme scheme of ABCB. The longer lines are in iambic tetrameter while the shorter ones are iambic trimester.  Throughout the poem there are examples of similes and alliteration. The first stanza’s images and video try to evoke a sense of young, fresh, harmonious love between Burns and his lover, featuring a short clip of a young boy serenading a young girl with a guitar.  The second stanza shows how much Burns loves the lass. He says she is as beautiful as he has love for her. He also says he will love her “Till a’ the seas gang dry”, meaning he will love her until the seas are dry which is meant to say he will love her forever. The infinity symbol with the heart represents his infinite love for her, while the rough Scottish waves are meant to show the timelessness of the sea and by comparison the timelessness of his love for her. The third stanza says again that he will love her until the seas dry out. He also says that he will love her until “… the rocks melt wi’ the sun”, again trying to show how infinite his love for her is. The image for this is a sunset meant to bring to mind the eternal sun melting rocks slowly. By saying he will love her “While the sands o’ life shall run”, he is saying how as long as there is life he will love her. The clock in the sand is meant to represent the ever present threat of time, but also the eternity that is time.  The fourth stanza does not focus on how much he loves her but instead tell the lass that even though he has to leave he wishes her well and that he will come back even if he has to travel ten thousand miles. The first image represents marriage to show how devoted they are to each other. The last two images are two lovers embracing, this is meant to show how even though they must be apart they will be together and happy again. The song in the background is La Vie en Rose covered by Daniela Andrade and is to showcase the pureness and timelessness of the poem’s love story.