oom may forget the bride
Was made his wedded wife yestreen;
The monarch may forget the crown
That on his head an hour has been;
The mother may forget the child
That smiles sae sweetly on her knee;
But I'll remember thee, Glencairn,
And a' that thou hast done for me!"

But--it is only honest to speak one's opinion and to hope, if it be
wrong, for a better mind--I do _not_ find poetry of any high order
either in "Scots wha hae" or "A man's a man for a' that." The former
seems to me to be very fine rant--inspired rant, if you will--hovering
on the borders of poetry. The latter, to be frank, strikes me as
rather poor rant, neither inspired nor even quite genuine, and in no
proper sense poetry at all. And "J.B." simply bewilders my Southron
intelligence when he quotes it as an instance of deeply emotional
song.

"Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, and stares, and a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
His riband, star and a' that.
The man of independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a' that."

The proper attitude, I should imagine, for a man "of independent mind"
in these circumstances--assuming for the moment that ribands and stars
_are_ bestowed on imbeciles--would be a quiet disdain. The above
stanza reminds me rather of ill-bred barking. People of assured
self-respect do not call other people "birkies" and "coofs," or "look
and _laugh_ at a' that"--at least, not so loudly. Compare these
verses of Burns with Samuel Daniel's "Epistle to the Countess of
Cumberland," and you will find a higher manner altogether--

"He that of such a height hath built his mind,
And reared the dwelling of his thoughts so strong,
As neither fear nor hope can shake the frame
Of his resolved powers; nor all the wind
Of vanity and malice pierce to wrong
His settled peace, or to disturb the same;
What a fair seat hath he, from whence he may
The boundless wastes and wilds of men survey?

"And with how free an eye doth he look down
Upon these lower regions of turmoil?" ...

As a piece of thought, "A man's a man for a' that" unites the two
defects of obviousness and inaccuracy. As for the deep feeling, I
hardly see where it comes in--unless it be a feeling of wounded and
blatant but militant self-esteem. As for the _poetry_--well, "J.