red red rose analysis

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O, my love is like a red, red rose

words by: Robert Burns

tune: traditional

O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

In this guide to 'O my love is like a red, red rose', I'll assume that this Robert Burns song is sung by a man:

Lines 1&2 verse 1:

O, my luve is like a red, red rose, luve = love (sounds as English ‘love’)
That's newly sprung in June.

A song of similes and metaphors on 'love'; some of which are not that jaw-droppingly good in isolation. Let's face it, the first two lines could be straight out of a valentine's card. But these words married to the traditional melody become a little masterpiece of a song; a concise description of true love.

In fact, as the song progresses, the quality of its 'love comparisons' grows as much as the 'depth of the love' described in the song itself as it progresses. Throughout the song, the expanse of the love 'grows' as the expanse of the similes and metaphors 'grow'..

And this is key to the full impact of the song.

His ' feelings of love' are compared to a flower (a red rose). In the bigger picture (which will come later in the song) the newly sprung rose is a tiny, new and fragile thing dependent on nature for its own short period of survival. Beautiful but vulnerable...and will perish...eventually...But this 'new' rose reflects the fresh emotion, beauty and excitement of the first stages of tender love blossoming.

And/Or He is describing the 'actual woman' he loves and comparing her to a rose etc.

A vowel rhyme 'newly' and 'June' (closed 'intimate' vowels)

Lines 3&4 verse 1:

O, my luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

His ‘feelings of love’ are compared to a melody, a more permanent fixture which can be replayed and explored over and over...and can survive by its own sweetness if cherished and looked after (in tune).

(You could interpret it as being 'the' melody of this tune i.e. My love is like a red, red rose).

And/Or He is describing the 'actual woman' he loves and comparing her to a melody etc.

Lines 1&2 verse 2:

As fair art thou, my bonie lass, bonie lass = lovely, pretty girl
So deep in luve am I,

Lines 3&4 verse 2:

And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry. gang = go

I'll translate just in case:

‘I am as much in love with you as you are beautiful’

This the first mention of the 'lass' he loves:

a love which is still vulnerable and has some superficiality still there.

(I've never been too fussed on the sentiment of that line, but the words sing beautifully)

The vowels are starting to open up: 'As' 'Fair' 'art' 'thou' 'lass' 'am' 'I'

And then, like sunshine through the clouds as if he has looked her in the eye/face and suddenly realised... I .. will .. still .. be .. loving .. you .. until .. the .. seas .. 'go .. dry'.

We are suddenly confronted with a love much more substantial and 'everlasting'. And, just to make sure we've taken that in, the line is repeated as the first line of the third verse. As if 'he' himself has also just taken in the sheer amount and depth of the love involved.

Worth mentioning I think: Till a' the seas. The a' instead of 'all' (but same vowel sound) sounds like the word 'awe' (I'm hoping that's deliberate!)

and the open vowels 'a' 'gang dry'

'and the rocks melt wi' the sun' (gorgeous!)

(It's in the right order too i.e. The sea would 'go dry' before the 'rocks (would in theory) melt with the sun' !

....and still the love grows....!

Lines 1&2 verse 3:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun! wi’ = with

The song now comes back down to earth a little as the promise of love 'while the sands o' life shall run' starts to involve some commitment before it gets too carried away in its own similes and metaphors:

We now have his promise of love and how it will endure whatever ‘the sands of life’ will inevitably throw at him.

It's a nice use of the word 'still' taken both as 'no matter what' and also 'still' as in 'calm' and helps to highlight a more warm, settled centring in the promise of his love for her.

Lines 3&4 verse 3:

And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

verse 4:

And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel, a while! a while = for a while
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile! Tho’ = though (even if)

Then the tender 'farewell' scene. As in the beginning of the song, the situation is 'smaller' and more intimate and one to one: 'my 'only' love'. And the promise that nothing will stop his return.

And indeed a little bit of gentle humour: 'not even ten thousand miles will stop me' ! (exclamation mark!) at the end. An indication of what he himself will go through to be there for her.

As pointed out also in the guide to 'Ye banks and braes' Burns uses a lot of the word 'and' at the beginnings of lines and in this song (Red, red rose) this has the effect of the love growing and growing, moving forward, each line an extension of the line before rather than qualifying it. 'And' provides the momentum for the love description to expand and move on to bigger and better things, taking the song forward with tension and excitement.

Some of the imagery is also fairly 'arid': dried up seas, rocks melting with the sun, sands o' life. This may be intentional on the part of Burns to highlight and contrast the 'lushness' of the 'love'.

My personal preference is that the 'O' is missed out at the beginning of lines one and three.

This song can be sung by either male or female (with a change to 'lad' instead of 'lass').

My understanding is that this is a folksong reworked by Robert Burns rather than a completely original work.

A guide to another Robert Burns song ‘O my luve is like a red, red rose’

We’re receiving a good few emails to this website regarding the Burns song guides. We’ll expand as time allows.

But remember:

This is not an official analysis, in depth essay or suchlike. It’s purely a guideline to maybe getting more out of the song ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ by Robert Burns.

Jean Nicolson

You can listen to part of Borealis’ version of ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ here:

Click here for your free! ‘Red, red rose’ pdf. sheet music for voice and piano (not the Borealis version)

My love is like a red, red rose

Go to the links page to buy the CD:

‘Borealis the songs of Robert Burns...in colour’

Click here for an analysis/guide to Robert Burns

‘The banks o’ Doon’ (Ye banks and braes)

Click here for an analysis/guide to Robert Burns

‘Ae fond kiss’

Click here for an analysis/guide to Robert Burns

‘The banks o’ Doon’ (Ye banks and braes)

Click here for an analysis/guide to Robert Burns

‘Ae fond kiss’

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