Robert Burns “To A Mouse”
1) Read the section on Robert Burns on page 438
Written in “habbie” form: traditional in Scots dialect potry (after form of a folk elegy by
Robert Sempill for habbie Simson, a famous bagpiper)
2) Read “To A Mouse” on page 440
3) What is told in the epigraph?
4) What is suggested by the diminutive “ie” form of the adjectives (ex. Beastie, breastie).
5) In stanza two, why does the speaker use almost all standard English instead of Scottish dialect?
6) Explain the symbol in stanza 6 (remember the explanation of the change in farming practices
seen in the biography)
7) Why has line 39 become so famous?
8) How does the speaker’s point of view change in the last stanza?
9) Does this stanza alter our view of the speaker?
10) Sum up Burns’s message in the poem.
11) What is gained by using traditional Scottish dialect?
12) Given the biography and this poem, what do you think of Burns?
Robert Burns “To A Mouse”
1) Read the section on Robert Burns on page 438
Written in “habbie” form: traditional in Scots dialect potry (after form of a folk elegy by
Robert Sempill for habbie Simson, a famous bagpiper)
2) Read “To A Mouse” on page 440
3) What is told in the epigraph?
4) What is suggested by the diminutive “ie” form of the adjectives (ex. Beastie, breastie).
5) In stanza two, why does the speaker use almost all standard English instead of Scottish dialect?
6) Explain the symbol in stanza 6 (remember the explanation of the change in farming practices
seen in the biography)
7) Why has line 39 become so famous?
8) How does the speaker’s point of view change in the last stanza?
9) Does this stanza alter our view of the speaker?
10) Sum up Burns’s message in the poem.
11) What is gained by using traditional Scottish dialect?
12) Given the biography and this poem, what do you think of Burns?