17 pages • 34 minutes read
A Red, Red Rose
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Themes
The Supremacy of Love
The poem “A Red, Red Rose” can essentially be broken into two halves. In the first half, the speaker describes his love for his “bonnie lass” (Line 5). However, the second half elaborates on the extent and longevity of this love. As discussed in the “Symbols” section of this guide, all of the different descriptions share the same theme. The speaker states that he will love his “dear” (Line 7) until “a’ the seas gang dry” (Line 8) and until “the rocks melt wi’ the sun” (Line 10). His love and devotion will remain “[w]hile the sands o’ life shall run” (Line 12). All of these descriptions convey that love lasts forever, as oceans will never dry up, rocks will never melt in sunlight, and sand will never run out. Similarly, in the last line of the poem, the speaker tells his beloved that they will be reunited “[t]hough it were ten thousand mile” (Line 16). This exaggerated distance again demonstrates the extremity of the speaker’s love. No matter what, he will make his way back to his beloved, and his love will never end or run dry.
The Insignificance of Separation
While “A Red, Red Rose” is in part a proclamation of love, it is also a “plot” in a way, describing an obstacle lovers face and how they plan to overcome this roadblock. After the speaker describes his love and the extent of his devotion (how it will never end), the speaker says goodbye in the final stanza: “And fare thee weel, my only luve! / And fare thee weel awhile!” (Lines 13-14). Only in this last line do readers learn that the speaker and his beloved are parting ways. However, this separation is only temporary, as denoted by “awhile” (Line 14). The speaker even firmly declares, “And I will come again, my luve” (Line 15). Even though the pair must endure a temporary separation, his love will remain constant. Their physical bodies may not be in close proximity to one another, but the spirit of their love will endure until their separation ends. If their passion is eternal, then it can certainly endure a small separation, which serves as a minor obstacle in their love story.
The Constancy of Time
A subtext throughout “A Red, Red Rose” is the inevitable passage of time. The “red, red rose” (Line 1) to which the speaker compares his love is “newly sprung in June” (Line 2), which implies the change of seasons; the rose bloomed, but eventually all flowers fade. A “melody” (Line 3) will always come to an end. While the speaker’s “bonnie lass” may now be “[s]o fair” (Line 5), age inevitably creeps in to alter someone’s countenance. The speaker hints at events that may only happen in the future, such as when he states, “Till a’ the seas gang dry” (Line 8) and “And the rocks melt wi’ the sun” (Line 10). These descriptions imply the changing of the physical landscape over the course of time.
While the extreme changes described here may never come to pass, some change is inevitable. The image most evocative of the passage of time is perhaps, “While the sands o’ life shall run” (Line 12). This recalls the sand in an hourglass, which runs from one side to another, measuring the passage of time. This time inevitably has an “end,” though the exact moment is uncertain. With all of these references to time, the speaker claims that while time is a constant in life that cannot be escaped, the love between the speaker and his beloved is still strong enough to surpass any temporal constraints.
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By Robert Burns
