To a Mouse
In 1785, Robert Burns authored the poem "To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough".
The following is the full text of the poem, along with notes on interpretation. Please note that the interpretation used here is only one of potentially many.
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
| The speaker discovers a mouse and expresses empathy toward it.
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I'm truly sorry man's dominion,
Has broken nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!
| The speaker apologizes to the mouse for humanity's "dominion" over other species.
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I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request;
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!
| The speaker expounds on humanity's dominion and continues to commiserate. Then, he or she looks at the mouse's old place of residence and realizes that after he or she has destroyed it, the mouse may have no other place in which to live.
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Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell-
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.
That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!
| The commiseration continues, with a realization that all of the mouse's work has gone for naught.
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But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
| The speaker says mice and men are similar.
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Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e.
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
| While mice tend to be concerned only with the present, humans are concerned with the past and the future.
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According to this interpretation, the theme of "To a Mouse" might be that mice and men are similar, because their plans often go awry through no fault of their own.
