by Jimmy Patrick

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2008

You know a poem has something special when a line from it is often used or paraphrased by people who have never even read the poem before. Robert Burns' "To A Mouse" contains the famous lines, "The best laid plans of mice and men..." and is a great example of what made him famous as the Scottish poet known as "Caledonia's Bard."

Though Burns educated himself by reading and studying on his own, the educated elite of his time praised him as a natural poet, a poet whose verse came from pure instinct as opposed to academic work. Burns enjoyed playing the role of natural poet, but he knew there was more to it than pure instinct.

The mood and general style of "To A Mouse" is simple and conversational. It reminds me a bit of more recent poets like Shel Silverstein or Dr. Seuss.

Each verse has a AAABAB rhyme scheme to it and each verse has a beautiful iambic meter. The poem starts with the following lines: "Wee, sleekit, cow'rin',tim'rous beastie/ O, what a panic's in thy breastie!" If you read it out loud a few times, you might be able to hear the Scottish accent creeping into your voice.

Though translations are available, I recommend foregoing them. Burns was a Scottish poet and the true sound of the poem has its best effect if read in the original Scottish dialect, just as Burns wrote it. There are only a few words that are hard to understand, but they really don't change the meaning of the poem, even for modern readers.

The famous line is in verse number seven: "But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,/ In proving foresight may be vain:/The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/ Gang aft a-gley,/An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,/ For promised joy."

The poem then ends with the declaration that a simple mouse cannot think of past and future and therefore is luckier than us humans. Burns seems to suggest the idea that, if we humans could perhaps quit crying over the past or worrying about the future, we might be happier with the present. A sage piece of wisdom written over 200 hundred years ago. No wonder people still like to paraphrase it.

Learn more about this author, Jimmy Patrick.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.