Jul 16, 2004 14:08
John Anderson My Jo
By: Robert Burns
John Anderson my jo, John,
When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonny brow was brent,
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your locks are like the snow;
But blessings on you frosty pow,
John Anderson my jo.
John Anderson my jo, John,
We clamb the hill thegither;
And mony a canty day John,
We’ve had wi’ ane anither:
Now we maun totter down, John,
And hand in hand we’ll go,
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson my jo.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker is obviously a woman, unless you know a female John. Jejeje. These two are now deep into their elder years. This woman is contrasting the man she loves, John, from his appearance when they were young together, and now as they are reaching their last years. The word, hill, is a symbol of the journey of life. Now we maun totter down, John,
And hand in hand we’ll go- As they start to become crippled .
To me there is something special about 2 people staying with each other till death, growing old together.
It’s soooo special, I hope to have that. This reminds me of Penelope and Odysseus though, the ending of the story upsets me b/c Penelope has aged gracefully over the years and here comes Odysseus restored to his big buff self before he left and I feel sorry for Penelope. Odysseus stripped them of the opportunity to grown old together.
Any mony a canty day John, We’ve had wi’ ane anither- this woman dwells of the positive times.
And sleep thegither at the foot - sleep refers to the eternal sleep of death.
Older couples, it seems, when one dies the other just has NOTHING to live for and usually, short after, follows.
Bobby Burns: The national poet of Scotland. He’s famous for his Scottish Brogue -yes!!!! Mr. Johnson.- you’re the MAN!!!