A Red, Red Rose Examples

The rose is a symbol often associated with love. A red rose, specifically, is associated with romantic love. The poem "A Red, Red Rose" was written by Robert Burns, a Scottish poem, in the late 1700's. This is the full text of the poem:

O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That's sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.

Burns uses simile to compare the speaker's "Luve," or the person that he loves, to a newly bloomed red rose in the first two lines. The speaker goes on to compare his "Luve" to a "melody" that is played in tune. Both of these similes point out the perfection of his Love-she is fresh and beautiful, as well as perfect in "tune," which could be construed to mean perfect in composition.

In the second stanza he describes his "luve" (lowercase now that he is referring to the emotion and not the person) has deep and enduring-lasting "till a' the seas gang dry." The third stanza is more of the same, as he says his love will last until "the rocks melt wi' the sun" and "while the sands o' life shall run. In the final stanza, he is saying goodbye to his love, but says he will come again "though it were ten thousand mile." The speaker expresses that he would make his way back to his beloved even from a long distance. All of these uses of hyperbole, or exaggeration, help the speaker to express the intensity of his love.