Ballad · Love
A Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burns · 1794
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 luve 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.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/a-red-red-rose
Quick facts
- Poem
- A Red, Red Rose
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Published
- 1794
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Ballad, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Love, For Her, Short
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 16 lines · 4 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 6-9 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on a United States term-expiry review; status can differ elsewhere.
- Author record
- Robert Burns1759–1796
- Source record
- QuillOak curated editionA Red, Red Rose (1794) by robert-burns
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1794
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 cf7c6a722835849c…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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