Lyric Poem · Nature
M’Pherson’s Farewell
by Robert Burns
1FAREWELL, ye dungeons dark and strong,
2 The wretch’s destinie!
3M’Pherson’s time will not be long
4 On yonder gallows-tree.
5Chorus.—Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
6 Sae dauntingly gaed he;
7He play’d a spring, and danc’d it round,
8 Below the gallows-tree.
9O, what is death but parting breath?
10 On many a bloody plain
11I’ve dared his face, and in this place
12 I scorn him yet again!
13 Sae rantingly, &c.
14Untie these bands from off my hands,
15 And bring me to my sword;
16And there’s no a man in all Scotland
17 But I’ll brave him at a word.
18 Sae rantingly, &c.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“M’Pherson’s Farewell” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/mphersons-farewell
Quick facts
- Poem
- M’Pherson’s Farewell
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 28 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Death & Loss, Spring
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
- 28 lines · 6 stanzas of 4–5 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 5-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
- Refrain
- “Sae rantingly, &c.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Burns1759–1796
- Source record
- PoetryDBM’Pherson’s Farewell by robert-burns, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 e4e478af19ec38b5…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.