Lyric Poem · Life
Sic a Wife as Willie had
by Robert Burns
1WILLIE WASTLE dwalt on Tweed,
2 The spot they ca’d it Linkumdoddie;
3Willie was a wabster gude,
4 Could stown a clue wi’ ony body:
5He had a wife was dour and din,
6 O Tinkler Maidgie was her mither;
7Sic a wife as Willie had,
8 I wad na gie a button for her!
9She has an e’e, she has but ane,
10 The cat has twa the very colour;
11Five rusty teeth, forbye a stump,
12 A clapper tongue wad deave a miller:
13A whiskin beard about her mou’,
14 Her nose and chin they threaten ither;
15Sic a wife as Willie had,
16 I wadna gie a button for her!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sic a Wife as Willie had” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/sic-a-wife-as-willie-had
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sic a Wife as Willie had
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 32 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Life
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
- 32 lines · 4 octaves
- Line length
- Lines run 7-9 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
- Refrains
- “Sic a wife as Willie had,”“I wadna gie a button for her!”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
- PoetryDBSic a Wife as Willie had 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 54fb1358b8daaedb…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.