Lyric Poem · Nature
Sonnet on the Author’s Birthday
by Robert Burns
1SING on, sweet thrush, upon the leafless bough,
2 Sing on, sweet bird, I listen to thy strain,
3 See aged Winter, ’mid his surly reign,
4At thy blythe carol, clears his furrowed brow.
5So in lone Poverty’s dominion drear,
6 Sits meek Content with light, unanxious heart;
7 Welcomes the rapid moments, bids them part,
8Nor asks if they bring ought to hope or fear.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sonnet on the Author’s Birthday” by Robert Burns — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-on-the-authors-birthday
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet on the Author’s Birthday
- Poet
- Robert Burns
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Winter, Love
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
- 14 lines · 4 stanzas of 2–4 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
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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
- PoetryDBSonnet on the Author’s Birthday 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 6c6218f88e7c839d…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.