The Blue-Eyed Lass (Poem by Robert Burns)

I gaed a waefu’ gate yestreen,

    A gate, I fear, I’ll dearlie rue;

I gat my death frae twa sweet een,

    Twa lovely een o’ bonnie blue.

’Twas not her golden ringlets bright;

    Her lips, like roses, wat wi’ dew,

Her heaving bosom, lily-white —

    It was her een sae bonnie blue.

She talk’d, she smil’d, my heart she wyl’d;

    She charm’d my soul — I wist na how:

And ay the stound, the deadly wound,

    Cam frae her een sae bonnie blue.

But spare to speak, and spare to speed;

    She’ll aiblins listen to my vow:

Should she refuse, I’ll lay my dead

    To her twa een sae bonnie blue.

Robert Burns’s paired lyric poems, present a portrait of youthful infatuation rendered through the traditional Scots idiom that characterizes much of Burns’s most intimate poetry. Although brief, these two pieces encapsulate the poet’s skill in blending emotional immediacy with folkloric simplicity, while also highlighting his sensitivity to beauty, longing, and vulnerability. The note about the real-life inspiration—Jean Jeffry of Lochmaben, later Mrs. Renwick—adds a biographical resonance that deepens the poems’ charm, but the lyrics themselves stand as exemplary expressions of romantic captivation.

The central motif of both poems is the beloved’s blue eyes, which become the primary source of the speaker’s emotional turmoil. Burns elevates the eyes above all other physical attributes. Although the lass possesses “golden ringlets bright,” “lips, like roses,” and a “heaving bosom, lily-white,” none of these features deliver the decisive emotional impact. The true wound comes from “twa sweet een” and their “bonnie blue” glimmer.

This emphasis on the eyes aligns with the long literary tradition of associating the gaze with enchantment, emotional truth, and the capacity to wound. Burns transforms the blue eyes into a metaphorical weapon: they deal a “deadly wound” that pierces the speaker’s heart unexpectedly. The emotional extremity—“I gat my death frae twa sweet een”—is framed with playful exaggeration, yet it communicates the overwhelming force of infatuation in a way that feels both sincere and melodically stylized.

The opening line of the first poem—“I gaed a waefu’ gate yestreen”—sets a tone of rueful self-reflection. The “woeful path” the speaker walked symbolizes both the literal circumstances of the encounter and the metaphorical path of emotional consequence he now anticipates. The phrase “I fear I’ll dearlie rue” implies a sense of helplessness: the speaker has already surrendered to an emotion from which he cannot retreat.

Burns often grounds his emotional narratives in small, vivid events, and here the simple act of walking a path becomes the crucible of transformation. The meeting with the blue-eyed lass is not framed as a grand romance but as a moment of unexpected vulnerability.

In the second poem, Burns expands the description of the interaction: “She talk’d, she smil’d, my heart she wyl’d.” The sequence of gentle gestures—talking, smiling, charming—follows a natural emotional progression. Nothing supernatural occurs, yet the effect is described in the language of enchantment:  “She charm’d my soul—I wist na how.”

The speaker’s comment that he did not know how he was captivated emphasizes the involuntary nature of romantic attraction. The blue eyes remain the ultimate source of his emotional injury, reinforcing the motif established in the first poem.

As the poem shifts from description to contemplation, the emotional stakes intensify. The speaker resolves to confess his feelings—“spare to speak, and spare to speed; / She’ll aiblins listen to my vow”—yet the tone remains tempered by uncertainty. Burns conveys a delicate balance of hope and fear. The word “aiblins” (perhaps) captures the tentative optimism of a young lover unsure of his fate.

The closing couplet of the second poem—“Should she refuse, I’ll lay my dead / To her twa een sae bonnie blue”—returns to the hyperbolic language of emotional death. This expression operates within the poetic conventions of romantic exaggeration, but it also reinforces the motif of the eyes as both life-giving and deadly. The lover lives or dies by their gaze.

The poems are written in Burns’s characteristic Scots, a choice that lends warmth, musicality, and cultural authenticity to the emotional scenario. Words such as “waefu’,” “wyl’d,” “stound,” and “aiblins” carry connotations that are rich and intimate, grounding the emotional experience in the rhythms of vernacular speech. The dialect does more than provide texture; it shapes the emotional register of the poem, rendering love as something earthy, local, and deeply human.

The Scots language also softens the melodrama. What might seem overly sentimental in standard English becomes charmingly direct in its original dialect, creating a balanced interplay between sincerity and lyric playfulness.

Across both poems, Burns explores the theme of love as a sudden force that overwhelms reason and intention. The speaker’s transformation occurs quickly, almost instantly, and with irreversible effect. This portrayal reflects a recurring theme in Burns’s work: the vulnerability of the human heart when confronted with beauty and charm.