Volume III, song 271, page 280 - 'A Mother's lament for the death of her son' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: (to the tune of 'Finlayston House'): 'Fate gave the word, the arrow sped, And pierc'd my Darling's heart: And with him all the joys are fled Life can to me impart. By cruel hands the sapling drops, In dust dishonor'd laid: So fell the pride of all my hopes, My age's future shade.' The 'Scots Musical Museum' is the most important of the numerous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collections of Scottish song. When the engraver James Johnson started work on the second volume of his collection in 1787, he enlisted Robert Burns as contributor and editor. Burns enthusiastically collected songs from various sources, often expanding or revising them, whilst including much of his own work. The resulting combination of innovation and antiquarianism gives the work a feel of living tradition. The words to this song were written by Robert Burns (1788). It is beautifully written and captures perfectly the grief of a mother who has lost her child. Her loss is so profound, in the second verse, she asks death to relieve her of life. To be able to write so poetically from the mother's perspective was part of Burns's genius. According to Robert Riddell of Glenriddell, it was written in memory of James Ferguson (Jnr) of Craig Darroch. Riddell also notes that 'this most beautiful tune is (I think) the happiest composition of that bard-born genius John Riddell (of the family of Glencarnock) at Ayr'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503467

Title

Volume III, song 271, page 280 - 'A Mother's lament for the death of her son' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Object Type

PhysicalObject

Measurements

- 132 x 211 mm