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Description: | The manuscript headed by Burns 'A Song -- Tune Etric banks -- On accidentally seeing Miss W.-- A. in an evening walk' was written after Burns had strayed into the private estate of Claud Alexander in Ballochmyle. As he wandered along the banks of the river Ayr, he caught a glimpse of Claud's sister Wilhelmina, allowing Burns to let his fancy take flight wishing that they were on the same social plain so that he could woo her.
Claud Alexander brought his sister Wilhelmina (Miss W.A.) to an estate at Ballochmyle near Mauchline was not far from Mossgeil farm where Burns lived. In November 1786 having composed the song, Burns wrote to Miss W.A. seeking her permission to allow him to publish it in his second book of Poems. As she was 30 years old and no great beauty, she thought Burns was pulling her leg and so she never replied. However when she died a spinster aged 87, it was one of her most prized possessions.
The second page describes Burns as he wandered in the woods and chanced to spy the bonnie lass on whom he confers a surpassing beauty in his imagination. His flight of fancy and hyperbole give us a picture of love, peace and harmony with nature. Burns then expresses the wish that they had been rustic social equals. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1786-01-01 - 1786-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Song by Robert Burns: 'The Bonnie Lass o | Go to resource |
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