"All my poetry," he said, "is
the effect of easy composition but laborious correction," and the
careful critic will perceive ample evidence in support of the
statement. We shall see in the next chapter with what pains he fitted
words to melody in his songs; an examination of the variant readings
which make the establishment of his text peculiarly difficult shows
abundant traces of deliberation and the labor of the file. In the
following song, the first four lines of which are old, it is
interesting to note that, though he preserves admirably the tone of
the fragment which gave him the impulse and the idea, the twelve lines
which he added are in the effects produced by manipulation of the
consonants and vowels and in the use of internal rhyme a triumph of
conscious artistic skill. The interest in technique which this implies
is exhibited farther in many passages of his letters, especially those
to George Thomson.
GO FETCH TO ME A PINT O' WINE
Go fetch to me a pint o' wine,
An' fill it in a silver tassie; [goblet]
That I may drink, before I go,
A service to my bonnie lassie.
The boat rocks at the pier o' Leith,
Fu' loud the wind blaws frae the ferry, [from]
The ship rides by the Berwick-law,
And I maun leave my bonnie Mary. [must]
The trumpets sound, the banners fly,
The glittering spears are ranked ready;
The shouts o' war are heard afar,
The battle closes thick and bloody;
But it's no the roar o' sea or shore
Wad mak me langer wish to tarry;
Nor shout o' war that's heard afar,
It's leaving thee, my bonnie Mary.
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