Our Scottish Poems

FINAL TASK

REWRITE PART OF A POEM TO ENTER A SCOTTISH POETRY CONTEST THEMED “the Scottish Spirit of Independence”

1. Write the two first parts of the final task ( justification, analysis )
2. Write the poem and the part that we created
3. Optional : make a layout or add an illustration
4. Record yourself ( use the website : laboratoire des langues https://www.lelivrescolaire.fr/outils/labo-langues)*
5. Add the link of the record to the page

Estelle Malléus

1) I choose “Scotland” by Hugh MacDiarmid because I really find this poem beautiful, it sounds great. I particularly like the comparison and metaphor in this poem : it really adds something. I also think that it is part of the subject. Indeed, in my opinion, it is the union of Scotland and its own particularities which make it different from other countries : that’s makes the independence of Scotland. This poem is about the whole Scotland and the love of this country, about the incredible landscapes : it is all of that which makes Scotland what it is, contrasted with England for example.

2) In this poem, there is a lot of assonances and that’s probably the reason why it sounds so great (“great love of it deeply to read”). There is also some alliterations (“moving a fraction of flower here, Placing an inch of air there”). We can see some comparisons (“Be like Spring”) and metaphors (“Hear at last the great voice that speaks softly”). I believe that it is the metaphors and comparisons which create a beautiful image of Scotland and makes the beauty of this poem. There is also a lot of personification (“like a hand”, “the great voice”). So the author really expresses Scotland by using metaphors for landscapes or objects of history with actual ones (“Moving new and old thinks carefully”).

Alexandra Marion

I chose “View of Scotland/ Love Poem” by Liz Lochhead. This poem gives a new, modern and fresh poetry vision, which is a point I love. Written by a woman, it gives a Scottish mondain New Year’s eve point of view. It’s not former, it’s more original. I like the party’s description and the details about the atmosphere. I’m living the poem, through the poetess’ feelings. I decided to complete it.

Let’s focus on the poem’s theme. As I said earlier, this poem gives a Scottish mondain and modern New Year’s eve vision. The tone is nostalgic. The poetess is playing with our senses and feelings. She is describing the atmosphere, smells, tastes, sounds, images… “Mum’s got her rollers in with waveset”, “sockeye salmon”, “elbow grease jiffy waxing”, “familiar strangers at a party”, “bottle of sickly liqueur”, “steak pies”, “kiss”, “the Bells”, “dusted mantel shelves”… It is based on memories, on tiny usual details which make the poem lively. Also, this theme seems to me unusual in poetry. We are used to study current themes like nature, love, death, landscapes, feelings… Studying at school poems about mondain life and events is less current. Moreover this topic’s very interesting and from my point of view, it’s easier to live and feel the poem.

Marion Jennepin

Liz Lochhead is a really famous poet in Scotland. This woman wrote a lot of  poem, like « Poets need not » or « View of Scotland/Love Poem ».  I choose the poem « View of Scotland/Love poem » because she shows a  modern vision of Scotland. She’s part of the new generation of poets. It’s  interesting to see the difference of the state of mind of Scotland between two  generations. In the time of the first Makar, Robert Burns, the main topic was  about the independence war and the poems were quite sad. That’s why I  choose this poem, we can see and feel the evolution of Scotland. We are going to analyse the title, which is really revelant.  

The title is « View of Scotland/Love Poem ». The first thing that strikes  the reader is the way this title is neutral. « View of Scotland » is mentioned in  the poem one time, at the line 19 : « A new view of Scotland ». We can also  find « kiss » at the last line, wich refers to the second part of the title « Love  Poem. This title tells a lot about what we’re going to read in the poem. Thanks  to « View of Scotland », we can deduce that Liz Lochhead will talk about her  own point. Of view of her country, Scotland. « Love poem » makes us think  that she loves Scotland. Her view of Scotland is a love poem because of her  admiration and passion about Scotland. 

I rewrite the last fourth lines of the poem :  

Noo let’s forget all our worries,  

after this though year.  

It’s almost midnight, 

dinnae forget to kiss me…

Elisabeth Magne

1. I choose the poem Speaking of Scotland by Maurice Lindsay because I found it beautiful. It is a short poem which tells a lot of things, the poet didn’t need to write a lot to say all that he wanted.

I really appreciate the fact that this poem gives a global definition of the Scottish world, with the historical and cultural aspects. We can travel in Scotland throughout the poem, we can see its history and understand the pride of the Scots. We can also imagine the landscapes, and the rhetorical questions open up a reflexion on guilt, wholeness and past. It represents the Scottish way of thinking and its spirit of independence.

I really like this poem for all of that.

2. This poem is divided into four stanzas. The common point between the stanzas is the rhetorical questions.

In the first stanza, the poet talks about the past wars and the defeats known by every Scot. The second stanza is a description of the landscapes with an opposition between the mountains and the broad acre crops. The third one talks about the difficulties to obtain the independence. The last one is the answer of the first question. It’s a definition of the Scottish spirit.

Arthur Poulin

1)I chose Speaking of Scotland by Maurice Lindsay because :

-First, this poem is historical, indeed it refere to the war of independence of Soctland.

-Second, it talk about the beautiful landscape of Scotland, indeed there are lakes, mountains, fields, but amazing city like Edinburah,the capital.

-Third, this poem talk about the guild, which is in each scot.

-Fourth, the most important is the end of the poem, indeed the author say his answer of the main question.

-Fith, I can remplacate with mine or I can just create a new stanza.This poem is a summary of Scotland.

2)First the poem is build in a main question. After the author say different rhetorical question. In each stanza, there are two rhyms.

Second, it is a quatrain.

Third, the first stanza talk about the war of independence. It complete the third stanza because it talk about the feeling of the scots.

Fourth,the last stanza is the answer of Maurice Lindsay but the last verse is a conclusion.

The second stanza talk about the landscape of the country.

Lily-Mei Thibault

1) I chose this poem, “Speaking of Scotland” by Maurice Lindsay, because of its different structure : the poem is not repeating itself, several themes are mentioned : the war and the defeats, the wide landscape,…

Also we can understand the feeling of Scottish people at those times, in the 20th century, the poverty, the defeats they had to face when they were fighting for their independance and that are still on their mind.

I found interesting the originality of the poem : every sentence is a question, except for the last stanza. That’s why I wanted to work on it.

2) The poem is made of four stanza with rhymes on the 2nd and the last lines of each quatrains. The whole poem is responding to the first line’s question : “What do you mean when you speak of Scotland?”. Many answers are given then : the legends that took over the defeats but didn’t totally erase them from minds, the landscapes with “broad acres”, the “lowland farms” and the “Highland mountains”.

But we also find the memory and the “threat”othe battles they have lost.

Even if I mostly understand a kind of sadness or regret, maybe of their situation “guilt”… in this poem, there’s I think, a positive message in the last stanza: Scotland will continue to change at least until things get better.

Camille Lemoine

1. I chose “Speaking of Scotland” by Maurice Lindsay because it is an original poem who talk about the most famous part of history of Scotland with questions.

In my opinion, this questions are very interesting and important for the culturof Scotland.

Futhermore this poem respect the subject of the festival. Indeed, it talk about the wars of independance and the ‘inheritance of guilt that our country”, Scotland.

2. This poem is a quatrain. It particularity is : each stanza composes a rethoricals questions.

Futhermore, he talk about the differents points of view possible of the readers. This questions who answers to the principal question : “What do you mean when you speak of Scotland?”.

The second part of the first stanza and the third stanza talk about the war and the guilt of this country. The second stanza talk about the landscape of Scotland and the last stanza is the answer of the autor to the principal question.

Suillerot Gaëtan

I chose Speaking of Scotland because it is a good poem, I think, for describe Scotland. This is a new poem for me and I like novelty. I chose this poem because it’s a short poem and it was written by Maurice Lindsay who is a famous poet. Finally, it’s just a beautiful poem and I love it.

This poem is build on 4 quatrains. This structure is good for the understanding of the reader. In the first stanza, there is ABBA rhymes and in the second stanza there is ABAB rhymes. But in the third and last stanza, there is not rhymes. This poem talks about Scotland, of course, but it talks about the reel definition of Scotland. The first third stanza are questions about Scotland and the last stanza is the answers of the questions.

Philippe Migeon

I. Justification

First, I chose the poem My Heart’s in the Highlands because of his subject, which is linked to the spirit of Scotland. Indeed, it refers to the nature of this country, and especially the wild nature of the Highlands that is a part of Scottish independence. St also talks about the impressive feeling of the nostalgia of home. I liked the strong patriotic feeling that leads Robert Burns. 

II. Analysis bf the poem by the point speaker of the Big Six Method

The speaker speaks with the pronouns « My », repeated several times with an anaphora, and « I ». It shows that this poem is introspective and talks about his personality. But the fact that he don’t speak to someone shows that he might tell something subjective : here, the repetition of « Highlands » represents who he wants to speak to. In this poem, the speaker seems to have strong emotions. First, we see the lexical field of the Nature that shows his love for it : « chasing the deer »; « roe »; « green vallies  »…

Then, he might have regrets, because he speaks to something far where he forgot his heart « My heart is not here » : it is a metonymy of the nostalgia. This feeling characterize his view of the subject of the poem, the Highlands.

My Heart’s in the Highlands

by Robert Burns

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;

Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,

The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth ;

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Farewell to the castles, pride of our knights,

Farewell to the Isles, hurt by wind, hid from bright,

Farewell to the lochs and their strange mystery,

O beauty ! Scotland ! I too love my country.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;

Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Agathe Lhuillier

1) I pick the poem My heart’s in the Highlands by Robert burns who is a famous Bard in Scotland. As for me, this poem represents the Scottish Spirit of Independance which is the poetry contest’s theme. Indeed, the nature’s description and eulogy are firstly a part of this Scottish Spirit Independance because the poet describes the beautiful landscapes of his country, Scotland, with a lot of poetic verses. This poem is also very romantic and has a lot of musicality with its rymes and stylistic devices. In the poem, the poet writes a panegyric of the beauty of his country that he’s proud of. His Scottish thoughts are different then in other country and this is the strength of Scotland. This positiv strength is the power of Scotland and represents its spirit of Independance.

2) My heart’s in the Highlands is constitute with four quatrains with a chorus for the first and the lats stanza. e can observe AA-BB rymes at each end of verses in quatrains. We have a lot of anaphoras : “My heart’s” and “Farewell”. We note an isotopie of nature with two lexical fields, one about animals : “deer”, “roe”… and one about vegetation, “green vallies”, “forests”, “wood”. We have a lot of repetitions of teh spot “Highlands” and we observe to metaphors : “The birth place of Valour” and “the country of Worth” which both characterise the Highlands, but also Scotland.

In this poem, Robert Burns explains with a lot of romantism, his love for his country, Scotland, for its spots, its nature, its animals, its landscapes… “My heart’s in the Highlands” signify that the poet is so in love of his cuntry taht his heart, his thoughts, his life, his words are in the country and for this country.

Baptiste Mandry-Delimoges

I chose My Heart’s InThe Highlands, poem wrote by Robert Burns. if I chose this poem it’s because of his very special form, built with stylistic devices, words which are easy to enderstand… I also like the writer, writer we studied well. The subject of this task is “The spirit of Independence in Scotland”, and I think  this poem is very patriotic in the way Robert Burns speaks of his homeland as away better angle that it is treat normally.

The poem is build in quatrains composed with eleven syllables. Those quatrains also have AABB rymes which are present all along the text. There is also anaphora on “Farewell” or the title of this poem which come back very often during the poem. According to me, this stylistic device is very used because it accentuates the theme of the poem which is Scotland. As said before, the theme of the text is Scotland, here describes in more positive light. The autor say “Farewell” (equal to goodbye) to his landscpaes, to his homeland where he let his heat forever.

Grégoire Peyrefitte

1) I chose “My heart’s in the Highlands” by Robert Burns because  it presents a classical form, which can be analysed with known devices. I find that its title is very beautiful and when I read it, it makes you want to read the poem. I also chose this poem because the author explains his real thought and we feel that he loves his country and in particular the Highlands a part of Scotland and a beautiful region.

2)  The poem is build with four quatrains. Rhymes are in AA-BB rhymes patterns with 11 feet-lines. There uis an anaphora in th third stenza.We can see a chorus at the beginning of the poem and at the end.

The poem speaks about a Scottish man, maybe Robert Burns who leaves his country and he thinks about the beauty of Scotland and says that it will always stay in his heart. Robert Burns loves his country and wants to share his thought to tghe rest of the world so it’s a lyrical poem.

https://assets.lls.fr/recordings/ckm9ngj28019dut10qfluy63z.mpga

PS: Je m’excuse pour la qualité de l’audio qui est très mauvaise et qui met la voix au ralentie mais je n’ai pas réussi a l’améliorer.

Kan Christian

1)In the first place , I choose My heart in the Highlands because Robert Burns is a very important caracter of the Scottland history. Then this poem talk about the natur and I like the nature. Finally, this poem talk about the landscape of Scottland this is in the theme, Robert Burns is a symbol of ‘ the Scottish Spirit of Independance’ , he is the founder od many scottish tradition.

2) This poem is build with four quatrains, rhyms are in AABB patterns and there an anaphora in the love third stenza. All lines have eleven feet. I think this poem talk about the fact of Robert Burns really loves  Scottland.

3) When I’m far away, I think about the Highlands.

When I’m far away, I miss the landscapes of Scottlands.

When I’m far away,  I always think about my country.

When I’m far away, I read some scottish poetry.

Mandry-Delimoges Raphaël

The poem I chose is My Heart’s In The Highlands, it was written by a very well known Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

He explains through four quatrains how huge is love for Scotland is, by using the words “love”,”heart”, and repeats them all along the poem. This is also a poem that represents Scotland well, because the description of the “Highlands” is a repetitive theme in the poem. for all of these reasons, this poem is expressing a strong spirit of independence, by showing us a Scott, Robert Burns, who always loves his country, Scotland, even though he doesn’t live there at the moment he writes the poem, which fit perfectly in the theme, and made me choose this poem.

As for the title of the poem,”My Heart’s in the Highlands”, Robert Burns uses a synonymous of Scotland, “Highlands”, because Scotland is at the north of the United Kingdom.

He also says he loves this country, his country, by saying that his heart is in the Highlands.

This is why i would translate the title with my words with;

“I love Scotland”

He repeats a lot the title in the poem, as a repetition to insist on his love for the Highlands. In fact this title is the core of the poem, and represents well in a nutshell the work of art robert burns had written.

Finally, as I said before, the idea of his love for Scotland appears all along the poem, not only in the repetition of the title, but also in the very positive vision of the Highlands he wants to transmit to his reader, by describing us the beautiful landscapes he finds in Scotland, and that he deeply loves.

My Heart’s in the Highlands

My heart’s in The highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands, a chasing the deer;

Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,

The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

The leaves are dancing, falling from the wild trees.

The birds are flying, in the sky they play with.

And my old Heart crys, dreaming to see the land,

’cause wherever I go, he’s just fine in Scotland.

My heart’s in The highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands, a chasing the deer;

Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Clothilde Ramanantsoavina

1) In the context of the poetry contest, I chose the poem “My heart’s in the Highlands” by Robert Burns for many reasons. 

First of all, some of those reasons are my personal tastes. When I read it for the first time, I already knew it was a special poem. I liked the rhythm and how it sounded with the multiple repetitions and the rhymes. I also liked the subject and how the author was talking about it. 

Furthermore, this subject is perfect for the contest’s theme : “the Scottish spirit of Independence”. 

Indeed, the author, robert Burns, is the symbol of Scottish poetry and is the symbol of Scotland as well. For example, he is the origin of the Makkars. Poetry is the reflection of the country. Also, the poem’s theme is Scotland’s landscapes, nature, … Those things are beautiful cultural heritage for what Scotland is, in part, recognized.

2) In this text, there are a lot of stylistic devices, but especially anaphoras.

For example, the sentence “My heart’s in Highland” (that is also the title) repeats three times (first, second and last line) in the chorus. Robert Burns repeats the word “highlands” two other times (not in the chorus) at the beginning and the end of the second stanza.

Also, in the third stanza, the word “Farewell” repeats at the beginning of each line (and at the first line of the first stanza). Those repetitions create a particular rhythm.

Speaking of the rhythm, the poem is written with aabb rhymes. plus, those are eleven syllable lines. This is very original because poems are often written with twelve or ten syllable lines.

There is an opposition between the first line of the “my heart’s in the” and “my heart is not here”.

Oscar Juhé

I chose « A Red Red Rose » because it is one of the famous poem by Robert Burns.

It is a classical and romantic poem and I like romantic poems.

That poem is the symbol of the Scottish culture and I am passioned by Scottish litterature.

The poem is composed of four quatrains, and has eight feet stanza.

It describes Robert’s love for his beloved by comparing her with a red rose, which is the symbol of love : the love he has for her. A rose that springs in June and that plays a beautiful melody.

He declareshis love to her and says it is so strong that it willeven last when the seas will be dried by the sun, even very far away from her.

A Red Red Rose

My love is like a red red rose
That’s newly sprung in June:
My love is like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I :
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun :
And I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love,
And fare thee weel a while !
And I will come again, my love,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.

I love you so strongly

I would burn and die for you,

You are my sunshine, honey

I’ll always be there for you.