quean young girl
queir choir
R
raible gabble
rak’d her had sex with her
randie rude, riotous
rant spree; rantan merry
rape rope
rash-buss clump of rushes
ratton rat
raucle rough, coarse
raught reached
ream foam
reave thieve
reck heed
rede advice
reekan bloody; reeket smoky
reestet cured
remead remedy
rigwoodie withered
ripp handful
rive break up
roose praise
roupet husky
row roll
rowte low
rowth plenty
rozet resin
run-deil complete devil
rung cudgel
runkl’d wrinkled
runt cabbage stalk
ryke reach
S
sair-wark labour
sark shift; sark-neck collar
scaur afraid
scrieve glide swiftly
settlin quieting
shavie trick
shaw small wood in a hollow
sheugh trench
shore offer; threaten
sicker steady
sinsyne since then
skaith damage
skellum rascal
skelpie-limmer hussy; skelp slap; hurry; skelpan, skelping smacking
skirl shriek
sklent direct with malice; slanting
skyte blow that rebounds at an angle
slae blackthorn
slap gap in a dyke or fence
sleeket smooth
smeddum insecticide powder
smoor’d was smothered
smoutie ugly
smytrie numerous collection
sneeshin mill snuff box
snell bitter
snick-drawing crafty
snirtle snigger
snowck sniff
sonsie good-natured
souple soft
sowther patch up
spae foretell
spairge bespatter
span-lang hand’s-breadth
spean wean
spier ask
spleuchan tobacco pouch, purse
splore uproar
sprattle scramble
spunkie will o’ the wisp
stan’ pause
stank pond
staw stole
steek stitch
steek shut
steer molest
(a) steerin in motion
stegh stuff oneself with food
stent duty
stibble-rig reaper who takes the lead
stirk young bullock
stoiter stagger
stoor harsh
stoure tumult
stowlins stealthily
stowp tankard
strae-death natural death in bed
streek stretch
stroan’t pissed
strunt liquor
strunt move confidently, strut
studdie anvil
sturt trouble; sturtan afraid
sucker sugar
sugh rushing sound of wind
swat sweated
swats new small beer
swirlie full of knots
swither state of agitated uncertainty
syne then; lang syne long ago
T
tack tenure
taet tuft
tak aff drink up; tak the gate go home
tap-pickle grain at the end of the stalk
tapsalteerie topsy-turvy
tassie goblet
tawtied shaggy
tent open-air pulpit
tent care; take heed; tentie watchful
thack thatch
thairms fiddle strings
thole endure
thrang crowd; in a crowd, busy
thrave two sets of corn sheaves
thraw frustrate; twist; for thrawing to prevent warping
(a’) throu’ther, throw’ther in confusion
till’t to it
timmer timber
tine lose
tippeny ale originally sold at 2d a Scots pint
tirl rattle
tod fox
toom empty
toop ram
tow bell-rope
towsing fondling
towzie unkempt, shaggy
toy old-fashioned cap
tozie tipsy
trepan beguile
trig smart
trow believe
tryst cattle market
twin deprive
U
unco very; strange
usquabae, usquebae whisky
V
vap’rin fuming
vauntie vain
W
wabster weaver
wae sucks alas; wae worth cursed be
waft sea-trip
wale choicest kind; choose, pick out
wame stomach; womb
warklum tool
warsle struggle
wat know, be sure
water-fit mouth of a river
waver flutter
wawlie fine, handsome
wean child
weary fa’ a curse on
weason gullet
whang thick slice of cheese
whid lie
whiles, whyles at times
whin gorse
whitter draught of liquor
whittle knife
wiel eddy
wight fellow
wimple twist, meander
winn winnow
winnock window; winnock-bunker window-seat
wintle roll
winze curse
wonner specimen
woodie rope for hanging
wooer-bab garter at knee tied with two loops and worn by a suitor
worms long spiral tubes at the head of a whisky still in which the vapour is condensed
worset worsted
wud angry
wyle lure
wylecoat flannel vest
wyte reproach
Y
yell milkless
yill ale; yill-caup wooden vessel for drinking ale
yird earth
Acknowledgments
The idea for this book was Jamie Byng’s and was executed with flair by Anya Serota. We wanted to make a reader’s selection of the greatest poems and we relied on the notion that Robert Burns, perhaps more than any other great poet, might suffer to be entertained by some personal camaraderie in the company of a junior writer of prose. Thanks are due to everyone at Canongate and to my friends Karl Miller and Seamus Heaney, to earlier editors James Kinsley, Andrew Noble, Patrick Scott Hogg and Carol McGuirk, whose own editions helped me along the way, and to another friend, Jean McNicol, who edited the manuscript with fantastic care and imagination. I thank each of them for their cups of kindness and for helping me to arrange a night out with Robert Burns that might leave us drunk but unbleary.
Andrew O’Hagan
London, March 2007
Copyright
This edition first published in Great Britain in 2008
by Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2009
by Canongate Books Ltd
Introduction and commentaries ©Andrew O’Hagan, 2008
‘A Birl for Burns’ © Seamus Heaney, 2008
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
The publishers gratefully acknowledge subsidy from the Scottish Arts Council
towards the publication of this title
Quote on p. xxiii reprinted with the kind permission of Andrew Noble
Quote on p.12 reprinted with the kind permission of James Fenton
Daily Mai
l quote by Peter Hitchins on p.92 reprinted with the kind permission of
the Daily Mail
CBS News quote on p.122 reprinted with the kind permission of the Associated Press
Quote on p.170 from Anthropology and the Global Factory: Studies of the New
Industrialization in the Late Twentieth Century, copyright © Frances Abrahamer
Rothstein and Michael L. Blim (editors), reprinted with the kind permission of
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT
Quote on p.204 by Muhammad Ali reprinted by permission of Muhammad Ali
Enterprises LLC
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission
for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions
in the above list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be
incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84767 450 0
Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd,
Grangemouth, Stirlingshire
www.meetatthegate.com