Highland Mary

Burns’s “Highland Mary” has a relatively simple poetic structure. The poem has four stanzas of eight lines each, and each stanza contains some variant of the poem’s refrain in its final line. Each stanza also follows an abcbdefe rhyme scheme. The meter, while somewhat unusual, is consistent from stanza to stanza. Every other line varies from iambic tetrameter—8 syllables of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables—to iambic heptameter—7 syllables of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.

The poem is also characterized by a number of contractions—like “bloom’d” (Line 9), “clasp’d” (Line 12), “o’er” (Line 14), “fu’” (Line 18), and “lo’ed” (Line 30)—and exclamation marks. This writing style generates a lively and energetic feeling, despite the poem’s somber subject matter, and, coupled with the consistent rhyme scheme and meter, matches “Highland Mary” with the melody of its intended musical accompaniment.

In poetry, anaphora is the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines. During his description of the surroundings of Castle Montgomery in southern Ayrshire, Burns uses anaphora in the second stanza.