Song -
Anna, thy charms my bosom fire,
And waste my soul with care:
But ah! how bootless to admire,
When fated to despair.
Yet in thy presence, lovely Fair,
To hope may be forgiven:
For sure twere impious to despair,
So much in sight of Heaven.-
Key details
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/106
- Alt. number
- 3.6266
- Date
- February 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
- Archive number
- NTS/02/25/BRN/02/106
- Alt. number
- 3.6266
- Date
- February 1788
- On display
- No
- Creator
- Burns, Robert (Author)
Description
Song - Anna, thy charms. Begins: "Anna, thy charms my bosom fire". 2 four-line verses.
Burns included this poem in a letter to Mrs. Dunlop in February 1788 (letter no 198) as a "jeu d'esprit" and goes on to describe Alexander Cunningham as a "despairing Lover" who had taken him to meet his girlfriend Anna, which had moved burns to write this short appreciation. (poem no 192). Here Burns has copied them out on a later occasion on page 5 of this collection of poems.
Burns was moved the following year to write to Cunningham when he read that Anna had jilted him and married an Edinburgh surgeon. He later had the poem published in a newspaper saying that the girl had forfeited her right to the verses remaining private by her unfaithfulness.
Archive information
Themes
Hierarchy
-
Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs
(
a sub-fonds is a subdivision in the archival material)
- Song - Anna, thy charms