My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose

My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose
Oh, my love is like a red, red rose That's newly sprung in June Oh, my love is like a melody That's sweetly played in tune As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I And I will love thee still, my dear, Till all the seas gang dry. Till all the seas gang dry, my dear, Till all the seas gang dry And I will love thee still, my dear, Till all the seas gang dry.

Til all the seas gang dry my, my dear And the rocks melt with the sun And I will love thee still, my dear While the sands of life shall run But faretheewell, my only love Oh, faretheewell a while And I will come again, my love Tho' 't were ten thousand mile Tho' 't were ten thousand mile, my love

Tho' 't were ten thousand mile And I will come again, my love Tho' 't were ten thousand mile

Originale Version

O my Luve's like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in june; O my Luve's like the melodies That’s sweetly play'd in tune:

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I: And I will luve 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: I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.

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

Author: Robert Burns (25.01.1759 - 21.07.1796)
 * scottish poet and lyricist born in Alloway
 * great source of inspiration to founders of liberalism and socialism
 * cultural icon
 * his life and work was celebrated especially in the 19th and 20th century
 * influence on scottish literature

Context, Interpretation and Stylistic Divices
 * Song from 1794 based on traditional sources
 * often published as a poem
 * 1) Lines 1-2: O my Luve's like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in june
 * 2) * The poem opens with a famous simile
 * 3) * his love is new and young
 * 4) Lines 3-4: O my Luve's like the melodies That’s sweetly play'd in tune
 * 5) * Simile : he compares his love to a melody that is "sweetly play'd in tune"
 * 6) * rhyme sheme: ABCB
 * 7) Lines 5-6: As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I
 * 8) * Bonnie is a word that means beautiful or pretty (just like fair) (it is a scottish dialect word)
 * 9) * the speaker says he is as deep in love as the "bonnie lass" is fair
 * 10) Lines 7-8: And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry
 * 11) * "gang" is an old word that means go or walk
 * 12) * The seas will probably never gang dray, so the speaker seems to be saying that he will love his bonnie lass forever

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun
 * 1) Lines 9-10: Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
 * 1) * repetition
 * 2) * the speaker also tells us that he will love her until the rocks melt with the sun
 * 3) Lines 11-12: I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run
 * 4) * There is a metaphor of an hourglass
 * 5) Lines 13-14: And fare thee weel, my only Luve, And fare thee weel, a while!
 * 6) * he says goodbye:
 * 7) * "weel" is an older form of the word "well"
 * 8) * the word "fare" can be a verb that means do or go
 * 9) * The phrase "fare thee weel a while" could mean "farewell, for now"
 * 10) Lines 15-16: And I will come again, my Luve, Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.
 * 11) * he says that he will come back no matter what

Translation: 

Oh meine Liebe ist wie eine rote rote Rose,

Die neu geboren wurde im Juni;

Oh meine Liebe ist wie die Melodien

die süßlich gespielt werden in Harmonie:

So reinlich wie Kunst, mein hübsches gutes Mädchen,

So verliebt bin Ich:

Und so werde Ich dich immer noch lieben, mein Liebling,

Wenn alle Meere ausgetrocknet sind

Wenn alle Meere ausgetrocknet sind, mein Liebling,

Und die Steine schmelzen mit der Sonne:

Und Ich werde dich immer noch lieben, mein Liebling,

während der Sand des Lebens rinnt.

Und lebe wohl meine einzige Liebe,

Und lebe wohl für eine Weile!

Und Ich werde wieder kommen, meine Liebe,

Selbst wenn es Zehntausend Meilen wären.