The '''Burns stanza''' is a verse form named after the [[Scotland|Scottish]] poet [[Robert Burns]], who used it in some fifty poems.<ref name=max/> It was not, however, invented by Burns, and prior to his use of it was known as the '''standard Habbie''', after the [[Bagpipes|piper]] [[Habbie Simpson]] (1550–1620). It is also sometimes known as the '''Scottish stanza''' or '''six-line stave'''. It is found in [[Middle English]] in the [[Octavian (romance)|Romance of Octovian]] (Octavian).<ref name=max>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5LpZAAAAMAAJ Max Kaluza (1911) ''A Short History of English Versification from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'', George Allen & Co., London]</ref> It was also found in mediaeval Provençal poems and [[miracle play]]s from the Middle Ages.<ref>Edward Hirsch (2000) ''How to Read a Poem'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Florida {{ISBN|0-15-100419-6}}</ref>

The first notable poem written in this stanza was the "Lament for Habbie Simpson; or, the Life and Death of the Piper of Kilbarchan" by [[Robert Sempill the younger]]. The stanza was used frequently by major 18th-century [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]] poets such as [[Robert Fergusson]] and [[Robert Burns]] and has been used by subsequent poets. Major poems in the stanza include Burns's "[[To a Mouse]]", "[[To a Louse]]", "[[Address to the Deil]]" and "Death and Doctor Hornbook".<ref name=max/> The stanza is six lines in length and [[rhyme scheme|rhymes]] <math>\mathrm{AAABAB}</math>, with [[tetrameter]] <math>\mathrm{A}</math> lines and [[dimeter]] <math>\mathrm{B}</math> lines. The second <math>\mathrm{B}</math> line may or may not be repeated.<ref>Philip Hobsbaum (1996) ''Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form'', Routledge&nbsp;– Taylor and Francis, London {{ISBN|0-203-13562-8}}</ref>

Although the "Lament for Habbie" itself is strictly lyrical, subsequent uses have tended to be comic and satirical, as this passage from Burns shows:

{{poemquote|O THOU! whatever title suit thee— Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie, Wha in yon cavern grim an' sootie, :Clos'd under hatches, Spairges about the brunstane cootie, :To scaud poor wretches!

Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee, An' let poor damned bodies be; I’m sure sma' pleasure it can gie, :Ev'n to a deil, To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me, :An' hear us squeel!|"Address to the Deil"}}

A variation on the Burns stanza employs the rhyme scheme <math>\mathrm{AABCCCB}</math>, with foreshortened third and seventh lines. This form is deployed, for example, in [[W. H. Auden]]'s poem "Brother, who when the sirens roar" (also known as "A Communist to Others"):

{{poemquote|Brothers, who when the sirens roar From office, shop and factory pour :'Neath evening sky; By cops directed to the fug Of talkie-houses for a drug, Or down canals to find a hug :Until you die: (lines 1–7)}}

Auden uses similar verse forms in other poems in the collection ''[[Look, Stranger!]]'' (also known as ''[[On This Island]]''), such as "[[The Witnesses]]" and "Out on the Lawn I Lie in Bed" (also known as "Summer Night"). A more recent example can be seen in [[W. N. Herbert]]'s "To a Mousse". The <math>\mathrm{AABCCCB}</math> variation is also employed by [[Samuel Francis Smith]] in the lyrics of his song "[[America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)|America]]":

{{poemquote|My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, :Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims' pride, From ev'ry mountainside :Let freedom ring! (lines 1–7)}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Poetic forms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns Stanza}} [[Category:Stanzaic form]] [[Category:Scottish literature]] [[Category:Scots language]]