“To a mouse” By: Robert Burns

1. “To a mouse”By: Robert Burns Taylor Alu & Alex Choi

2. Citations • "To a Mouse." Untitled Document. 2004. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. <http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/554.htm>.

3. Literal sense • The next slide is a paraphrase. • We liked this poem because there are quotes in this that are used today • For example, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

4. Small, sleek, cowering, timorous beast,O, what a panic is in your breast!You need not start away so hastyWith hurrying scamper!I would be loath to run and chase you,With murdering plough-staff.I'm truly sorry man's dominionHas broken Nature's social union,And justifies that ill opinionWhich makes thee startleAt me, thy poor, earth born companionAnd fellow mortal! I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;What then? Poor beast, you must live!An odd ear in twenty-four sheavesIs a small request;I will get a blessing with what is left,And never miss it.Your small house, too, in ruin!It's feeble walls the winds are scattering!And nothing now, to build a new one,Of coarse grass green!And bleak December's winds coming,Both bitter and keen! Paraphrase

5. Paraphrase • You saw the fields laid bare and wasted,And weary winter coming fast,And cozy here, beneath the blast,You thought to dwell,Till crash! the cruel plough pastOut through your cell.That small bit heap of leaves and stubble,Has cost you many a weary nibble!Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,Without house or holding,To endure the winter's sleety dribble,And hoar-frost cold. • But Mouse, you are not alone,In proving foresight may be vain:The best laid schemes of mice and menGo often askew,And leaves us nothing but grief and pain,For promised joy!Still you are blest, compared with me!The present only touches you:But oh! I backward cast my eye,On prospects dreary!And forward, though I cannot see,I guess and fear!

6. Diction • The type of language found in “to a mouse” is colloquial. • Words used throughout this poem are wee, sleeket. This are examples of colloquial. • Examples of obsolete language are aft agley. These words could be used in scottish today. • The etymology of the word wee, means “extremely small” its from the mid-15c from earlier noun, from Scotland.

7. Tone and mood • Felt pity for the mouse because the mouse’s house was being destroyed. • This poem is serious and upset. • There is no irony in this poem. • Emotions felt are pettiness for the mouse. I think the intended mood is sadness because the mouse was so small and helpless.

8. Rhetorical Situation • A narrator is speaking, to the mouse, for the purpose to entertain. • We are being ignored while the narrator is talking to the mouse. • So we are overhearing the reader.

9. Figurative language • There are no similes in this poem. • Metaphors as well are not in this poem • The mouse has a home in the poem which is a human characteristic • There are no other forms of figurative language.

10. Imagery • The mental pictures used in this poem is that his home is being destroyed. • The only senses used in this poem are hearing and seeing, hearing and seeing the destruction of the mouse’s home. • We could not find any symbolism in this poem.

11. Effect of the poem • The rhyming of the poem is approximate repetition of the final sound. • It uses repetition of some of the ends of lines rhyme, but not all of them. • I couldn’t find any alliterations or onomatopoeias in this poem.

12. Poem structure • The standard form of this poem is not in sonnet form. • I think this poem is in free structure because it only has some rhyming words at the ends of each line and does not look like it has a normal poetic structure.

13. Conclusion/Reaction • Alex and I didn’t really like this poem, but the quote from an earlier slide came from this poem came from this so it has some importance. • The authors intended mood was to feel sorry for the mouse because it house got destroyed.