'The Cotter's Saturday Night' and 'Michael - A Pastoral Poem' - Comparison
1. ‘The Cotter’s Saturday
Night’
By
Robert Burns
‘Michael – The Pastoral
Poem’
By
William Wordsworth
Poem Comparison
Prepared By : Nirav Amreliya
Batch : 2021-2023 (M.A. Sem. 1)
Ro. N/o. : 30
Submitted To : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English,
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University,
Vidhyanagar, Bhavnagar – 364001
(Dated On : 24th Oct., 2021)
2. POINTS TO BE DEALT WITH :
• Brief Introduction to Robert Burns & William Wordsworth :
• Background of the Poems :
• Dialect of the Poems :
• Form & Style of the Poems :
• Themes of the Poems :
• Mood & Tone of the Poems :
• Imagery Used in the Poems :
• Biblical Reference of the Poems :
• Summing Up :
• Webliography :
3. Robert Burns ( 1759 – 1796 ) :
• Was a Scottish poet & lyricist.
• Also know as ‘Rabbie Burns,’ ‘Bard of
Ayrshire,’ ‘Ploughman Poet.’
• Literary Movement : Pre-Romanticism
or Transitional Poet.
• A crater on the Mercury planet has
been named after Burns.
• His famous anthology : ‘Poems,
Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’ also
know as ‘Kilmarnock Volumes’ (1786).
4. William Wordsworth ( 1770 – 1850 ) :
• Was an English poet belonged to Romantic Era in
English Literature.
• He was Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in
1850.
• Preceded by Robert Southey.
• Succeeded by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
• His magnum opus is ‘The Prelude.’ The poem which
he began to write at the age of 28 (1798), and
continued to work on it throughout his life. It was
titled and published posthumously after 3 months of
his death in 1850 by his wife Mary Hutchinson.
• His famous anthology written cooperatively with S.
T. Coleridge : ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1798).
5. ‘The Cotter’s Saturday
Night’
‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’ is a long sentimental
and pastoral poem written by Robert Burns when
he was in Mossgiel. He wrote this poem during the
winter 1785-86, which was included in the
‘Kilmarnock’ edition of poems, chiefly in Scottish
dialect.
The biggest influence on this poem is of Robert
Fergusson’s ‘The Farmer’s Ingle’ (1773).
The poem is dedicated to Robert Aiken (1739-1807),
a man whom Burns describes as his ‘first poetic
patron.’
The poem deals with the rustic life and themes
surrounding the importance of love, friendship,
morality, and complacency.
The rustic simplicity was one of the biggest selling
points of the poem to contemporary critics, who
enthused over its naturalism as well as moral tone.
“ O Scotia! My dear, my native soil!
For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is
sent,
Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil
Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet
content! ”
6. ‘Michael – A Pastoral
Poem’
‘Michael’ is a long bucolic narrative poem written in blank verse, its 490 lines are divided
into sixteen stanzas. The Michael of the title is the protagonist of the poem. It tells the
story of the ageing shepherd Michel, his wife Isabel and their only son Luke.
It was written in Grasmere when Wordsworth was happened to be in Greenhead Ghyll
where he observed the simple and innocuous lives of native shepherds and published in
the second edition of ‘Lyrical Ballads’ in 1800.
The family struggles emotionally with the decision of separation between child and the
parents. It also depicts man’s optimistic struggle in this hostile world to maintain his
values and reputation, through the life of Michael, a farmer and a simple shepherd.
According to Page, Wordsworth was attempting to harken the attention of readers
towards the increasing urbanization of England and its impact on pastoral life which
ultimately led to the suffering of rural workers.
Bernard Groom remarks : “Wordsworth’s picture of rural life in ‘Michael’ is less idyllic
and nearer to historical truth than some readers may suppose.” (The Unity of
Wordsworth Poetry)
Michael addresses to the sun that he is more diligent than the sun as he believes that the
sun works only 12-hour-a day and sleeps in the night but Michael and his family work
both day and night.
“ The sun himself scarcely been more diligent than I”
7. Comparison of the Poems :
‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’ (1786) :
o Written in English & Scottish dialect by Robert
Burns.
o Written in Iambic Pentameter having 21 Spenserian
Stanzas with rhyme scheme ABABBCBCC.
o Deals with the themes such as the praise of rustic
good, and the oblique criticism of luxurious life.
o Mood and Tone of the poem is neutral and somewhat
idyllic.
o Imagery of countryside, simple lives of peasants and
labourers is depicted.
o Published in ‘Kilmarnock’ edition of poems, chiefly in
Scottish dialect.
‘Michael – A Pastoral Poem’ (1800)
o Written in English dialect by William Wordsworth.
o Written in Iambic Pentameter with 16 long stanzas in
Blank Verse.
o Deals with the themes such as simple pastoral life,
love, friendship, separation, struggle, and optimism.
o Mood and Tone of the poem is delightful in the
beginning but eventually turn out to be tragic.
o Imagery of the family relationship, rural spirit of
parenthood, desperation followed by loved one’s
separation and pastoral joy is depicted.
o Published in ‘Lyrical Ballads.’
8. Biblical Reference To The Poems :
In ‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night,’ the protagonist
cotter gives fatherly advice and admonitions
based on Christian teaching :
“ And O! be sure to fear the Lord always,
And mind your duty duly, morn and night;
Lest in temptation’s path ye gang astray,
Implore his counsel and assisting might:
They never sought in vain that sought the Lord
aright.”
In ‘Michael,’ the story of the protagonist
and his son Luke seems to be the
derivation of the famous parable of The
Prodigal Son in the Bible.
9. Summing UP…
Having compared the poems written by two major
Romantic poets, i.e., Robert Burns and William
Wordsworth, we can conclude that both of their poems
possess one thing in common that the both ones deal with
the pastoral life of England countryside. The aggravation of
industrialization on rural mass is caught in the words by
both the poets. We saw many similarities and variations in
both the poems but one binding spirit that puts them in the
same case is the spirit of ecstasy derived from rustic life
which is closer to nature than that of the urban life.
