The poem “Comin Thro’ the Rye” written by Robert Burns was very difficult to understand. It hard to understand because it utilized an interesting kind of Irish English which contained words that I was not familiar with. For example, words such as weet, draigl’t, gin, glen, warld, and ken were some words that modern Americans are not familiar with. However, after analyzing this poem with my classmates and discussing the difficult words, I was able to grasp the idea of the poem, and I was also able to form a picture of the poem in my head.
I think that this poem is about a girl named Jenny who is going through a difficult time in her life. Burns describes her as a weet, poor body. Wet could signify Jenny’s tears. Also, “she draigl’t a ‘her petticoatie. Comin thro’ the rye!” I think this means that Jenny dragged her petticoat through the rye. The word “drag” has a negative connotation, so maybe the petticoat represents her burdens. The third stanza in this poem made it seem as if Jenny had engaged in sexual activity. “Gin a body meet a body” sounds like Jenny has met someone new, and “Gin a body kiss a body” makes it sound like they have slept together.
The punctuation that Burns uses throughout the poem give an even clearer idea of the picture that he is trying to create, and it also shows the author’s point of view. For example, the question mark after the word “ken” makes it seem as if the author is questioning the world. He is taking Jenny’s side and in a way, defending her. Also, there is always an exclamation mark after the phrase “comin thro’ the rye”. This emphasizes the phrase. That phrase also happens to be the title of the poem. It is a very significant phrase.
