Banks of Cree
written in 1794
Here is the glen, and here the bower, All underneath the birchen shade; The village-bell has told the hour, O what can stay my lovely maid. 'Tis not Maria's whispering call; 'Tis but the balmy breathing gale, Mixt with some warbler's dying fall The dewy star of eve to hail. It is Maria's voice I hear; So calls the woodlark in the grove His little, faithful Mate to chear, At once 'tis music - and 'tis love. And art thou come! and art thou true! O welcome dear to love and me! And let us all our vows renew Along the flowery banks of Cree.
Banks of Cree - context Summary
Inspired by Maria Riddell
Written in 1794, Robert Burns’s Banks of Cree is a short pastoral lyric produced during his Dumfries period. The speaker waits beneath birch shade by the river and interprets breezes and a woodlark’s song as the summons of a beloved, identified with Maria Riddell. The poem combines simple rural details—the village bell, evening dew, flowery banks—with a direct welcome and the renewal of vows. As a contextual piece, it reads as a personal, affectionate gesture connected to Burns’s acquaintance with Riddell rather than a public statement.
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