In fine, tongue-in-cheek moralistic mode, the poem concludes:Īlloway Kirk, from Grose's Antiquities Of Scotland, 1797. They only just make it though, as Nannie, first among the "hellish legion" chasing, grabs the horse's tail, which comes off. (The Devil, witches and warlocks cannot cross running water.) The Devil decides to chase Tam, but the evident pride in the ability of his horse is justified as she is able to help him to "win the key-stone o' the brig". Tam manages to watch silently until, the dancing old witches having cast off most of their clothes, he is beguiled by the energetic leaping of one comely female witch, Nannie, whose shirt or chemise ( cutty-sark ) is too short and scanty. The scene is bedecked in morbidly enthusiastic gothic detail.
DARE TO CROSS SHARK BRIDGE FULL
The sight he sees is Alloway Kirk, ablaze with light, where a weird hallucinatory dance involving witches and warlocks, open coffins, and even the Devil himself is in full swing. With the scene set, suddenly: "wow! Tam saw an unco sight!" Burns emphasises the spooky character of the Ayrshire countryside Tam has to ride through-but of course it is much easier as he is drunk:Ĭontemporary woodcut showing Tam wearing his bonnet and sitting astride his horse Meg Eventually Tam mounts up and rides off on his grey mare Meg, for his long, dark, lonely ride home.
Tam even flirts with the landlady of the pub, while Johnny's tales are punctuated by the landlord's laughter. One market night, Tam sits in a pub, close to its ingle, and drinks with his thirsty friend, a souter: "Souter Johnny, his ancient, trusty, drouthy crony". The reader is regaled with commentary by Tam's wife Kate on his drinking escapades, and with her dark forebodings: Gathering her brows like gathering storm,Īfter Burns has located us geographically: The creatures give chase and the witches come so close to catching Tam and Meg that they pull Meg's tail off just as she reaches the Brig o' Doon. Tam spurs Meg to turn and flee and drives the horse on towards the River Doon as the creatures dare not cross a running stream. Immediately, the lights go out, the music and dancing stops and many of the creatures lunge after Tam, with the witches leading.
The witches are dancing as the music intensifies and, upon seeing one particularly wanton witch in a short dress he loses his reason and shouts, 'Weel done, cutty-sark!' ("cutty-sark": short shirt).
He is still drunk, still upon his horse, just on the edge of the light, watching, amazed to see the place bedecked with many gruesome things such as gibbet irons and knives that had been used to commit murders and other macabre artifacts. On the way he sees the local haunted church lit up, with witches and warlocks dancing and the Devil playing the bagpipes. At the conclusion of one such late-night revel after a market day, Tam rides home on his horse Meg/Maggie while a storm is brewing. The poem describes the habits of Tam, a farmer who often gets drunk with his friends in a public house in the Scottish town of Ayr, and his thoughtless ways, specifically towards his wife, who is waiting at home for him, angry. First published in 1791, at 228 (or 224) lines it is one of Burns' longer poems, and employs a mixture of Scots and English. " Tam o' Shanter" is a narrative poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1790, while living in Dumfries. The opening scene of the poem – Tam drinks with his shoemaker friend, souter Johnnie, and flirts with the pub landlady while the landlord laughs at Johnnie's tales.
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