By: Tristan Whitenight, Emily Parker, and Olivia Dumez
 Born on January 25, 1759
 He was born in Alloway, Scotland
 His parents were tenant farmers but ensured Robert with a relatively




good education .
He fathered twins with his eventual wife Jean Armour, but a rift in their
relationship nearly led to Burns emigrating to the West Indies with
lover Mary Campbell.
Mary's sudden death and the success of his first published collection of
verse kept him in Scotland.
At just the age of 27, Burns had already become famous across the
country.
Burns died on July 21, 1796. (37 years old)
 What kind of relationship do you have with
nature? Do you believe people should
appreciate the nature around them? Do you
have any experiences with nature? If so,
explain.
 To a Mouse” was written in November 1785
 Gilbert Burns, brother of the poet, wrote that this poem was





actually composed while Burns was plowing a field.
The poem demonstrates the poet's sympathetic attitude
toward nature and toward man.
Many of Burns' early poems were inspired by his observations
of the world around him.
Born the son of farmer in Ayrshire, Burns was literally "bred
to the plow.“
“To a Mouse” is a vernacular poem that tells a little story in
an English dialect called Scots.
It contains eight stanzas, each with six lines.
 “To a Mouse” is a vernacular poem that tells a little story in an English








dialect called Scots.
It contains eight stanzas, each with six lines.
The rhyme scheme is AAABAB
The meter is iambic tetrameter and iambic diameter
In this poem Burns develops the theme of respect for nature and
innocence
Setting is in on a farm in Scotland
The time was in the late 18th century
In the poem the man ploughed up the mice home on accident
The poem expresses a sad and hopeless tone

The relationship between man and nature is a major theme in
this poem. Burns devotes the poem to contemplating a bad
situation of a field mouse, using the mouse’s circumstances as a
metaphor for the lower social classes. This sort of romantic
idealism fits in with the growing social consciousness spreading
through Europe during this time period. The romantics, were
infatuated with the beauty of the natural world, saw this world as
the perfect example for exploring the social issues of the day.
Burns uses a mouse as a stand in for the poor, which is an
example of this new thinking.
 The poem is one big metaphor comparing the
speaker’s life to the mouse’s life. This is the only
metaphor in the poem, there are also no similes in the
poem. There is one example of personification that
gives nature a human like characteristic. The only
other literary devices are alliteration found throughout
the poem.
 Burns expresses his childhood memories through
relating them to a mouse’s life. The author’s tone
shows these feelings he had when he was a child in
poverty.
 Small, sleek, cowering, timorous beast,
O, what a panic is in your breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With hurrying scamper!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!
 I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is 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!
 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 past
Out 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 men
Go 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!
 The poem was interesting to read due to it being an
entire metaphor.
 Burns wrote the poem in a way that was easy for
anyone to understand.
 Lastly, this poem teaches the life lesson of helping the
innocent because everyone has been in a helpless
situation.