Reviews for Winter's eve

The average rating for Winter's eve based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-10-27 00:00:00 Joel Zayas I don't normally read poetry, but with Halloween coming up I decided to revisit this famous piece by Robert Burns, which I last read in school. Tam o' Shanter is a variant of the story in which a man rides home alone on a dark, stormy night and is attacked by demonic creatures. He must reach a bridge to make it to safety, since by common agreement supernatural beings cannot cross running water. Burns said openly that the poem, first published in 1791, was adapted from a local folktale from Ayrshire, the part of Scotland where he grew up. Similar tales are apparently known in other parts of Northern Europe. This wonderfully descriptive poem mixes comic and horror elements, the former deriving from Tam being a habitual drunkard. On the night in question, Tam is in the town of Ayr, drinking with his friend Soutar Johnny. I imagine many of us (the men anyway) will recognise ourselves in the following: "Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious. O'er a' the ills o' life victorious!" All good things must end. Tam must take his sturdy mare, Meg, or Maggie, and make his way home on a very stormy night, past the ruined kirk (church) at Alloway. The kirk is a place of sinister happenings, and as Tam approaches he rides past the sites of murders and suicides. Sure enough, at the kirk he comes across the Deil (the Devil) presiding over a dance of witches and demons. Burns was known for having an eye for the ladies, and he conjures up a scene in which the witches cast off their outer clothes and dance only in their undergarments. Most of the witches are old, but there is one young woman who has only that night joined the ranks of the undead. Seeing her dance in just a short undershirt, the drunken Tam cannot resist a shout of "Weel done, Cutty Sark!" * "And scarcely had he Maggie rallied, When out the hellish legion sallied." Will Maggie get Tam to the bridge in time to save himself? Pretty much everyone of my generation who went to school in Scotland will know the answer. As the reader will have noticed, the poem is written in old Scots dialect, and non-Scots may enjoy it best if they have a version in standard English to check on the meaning of words. There are multiple copies available on the web. Tam o' Shanter is so vivid it is almost cinematic. A Halloween treat! * Cutty Sark = "Short shirt"

Review # 2 was written on 2019-10-28 00:00:00 Earl Jenkins I read a translation of Tam O'Shanter by Jim Smith after reading the review by my Goodreads friend Ian. I could not find this particular edition on Goodreads. It came with illustrations of The Old Market Cross at Ayr and other scenes from the poem. As someone who enjoys his beer, Tam O'Shanter was like music to my ears. It made me wish I was born in Scotland and not in a conservative country like India. The poem begins with some awesome scenes of Tam living it up in a pub with his best friend Cobbler Johnny. It has some of the best descriptions of the drunken state: "Care, mad to see him full of cheer, Even drowned himself among the beer. As bees fly home with loads of treasure, The minutes winged their way with pleasure; Kings may be blessed but Tam was glorious, O'er all the ills of life victorious." But as all tipplers know, the good times must end: "But pleasures are like poppies spread: You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white - then melts forever" Then as the drunk Tam rides home on his horse to his naggy wife Kate, the poem turns into horror. He is chased by witches who dance until they sweat. But they are not particularly pretty or anything. There is one beautiful witch among them who wears a cutty sark (means a short undergarment; I can show off next time someone wonders what cutty sark means) and helps Tam and his horse cross the Doon bridge. The horse does lose its tail at the hands of a witch during its jump across the bridge. The poem ends with a warning to all men who are inclined to drink and whose minds are haunted by cutty sarks. "Now, who this tale of truth shall read, Each man, and mother's son, take heed: Whene'er to drink you are inclined, Or cutty-sarks run in your mind, Those joys may cost too much, take care: Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare." I thought the whole poem was quite tongue in cheek. I wonder why a film has not been made based on it. Like Ian pointed out, it is very cinematic. Tam and his friends having a good time getting drunk at a pub while his wife waits at home. Tam hooking up with the landlady. His return home on a horse during a thunderous night across bogs and mires. An attack by dancing singing witches. Finally his escape. Some old obscure words that I discovered in the poem: ingle - fireplace meikle - giant usquabae - whiskey, liquor winnock bunker - window seat carlin - witch, hag duddies - clothes