This week’s poem marks Burns Night, and it is Robert Burns’s “A Man’s a Man for a’ That”.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Robert Burns (1759—1796)
His ribband, star, and a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a’ that.
Poem 422. A Man’s a Man for a’ That
Is there, for honest poverty,
That hangs his head, and a’ that?
The coward slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Our toils obscure and a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, and a’ that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A man’s a man for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel shew, and a’ that,
The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
Wha struts and stares and a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a cuif for a’ that:
For a’ that, and a’ that,
His ribband, star, and a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a’ that.
A prince can make a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, and a’ that;
But an honest man’s aboon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their dignities and a’ that;
The pith o’ sense, and pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will, for a’ that,
That sense and worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, and a’ that!
For a’ that, and a’ that,
It’s coming yet for a’ that,
That man to man, the warld o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.
Burns asserts in this poem his belief that one person is as good as another regardless of rank or wealth and his hope that some time soon, men will treat one another as if they were close kin.
In the first stanza, Burns says that those who are ashamed of their poverty are no better than cowards and slaves who bow their head to their ‘betters’ but the genuine man will “dare to be poor”, embracing his state since he knows that though his work may be obscure and uncelebrated, it is still worthy. A person’s rank is nothing: it is their character that matters: “The man’s the gowd [gold] for a’ that”.
The second stanza emphasises this attitude: what does it matter if our food is plain and our clothing drab? Fools and knaves may wear expensive clothes and drink wine but “a man’s a man for a’ that.” Their showy ways and fripperies are worthless in the face of a man who is humble but honest.
Vain and arrogant lords who preen and pose and disparage the working man are simply fools and louts despite their finery and sycophantic followers; a man “o’ independent mind” who knows his own worth will “look and laugh” at such stupidity.
Princes may be able to confer honours on others, knighting them or bestowing great titles on them, but a man who is honest stands above such power; someone with sense and knowledge of their own worth ranks higher in Burns’s view.
So, he concludes, we should pray that the day will soon come when “Sense and Worth o’er a’ the earth/Shall bear the gree [win through] an’ a’ that. Despite the manoeuvrings of those in power, he says, that day is coming and when it arrives men shall be equal to each other.
I like it because of its assertion that all men are equal.
The Declaration of Independence of the United States (largely drafted in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson and proof-read by Benjamin Franklin) says in its second paragraph, “…that all men are created equal…” and in 1790s Revolutionary France, Robespierre popularized the phrase “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” (liberty, equality, brotherhood) so it is interesting that Burns wrote this in 1795; the idea of equality was rising although its interpretation was subjective so that although Jefferson speaks of all men being created equal, he was also an owner of slaves. Franklin visited Scotland in 1759 and mixed in the same intellectual circles in which Burns moved and Jefferson was influenced by French Enlightenment philosophers.
Burns’s song has been performed at the opening of the Scottish parliament by Sheena Wellington and Midge Ure; both performances are on YouTube, as is one by Paolo Nutini.