“ETERNAL LOVE AND SYMBOLIC IMAGERY: A CRITICAL STUDY OF PASSION AND PERMANENCE IN ROBERT BURNS’S A RED, RED ROSE”

Abstract

Robert Burns’s A Red, Red Rose stands as one of the most celebrated expressions of love in Romantic poetry, embodying themes of passion, fidelity, and the enduring power of human emotion. This research paper examines how Burns employs natural imagery, symbolism, and musical rhythm to elevate personal affection into a universal articulation of eternal love. The study explores the poem’s striking use of similes—comparing love to a newly bloomed rose and to a sweet melody—which not only highlight the freshness and vitality of emotion but also reveal the poet’s desire to situate human feeling within the broader harmony of nature.

Through a close textual analysis, the paper interrogates how Burns’s simple yet evocative diction conveys intensity and sincerity, while the repetitive structure underscores the permanence of devotion. Intertextual comparisons with other Romantic works, including Wordsworth’s emphasis on natural symbolism and Keats’s explorations of passion and transience, provide a broader literary framework. By situating the poem within the Romantic tradition, the study reveals Burns’s ability to merge the folk-song tradition with the philosophical concerns of Romanticism, particularly the tension between temporality and immortality in human relationships.

This paper argues that A Red, Red Rose achieves a unique balance between intimate emotion and universal resonance, encapsulating the Romantic ideal of love as both deeply personal and transcendent. Ultimately, Burns’s poem is not merely a declaration of affection but a meditation on the permanence of love against the inevitability of time, positioning it as a timeless contribution to the literature of passion and devotion.