What is a famous phrase from Burns poem To a Mouse?
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
What is the meaning of To a Mouse by Robert Burns?
To A Mouse depicts Burns’ remorse at having destroyed the nest of a tiny field mouse with his plough. He apologises to the mouse for his mishap, for the general tyranny of man in nature and reflects mournfully on the role of fate in the life of every creature, including himself.
Who said the best laid plans of mice?
Robert Burns
No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. The saying is adapted from a line in “To a Mouse,” by Robert Burns: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”
What is a wee timorous beastie?
Indeed, it is a digest of the first verse of the poem: “Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie” which in standard English means: “Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast”.
How is the mouse described in To a Mouse?
The speaker addresses the mouse in humorous, good-natured terms, as a “Wee” (“little”) “sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie.” The use of the affectionate “wee” as well as the diminutive terms “beastie” and “breastie” suggest that the speaker might be laughing a bit at the mouse.
What is the famous line in To a Mouse?
Robert Burns’ famous quote adapted from To A Mouse : “The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.”
What does the mouse represent in To a Mouse?
The speaker ultimately takes the mouse’s plight to represent the condition of all creatures—”Mice an’ men”—living in a world where tragedy can strike suddenly and unpredictably. The mouse, then, symbolizes for the speaker not just her own condition but the condition of human beings, too.
Who is the poem To a Mouse addressed to?
The speaker himself is a farmer and he addresses the poem to the mouse as one character addresses another onstage. Poets like Robert Browning (“My Last Duchess”) and Alfred Lord Tennyson (“Ulysses”) were especially well known for their dramatic monologues, but Robert Burns is an early and skilled user of this form.
How do George and Lennie’s lives parallel that of the mouse in the poem?
Lennie and George’s plans are similar to that of the mouse in Robert Burns’s poem. Along with Candy they are saving money for their own home, and nearly have enough to move in, but when George shoots Lennie their dream is over, and their plans have all came to nothing, just as the mouse’s did.