Excellent rendition of one of the saddest and most beautiful poems ever written. So full of humanity and connection with nature. It has resonated through the years, left its mark. 'Of mice and men " I still shed tears at the end.
As an English student skilled only in the American accent this video was truly a blessing. I couldn't even begin to guess how to read most of the poem without this, thank you!
@@AlexKwake Yes, he wrote in Scots, but Scots isn't close to Early Middle English. It developed along its own path and has many elements from Gaelic, Dutch and Scandinavian languages. It also contains French words that are quite different from those in English because of Scotland's centuries-long alliance with France.
There's the difference between accent and dialect, which is it's own language really, though it shares much with it's parent language I believe. I grew up using certain Scots words, and still lapse into their use when with fellow Scots. It's a relief when it happens.
Well that certainly struck a chord with me .. Billy aka Sir William Connolly is a multi talented individual who just keeps on churning out good copy, cheers Billy keep on truckin' :)
My grandfather's family came from Ayrshire. In a drunken stuper he would often spout from memory " To a Wee Mousie". Thou his family moved to Canada and he adopted a Canadian accent, he sounded much like this wonderful rendition. He served in both WW1 and WW2. Thankyou.
I'm involved in a Burns night in Hamilton Ontario ... east end parents ... loads of auld country influence ... saw the "big yin" a couple of times ... this is a fantastic interpretation of an ode to what is really an ode, despite the difference of a regional accent
If my mother were still alive, tears would be rolling down her cheeks. She told me of how she loved to visit her father's aunt and uncle. They still kept the Scottish accent and the only pictures on the walls were of Theodore Roosevelt and Robert Burns.
Weel done Billy aon. Gaun yersel. First time I have heard you reciting Burns. I was born in Irvine and think Burns was the greatest scot that even lived and you are the greatest living scot; I have followed your career every step of the way. You now have another string to your bow. Keep it going. You can beat this parkinson thing. My partner's mother had it. You have already prove the professionals wrong by living a long life. Go man go. Love to Pam and the kids. Wish I could meet you my son.
I quite enjoyed the unusual tempo, and the familiar comforting empathy and insight of the poem. The pace was unusual, and it needs something new, because both the poem and the voice are so well known. I found that quite refreshing as its usually slowed down to a dirge to be understandable to the modern ear. But most Scots know it well enough that a more natural tempo can be enjoyed, and you can listen two or three times to get some more. Well done Billy.
Up till now I had only read this and it was so good to have it read out aloud by the wonderful Billy Connolly. He made the ending sound really sad because the man who apologises to the mouse for the destruction he has wrought has a miserable existence.
I think the point is that everyone has. To be human is to worry about the future and regret the past. It's the curse for being human. It's why we get depressed. It's why we abuse drugs.
i wept when i heard this. so much compassion for men and mouse, and our individual special sorrows. the mouse that his home would be naturally destroyed and that the man would be destroyed by memory and fears for the future.
I had the great fortune to meet Billy in 1989 at a birthday party for Danny Kyle in the Buckshead in strathaven along with many dear friends some lost years past including one particularly dear, Margaret Forrest, many fond memories of that evening....
the answer to this crazy world at this time is the Wind in the Willows , i watch the stop frame TV series everyday because i can't bear the world and mole rat badger and especially toad keep me happy
To a Mouse On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785. Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie, O, what a panic’s in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi’ bickerin brattle! I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee Wi’ murd’ring pattle! I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, An’ justifies that ill opinion, Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An’ fellow-mortal! I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave ’S a sma’ request: I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave, An’ never miss ’t! Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin! An’ naething, now, to big a new ane, O’ foggage green! An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin, Baith snell an’ keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste, An’ weary Winter comin fast, An’ cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro’ thy cell. That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble, But house or hald, To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble, An’ cranreuch cauld! But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: 1:35 The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy! Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e’e, On prospects drear! An’ forward tho’ I canna see, I guess an’ fear! by Robert Burns
I love the highs and lows of this poem. A mouse’s nest turned out ushers in disgust that turns to understanding and sympathy, even admiration or jealousy for a creature with such a simple life. Burns was fucking master. Billy’s reading is great!
A McClaran who just consumed haggis, neeps and tatties, and a double Famouse Grouse and water, to the sounds of the Black Watch, I salute Billy Connelly. What a great rendering! ❤
See thon Curdy Called a lord Who struts and stares and all that. Though thousands worship him at his word, he is just a cuif for all that. For all that and all that, his ribbons and stars and all that, The man of independent mind Looks and laughs..at all that.
What connects Robert Burns and Girls Aloud other than Nicola Roberts ? Dost ask me, why I send thee here, This firstling of the infant year? Dost ask me, what this primrose shews, Bepearled thus with morning dews? I must whisper to thy ears, The sweets of love are wash'd with tears. This lovely native of the dale Thou seest, how languid, pensive, pale: Thou seest this bending stalk so weak, That each way yielding doth not break? I must tell thee, these reveal, The doubts and fears that lovers feel. ruclips.net/video/xPrZ4yAdj8I/видео.html here I am … walking primrose
L'Orange Comme dans l'éponge il y a dans l'orange une aspiration à reprendre contenance après avoir subi l'épreuve de l'expression. Mais où l'éponge réussit toujours, l'orange jamais : car ses cellules ont éclaté, ses tissus se sont déchirés. Tandis que l'écorce seule se rétablit mollement dans sa forme grâce à son élasticité, un liquide d'ambre s'est répandu, accompagné de rafraîchissement, de parfums suaves, certes, -- mais souvent aussi de la conscience amère d'une expulsion prématurée de pépins. Faut-il prendre parti entre ces deux manières de mal supporter l'oppression ? -- L'éponge n'est que muscle et se remplit de vent, d'eau propre ou d'eau sale selon : cette gymnastique est ignoble. L'orange a meilleurs goût, mais elle est trop passive, -- et ce sacrifice odorant... c'est faire à l'oppresseur trop bon compte vraiment. Mais ce n'est pas assez avoir dit de l'orange que d'avoir rappelé sa façon particulière de parfumer l'air et de réjouir son bourreau. Il faut mettre l'accent sur la coloration glorieuse du liquide qui en résulte et qui, mieux que le jus de citron, oblige le larynx à s'ouvrir largement pour la prononciation du mot comme pour l'ingestion du liquide, sans aucune moue appréhensive de l'avant-bouche dont il ne fait pas hérisser les papilles. Et l'on demeure au reste sans paroles pour avouer l'admiration que suscite l'enveloppe du tendre, fragile et rose ballon ovale dans cet épais tampon-buvard humide dont l'épiderme extrêmement mince mais très pigmenté, acerbement sapide, est juste assez rugueux pour accrocher dignement la lumière sur la parfaite forme du fruit. Mais à la fin d'une trop courte étude, menée aussi rondement que possible, -- il faut en venir au pépin. Ce grain, de la forme d'un minuscule citron, offre à l'extérieur la couleur du bois blanc de citronnier, à l'intérieur un vert de pois ou de germe tendre. C'est en lui que se retrouvent, après l'explosion sensationnelle de la lanterne vénitienne de saveurs, couleurs, et parfums que constitue le ballon fruité lui-même, -- la dureté relative et la verdeur (non d'ailleurs entièrement insipide) du bois, de la branche, de la feuille : somme toute petite quoique avec certitude la raison d'être du fruit. Francis Ponge - Le parti pris des choses (1942
Aaah … but in 300 years time what will people make of spidey. Try to be less arrogant Burns was not writing for your ears alone, and you could learn something by understanding his voice.
Poor recital is a bit harsh, but I do get the Glasgow accent thing. Billy’s accent is quite different to what I imagine Burns’ would have been; of course the passage of time will influence this, but also so will the area where Burns’ grew up and lived…he was not a Glaswegian, unlike Billy. To those who may not know, Scotland like everywhere has distinctive accents even between places relatively short distances apart…Billy for example speaks very differently to people in Edinburgh. I think he recites it brilliantly though, notwithstanding the accent may not be truly authentic in terms of what would have been Burns’ vernacular. But still great that’s it’s recited in a Scottish accent. I suppose it could be said that Billy reciting in a Glasgow accent would be a bit like someone with a Cockney (London) accent reciting a poem written in Scouse (Liverpool) vernacular. But Billy still does a great job, and as someone who is half Scottish (Glaswegian) I recognise much of what Burns wrote, and have heard many of the words and phrases used in real life especially by grandparents…sleekit is a perfect example!
Only Billy could get THAT mixture of emotion and mirth in his voice to read that poem.. fabulous😂..
Great use of the word Mirth, equally Fabulous.📚😀🏴
Sir Billy reading THIS icon aloud. Sheer joy! What a privilege to hear it.
Excellent rendition of one of the saddest and most beautiful poems ever written.
So full of humanity and connection with nature.
It has resonated through the years, left its mark. 'Of mice and men "
I still shed tears at the end.
Beautifully read Billy. This reminded of dark Halloween nights when my Scottish Wife would read Tam o Shanter to the children by candlelight.
As an English student skilled only in the American accent this video was truly a blessing. I couldn't even begin to guess how to read most of the poem without this, thank you!
It's not just an accent. Burns wrote in the Scots language, which is closer to Early Middle English.
@@AlexKwake Yes, he wrote in Scots, but Scots isn't close to Early Middle English. It developed along its own path and has many elements from Gaelic, Dutch and Scandinavian languages. It also contains French words that are quite different from those in English because of Scotland's centuries-long alliance with France.
There's the difference between accent and dialect, which is it's own language really, though it shares much with it's parent language I believe.
I grew up using certain Scots words, and still lapse into their use when with fellow Scots. It's a relief when it happens.
As a Scotsman steeped in our native accent and Burns’ works, I can assure you that this is indeed an excellent reading 😊
Well that certainly struck a chord with me .. Billy aka Sir William Connolly is a multi talented individual who just keeps on churning out good copy, cheers Billy keep on truckin' :)
Best regards Sir Billy Connolly and friends and family - and kind thoughts on health issues.
My grandfather's family came from Ayrshire. In a drunken stuper he would often spout from memory " To a Wee Mousie". Thou his family moved to Canada and he adopted a Canadian accent, he sounded much like this wonderful rendition. He served in both WW1 and WW2. Thankyou.
I'm involved in a Burns night in Hamilton Ontario ... east end parents ... loads of auld country influence ... saw the "big yin" a couple of times ... this is a fantastic interpretation of an ode to what is really an ode, despite the difference of a regional accent
If my mother were still alive, tears would be rolling down her cheeks. She told me of how she loved to visit her father's aunt and uncle. They still kept the Scottish accent and the only pictures on the walls were of Theodore Roosevelt and Robert Burns.
That was beautiful thank you 👏 Billy it took me back to my childhood
Happy Burns' Day
It’s Burns night
Weel done Billy aon. Gaun yersel. First time I have heard you reciting Burns. I was born in Irvine and think Burns was the greatest scot that even lived and you are the greatest living scot; I have followed your career every step of the way. You now have another string to your bow. Keep it going. You can beat this parkinson thing. My partner's mother had it. You have already prove the professionals wrong by living a long life. Go man go. Love to Pam and the kids. Wish I could meet you my son.
He couldn't have got any closer to how I'd always imagined Burns would have spoken it.
The whole poem here is so much more beautiful than the one line from it that has become a sort of meme in modern English.
I quite enjoyed the unusual tempo, and the familiar comforting empathy and insight of the poem. The pace was unusual, and it needs something new, because both the poem and the voice are so well known. I found that quite refreshing as its usually slowed down to a dirge to be understandable to the modern ear. But most Scots know it well enough that a more natural tempo can be enjoyed, and you can listen two or three times to get some more. Well done Billy.
Remarkable close attention to the meanest detail of lifes turmoil. Wonderful!
Up till now I had only read this and it was so good to have it read out aloud by the wonderful Billy Connolly. He made the ending sound really sad because the man who apologises to the mouse for the destruction he has wrought has a miserable existence.
I think the point is that everyone has. To be human is to worry about the future and regret the past. It's the curse for being human. It's why we get depressed. It's why we abuse drugs.
i wept when i heard this. so much compassion for men and mouse, and our individual special sorrows. the mouse that his home would be naturally destroyed and that the man would be destroyed by memory and fears for the future.
I had the great fortune to meet Billy in 1989 at a birthday party for Danny Kyle in the Buckshead in strathaven along with many dear friends some lost years past including one particularly dear, Margaret Forrest, many fond memories of that evening....
I didn't know till now Billy had been knighted! I remember him on American TV some years back... Good job on the poem ! ❤
Magnificent reading
Brilliantly done 🏴
I play this every Burns Night.
This is the same poem that inspired the book “Of Mice And Men” bloody love that book
This is one of my favs. Learnt it at skool 👍🏴
Thank you so much and God bless!
I don't really understand all of it, but it makes me just want to pick up Wind In The Willows , and start reading. Happy.
the answer to this crazy world at this time is the Wind in the Willows , i watch the stop frame TV series everyday because i can't bear the world and mole rat badger and especially toad keep me happy
❤ ma prayers 2 Billy an Rabbie. He was ma 4 greats grandad. Rip.
To a Mouse
On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785.
Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
’S a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss ’t!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.
That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
1:35
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
by Robert Burns
Awesome!
It's a privilege to share a birthday with Scotland's national poet.
Happy birthday
@@christophergallagher3845 Aww,thank you!
Happy Birthday…again! 🎉😊
Best thing Billy has ever done!
I love the highs and lows of this poem. A mouse’s nest turned out ushers in disgust that turns to understanding and sympathy, even admiration or jealousy for a creature with such a simple life. Burns was fucking master. Billy’s reading is great!
Loved this video
"One Brown Mouse" by Ian Anderson as performed by Jethro Tull is inspired by this too.
Yes,and I love it!
I listened to this for school. Great reading!
Broke my heart.
Beautiful posting. Grazie. Bobby Burns, O'Bard of Scotland and great Ode to John Steinbeck.
Beautifully delivered in guid braid Scots. The Big Yin truly is a national treasure.
"WONDERFUL"
I wish we could have had him at our Burns Dinner tonight.
A McClaran who just consumed haggis, neeps and tatties, and a double Famouse Grouse and water, to the sounds of the Black Watch, I salute Billy Connelly. What a great rendering! ❤
Great video
Oor Billy.
See thon Curdy
Called a lord
Who struts and stares and all that. Though thousands worship him at his word, he is just a cuif for all that. For all that and all that, his ribbons and stars and all that,
The man of independent mind
Looks and laughs..at all that.
Very nice.
Best i’ve heard yet
interhigh ik
you know who you are im waiting for you
💚
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Didn't know Sheogorath was into poetry
Noo bad fer a Lowlander, ken.
Considering Burns was a Lowlander… 😊
A poets corner recording
interhigh
What connects Robert Burns and Girls Aloud other than Nicola Roberts ?
Dost ask me, why I send thee here,
This firstling of the infant year?
Dost ask me, what this primrose shews,
Bepearled thus with morning dews?
I must whisper to thy ears,
The sweets of love are wash'd with tears.
This lovely native of the dale
Thou seest, how languid, pensive, pale:
Thou seest this bending stalk so weak,
That each way yielding doth not break?
I must tell thee, these reveal,
The doubts and fears that lovers feel.
ruclips.net/video/xPrZ4yAdj8I/видео.html here I am … walking primrose
L'Orange
Comme dans l'éponge il y a dans l'orange une aspiration à reprendre contenance après avoir subi l'épreuve de l'expression. Mais où l'éponge réussit toujours, l'orange jamais : car ses cellules ont éclaté, ses tissus se sont déchirés. Tandis que l'écorce seule se rétablit mollement dans sa forme grâce à son élasticité, un liquide d'ambre s'est répandu, accompagné de rafraîchissement, de parfums suaves, certes, -- mais souvent aussi de la conscience amère d'une expulsion prématurée de pépins.
Faut-il prendre parti entre ces deux manières de mal supporter l'oppression ? -- L'éponge n'est que muscle et se remplit de vent, d'eau propre ou d'eau sale selon : cette gymnastique est ignoble. L'orange a meilleurs goût, mais elle est trop passive, -- et ce sacrifice odorant... c'est faire à l'oppresseur trop bon compte vraiment.
Mais ce n'est pas assez avoir dit de l'orange que d'avoir rappelé sa façon particulière de parfumer l'air et de réjouir son bourreau. Il faut mettre l'accent sur la coloration glorieuse du liquide qui en résulte et qui, mieux que le jus de citron, oblige le larynx à s'ouvrir largement pour la prononciation du mot comme pour l'ingestion du liquide, sans aucune moue appréhensive de l'avant-bouche dont il ne fait pas hérisser les papilles.
Et l'on demeure au reste sans paroles pour avouer l'admiration que suscite l'enveloppe du tendre, fragile et rose ballon ovale dans cet épais tampon-buvard humide dont l'épiderme extrêmement mince mais très pigmenté, acerbement sapide, est juste assez rugueux pour accrocher dignement la lumière sur la parfaite forme du fruit.
Mais à la fin d'une trop courte étude, menée aussi rondement que possible, -- il faut en venir au pépin. Ce grain, de la forme d'un minuscule citron, offre à l'extérieur la couleur du bois blanc de citronnier, à l'intérieur un vert de pois ou de germe tendre. C'est en lui que se retrouvent, après l'explosion sensationnelle de la lanterne vénitienne de saveurs, couleurs, et parfums que constitue le ballon fruité lui-même, -- la dureté relative et la verdeur (non d'ailleurs entièrement insipide) du bois, de la branche, de la feuille : somme toute petite quoique avec certitude la raison d'être du fruit.
Francis Ponge - Le parti pris des choses (1942
Not enough humility
Spiders obviously didn't bother Rabbie.
He might have written one called, To a Spider. Maybe he did.
ruclips.net/video/uXqwcp3CO_o/видео.html
Braw!
The translation is incorrect. Braw means pretty, handsome or beautiful
Can’t understand this 0 out of 10. Spider-Man no way home is clear.
…?
Double ??.....
Aaah … but in 300 years time what will people make of spidey.
Try to be less arrogant Burns was not writing for your ears alone, and you could learn something by understanding his voice.
Poor recital by an Anglicised Glasgow accent
do better then, mate. ain't heard of ye before
What specific aspects did not ring true for you?
Can you recommend a more authentic reading?
Poor recital is a bit harsh, but I do get the Glasgow accent thing. Billy’s accent is quite different to what I imagine Burns’ would have been; of course the passage of time will influence this, but also so will the area where Burns’ grew up and lived…he was not a Glaswegian, unlike Billy. To those who may not know, Scotland like everywhere has distinctive accents even between places relatively short distances apart…Billy for example speaks very differently to people in Edinburgh. I think he recites it brilliantly though, notwithstanding the accent may not be truly authentic in terms of what would have been Burns’ vernacular. But still great that’s it’s recited in a Scottish accent. I suppose it could be said that Billy reciting in a Glasgow accent would be a bit like someone with a Cockney (London) accent reciting a poem written in Scouse (Liverpool) vernacular. But Billy still does a great job, and as someone who is half Scottish (Glaswegian) I recognise much of what Burns wrote, and have heard many of the words and phrases used in real life especially by grandparents…sleekit is a perfect example!
And a poor comment by a sad, wee, narrow mind.