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MUSCOVITE Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

The Heather Ale

Hi,There are several "difficult" (old Scottish?) words in this poem ..... all my English dictionaries seem helpless this time :-)(1) ...They brewed a drink ....What does mean here?(2) ...and lay in a blessed ? what is it?(3) ...The Brewsters of the Heather lay with the dead... I don't understand what stands for in this context(4) ...and the dwarfisn and coupleswarthy = tanned? because the poor Picts had to spend too much time outside (in the sun)? The king and his courtiers are supposed to be "vampire-pale' whereas villages/peasants are expected to be swarthy? :-)thank you!mus-te
  

Top answer

Hi, It would be better if you quoted the context of these phrases. But here are a few comments. ) words in this poem .....

— Clive

  • Hi, It would be better if you quoted the context of these phrases.
  • But here are a few comments.
  • ) words in this poem .....
  • What does mean here?
  • ' Brew' is the process of making tea with boiling water.
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6 Answers
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Hi,

It would be better if you quoted the context of these phrases.
But here are a few comments.

There are several "difficult" (old Scottish?) words in this poem ..... all my English dictionaries seem helpless this time :-)
(1) ...They brewed a drink ....What does me
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Sorry,Just realized that the text of my original post is corrupt .... the words that I highlighted using the keys '<' and '>' are missing.Well, here is my second try (no suspect characters this time! :-).There are several "difficult" (old Scottish?) words in this poem ..... all my English dictionaries seem helpless this time :-)(1) ...They brewed a drink long-syne....What does LONG-SYNE mean here
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Hi,

Just realized that the text of my original post is corrupt .... the words that I highlighted using the keys '
(1) ...They brewed a drink long-syne....What does LONG-SYNE mean here? I think it means 'some time ago', but I need to see the context really. It might even mean 'soon', 'quickly'.
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Note the first two lines of the poem:
From the bonny bells of heather
They brewed a drink long-syne,

The Brewsters of the Heather: The brewers of the heather ale - those who knew the secret of how the ale was brewed - were now all dead.

'swound' = swoon, which is a nice way of saying 'drunken stupor
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Terryxpress:
Thank you!

I wonder if this poem was ever set to music? Such GREAT ballads definitely "deserve" great music?
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