A Man's a Man for A 'That
Is There for Honest Poverty , also known as A Man's a Man for A 'That , is a Scottish song composed in 1795 by Robert Burns . The expressed there desire for equality and justice made it an anthem for socialist and social democratic movements like the aspirations for independence of Scotland and the worldwide movement for the abolition of Sklavere i be. In the German-speaking world, Ferdinand Freiligrath's transmission became a classic as a defiance of all this .
history
Burns' text is influenced by Thomas Paine's writing The Rights of Man (1791/92), who had to flee to Republican France because of the writing. The underlying melody, Lady McIntosh's Reel , had previously been used for Jacobite lyrics. Burns' For-a'-that poems took up a type of song known at the time, the traces of which can be traced back to the mid-18th century. Due to the political explosiveness, Burns 'publisher George Thomson waited a total of ten years after Burns' death before he dared to publish the song in the Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs in 1805 .
Sheena Wellington sang the song at the opening of the Scottish Regional Parliament in 1999 . The song was also performed at the funeral of Donald Dewar , the first First Minister of Scotland . The quote pride o 'worth is the emblem of the Scottish Qualifications Authority , the Scottish education authority. Well-known interpretations in Scotland have appeared with the Old Blind Dogs and the Mudmen , among others .
Effect in the USA
Burns' poetry influenced political figures in the United States of America, among other things. Matthew Mark Trumbull, an English emigrant and general of the Northern States during the Civil War, described A Man's a Man for A 'That as the lyrical version of the United States ' Declaration of Independence and an inspiration to Thomas Jefferson . There is also evidence of an influence on Abraham Lincoln , who attended Burns' centenary events in 1859 in the lead up to the emerging Civil War and slavery conflicts .
In the USA and Great Britain, the song is also an appeal against slavery and for its abolition. Henry Ward Beecher took the song at a high-profile event in honor of Burns' in New York in 1859 to declare Burns a pioneer of abolition .
German language area
German translations include the German Despite all this and all by Ferdinand Freiligrath . Freiligrath wrote two translations of the song, in 1843 and another after the failed revolution of 1848. The first transmission takes up the English verse directly with the beginning of the text “Whether poverty be your lot” and became very well known. The melody from Burns was not used, instead a melody from Heinrich Jädes and later that of the drinking song When Noah Was Out of the Box .
Because of the Cologne censorship, Freiligrath was only able to publish the translation in his book Ein Glaubensbe finnis ( A Confession of Faith) (1844). Five years after the re-poetry Despite all this , Freiligrath took up the poem again in the course of the events of 1848.
That was a hot March time,
despite rain, snow and all that
On June 6, 1848, the text was published in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (Cologne) edited by Karl Marx . The second version only became popular in Germany in the 20th century, among others by songwriters such as Hannes Wader , but took up the melody used by Burns.
text
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an 'a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a 'that!
For a 'that, an' a 'that.
Our toils obscure an '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 gray, an '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 show, an' 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, an 'stares, an' a 'that;
Tho 'hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a 'that, an' a 'that,
His ribband, star, an' a 'that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an 'laughs at a 'that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an 'a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa 'that!
For a 'that, an' a 'that,
Their dignities an' a 'that;
The pith o 'sense, an' 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, an 'a' that.
For a 'that, an' a 'that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a 'that.
Web links
- Text at Burns County
- German translation Die Deutsche Gedichte-Bibliothek
Individual evidence
- ↑ A Man's A Man For A 'That . Burns Country
- ↑ a b c David Robb, Eckhard John: "For a 'that" and "Despite everything": Robert Burns, Ferdinand Freiligrath and their reception in the German folk movement . (PDF) May 2009
- ↑ Kenneth Lyftogt: Iowa's Forgotten General: Matthew Mark Trumbull and the Civil War . University of Iowa Press, May 1, 2009
- ^ A b Ferenc Morton Szasz: Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends . SIU Press, September 25, 2008, 242 pages
- ↑ David Robb, Eckhard John: 'A Man's a Man for a' that 'and' Despite Alledem ': Robert Burns, Ferdinand Freiligrath, and Their Reception in the German Folksong Movement . In: The Modern Language Review , Vol. 106, No. 1 (January 2011), pp. 17-46