To a Mouse

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"To A Mouse" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1785, and was included in the Kilmarnock volume. As the legend goes, Burns wrote the poem after, as the poem suggests, turning up the winter nest of a mouse on his farm.

John Steinbeck took the title of his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men from a line contained in the second last stanza: 'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley' (often paraphrased as 'The best-laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry').

The poem, and the poetry of Robert Burns in general, is also said to have greatly influenced the work of English Musician Ian Anderson. References to "To A Mouse" can be seen in the song "One Brown Mouse," from the Heavy Horses album, which is a song about the mouse in Burns' Poem. The classic line from Aqualung, "...don't you start away uneasy..." is also said to have sparked from the Burns' line, "Thou need na start awa sae hasty..."

[edit] See also

• "To A Louse"
• Text of the poem can be found at http://www.bartleby.com/6/76.html