The Best Laid Plans... (CP I)

The title of the novel "Of Mice and Men" comes from a poem by Robert Burns entitled "To A Mouse", written way back in 1785. The poem is very hard to understand due to it being written in a local dialect of English (it looks like a foreign language!)...which is similar to the way some of the characters talk in the novel.

Here is the poem in its entirety:

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie, 

O, what panic's in thy breastie! 

Thou need na start awa sae hasty, 

Wi' bickering 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' wast, 
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 are no thy-lane, 
In proving foresight may be vain: 
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!

Here is a rough translation of the poem:

http://www.electricscotland.com/burns/mouse.html

And here is the audio of the poem:

Listen to this in Real Audio

Assignment: Burns compares his own life's struggles to that of a mouse. What animal do you feel best represents your life thus far, and why? Explain this association in a post on your blog. This can be in either prose (a few paragraphs describing the similarities or differences) or in poetry (in either Burns' style or your own!)