Format

Burns wrote the poem in four quatrains (four-line stanzas) with the following characteristics:

Rhyme

In each stanza, the second and fourth lines end with masculine rhyme. Rhyme also occurs in a repeated word at the end of the first and third lines of the third and fourth stanzas. 

Meter

The first and third lines of each stanza are in iambic tetrameter, and the second and fourth lines are in iambic trimeter. Iambic tetrameter is an eight-syllable line with alternating pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables. Each pair makes up a foot so that each tetrameter line has four feet, as in line 1 of the first stanza:

..........1...........2..........3............4...... 

O MY | Luve's LIKE | a RED, | red ROSE

Iambic trimeter is a six syllable line with alternating pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables. Each pair makes up a foot so that each trimeter line has three feet, as in line 2 of the first stanza:

.........1..................2..............3

That's NEW.| ly SPRUNG.| in JUNE

Theme

Burns clearly states and restates the theme: The speaker loves the young lady beyond measure. The only way he can express his love for her is through vivid similes and hyperbolic comparisons. 

. ..

1

O MY Luve’s like a red, red rose, 

  That’s newly sprung in June: 

O my Luve’s like the melodie, 

  That’s sweetly play’d in tune. 

Summary, Stanza 1

The speaker presents two similes, the first comparing his love to a rose and the second comparing his love to a melody. The speaker also uses repetition to echo his sentiments--my luve's like in lines 1 and 3; that's newly and that's sweetly (pronoun, verb, and adverb combinations) in lines 2 and 4.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

  So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

  Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Summary, Stanza 2

The speaker addresses the young lady as bonnie (pretty). Bonnie is derived from the French word bon (good). In the last line of the stanza, a' means all and gang means go. This line introduces to the poem hyperbole, a figure of speech that exaggerates.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

  And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

  While the sands o’ life shall run.

Summary, Stanza 3

The speaker links the first line of the third stanza with the last line of the second stanza by repetition. The speaker continues hyperbole in the second and fourth lines. He also again relies on repetition in the third line by repeating the third line of the second stanza. 

And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve,

  And fare-thee-weel, a while! 

And I will come again, my Luve,

  Tho’ 'twere ten thousand mile!

Summary, Stanza 4

The speaker again addresses his beloved, noting that though he must leave her for a while he will return for her even if he must travel ten thousand miles. Repetition occurs in the first and second lines, and hyperbole occurs in the last line. Fare-thee-weel means fare thee well.