Published anonymously in The Glasgow Magazine, August, 1795.
Tune: – For a’ That, and a’ That.
Is there, for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that; hangs
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
5 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. gold
What though on hamely fare we dine, homely foods
10 Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that? coarse woollen cloth
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, give
A Man’s a Man for a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
15 The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor, so
Is king o’ men for a’ that.
Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord, fellow called
Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that,
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
20 He’s but a coof for a’ that. fool/lout
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that,
The man o’ independent mind,
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
25 A Prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that!
But an honest man’s aboon his might — above
Guid faith, he mauna fa’ that! good, must not be like
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
30 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,
35 That Sense and Worth o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that. win the day
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man the warld o’er world
40 Shall brithers be for a’ that. brothers
The first version of A Man’s a Man, printed anonymously during the poet’s life, differs textually from the final version given above. Rather than containing five, it has only four stanzas, beginning with what became the second:
What tho’ on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hodden grey, and a’ that:
Gie fools their silk, and knaves their wine,
A man’s a man for a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Their tinsel shew, and a’ that;
An honest man, tho’ ne’er sae poor,
Is Chief o’ men for a’ that.
It was this early version, printed in the Glasgow Magazine, August 1795 that was copied by the radical Belfast-based The Northern Star, 19th–22nd October, 1795. A more sinister publication occurred just prior to the poet’s death, when the first Glasgow version re-appeared in the pro-government London Oracle, 2nd June 1796, but this time, disturbingly, with Burns’s name as author. Professor Werkmeister remarks on this: ‘Considering the character of the poem, one doubts even so that Burns had authorized it over his signature. The poem was copied by The Star on June 3.’ (Robert Burns and the London Daily Press, Modern Philology 1966, p. 329). There can be little doubt that the governmental spy network would have taken notice of the song and judged it as seditious. While there is no mention that the song was published under his name in surviving letters, it is certain to have caused some considerable anxiety for Burns, given his Excise post. That his employers took no action against him, or enquired formally into the matter, is perplexing. With hindsight, it may be that the poet’s illness was well known to his Excise superiors and the Commissioners in Edinburgh that they chose not to take action against him. Either way, Burns not only feared imprisonment, being pursued for the debt owed for his Dumfries Volunteers uniform, but must have known about this named publication which could have had him arrested at any moment from 2nd June, 1796 onward and charged with sedition.
Another, hitherto undocumented version was printed in 1798 by Professor Peter Urbani, Edinburgh. It too begins with what became the second stanza. Its second stanza is the one Burns eventually reworked to become the final version’s first stanza:
Wha wad for honest poverty,
Hang down their heads an’ a’ that?
The coward slave we pass him by
And dare be poor for a’ that.
For a’ that and a’ that,
Their purse-proud looks and a’ that,
In ragged coats ye’ll often find
The noblest hearts for a’ that.
Kinsley mentions a 1793 songbook edited by Peter Urbani, but not the more important 1798 publication containing version two of A Man’s A Man. Henley and Henderson are dismissive of variant lines in another version they found, published by Brash and Reid (1801) in Glasgow which is similar to the 1798 text, mentioning ‘purse-proud looks’. They refer to the ‘absurd version of this half stanza, apparently the invention of the ingenious Reid’ (Vol. 3, p. 490) unaware that it occurs in the 1798 Urbani version and they display their ignorance of Burns’s letters, where the phrase ‘purse-proud’ occurs several times. Their commentary is mixed with obvious political loathing and they appear unaware that the song had been re-drafted several times by Burns. The second version has five stanzas, not the four of the first edition.
Henley and Henderson were not perceptive enough to see the genesis of the final lyric, from the original publication, through Urbani’s 1798 text to the intermediate Brash and Reid text, printed at Glasgow, circa 1801. The Brash and Reid print contains many of the peculair typographic stresses employed by Burns, evident among his manuscripts and it is the first publication to have the famous first verse in place as it is now known, although the text is rather more Scottish than the final version:
Wha wad for honest poverty,
Hing down his head an’ a’ that?
The coward slave we pass him by
And dare be poor for a’ that.
For a’ that, and a’ that,
Our toils obscure, and a’ that,
The RANK is but the GUINEA stamp,
The MAN’s the GOWD for a’ that.
In self-deprecatory mood Burns described the lyric to George Thomson as ‘… no Song; but will be allowed, I think, to be two or three pretty good prose thoughts, inverted into rhyme’ (Letter 651). He did not hide his authorship from Thomson, but probably trusted the song collector implicitly not to pass copies around. When Thomson eventually printed the song in 1805, it had been in Currie’s 1800 edition and was well known as a work of Burns, having surfaced in The Morning Chronicle, in late 1796 with the poet’s name ascribed. Even then, Thomson felt compelled to make a few of his own meddling changes to the text. The many variant texts are ample proof that Burns considered this one of his best songs and the final draft was the result of considerable textual re-appraisal.
For Daiches, the merits of this song, dedicated to the worthiness of ‘honest poverty’ and democratic rights, is apparent:
It is a rhetorical poem, testifying to the effect on Burns of the French revolution and its ideological currents, and it owes its popularity to its effectiveness as a series of slogans … it represents a legitimate and in its way impressive use of the poetic medium … The poem has a well contrived structure, moving from the generalization about ‘honest poverty’ through specific illustrations of the difference between virtue and social rank to a final climactic generalization which is at once a prayer and a prophecy (pp. 302–3).
Crawford rightly refers to the ‘revolutionary yearning for fraternity that underlies’ the song, with its theme, ‘a spontaneous and passionate democratic humanism’. Crawford quotes the introduction to Marshak’s Robert Burns in Translation, Moscow, 1957: ‘He was able to describe the finest and most truly human feelings and experiences of the simple people … not as a critic, but as a brother and friend’ (Crawford, p. 337). Interestingly, Crawford shows specific influences on the song from Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man (Crawford, p. 365).
Due to the different texts of this marching revolutionary anthem it is certain that Burns produced the first text probably very late in 1794 and considering that the anonymous publication in August 1795 is of the first draft, he must have worked on the piece well into 1795 and possibly touched it up again early in 1796. Hence, the final draft would have been improved well after the composition of The Dumfries Volunteers.