Why a Mouse?

The farmer cries, "But Mousie, thou art no thy lane," to the "Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie," but why perhaps does this beastie take the form of the timid mouse? If Burns' were so inspired by this creature in the field, why would he choose this creature to suddenly be concerned with?

One might consider the thought that mouse represents all of nature's beauty, but especially its tiniest details. These little details are the the mice of natural world. They are the simple yet elegant displays of natural beauty that man has managed to trample under foot for centuries. A mouse is the perfect personification of these phenomena as they are both quiet and unseen by the naked eye. It is only when one stops to talk a look around and ponder there surroundings and what is under foot that they find unknown beauty in their native natural world.

Or maybe the mouse represents something else entirely. It could represent the weaker individual, the minority vote. Perhaps the mouse manifests itself in Burns' everyday life as the underrepresented lower class as they drudged on through their challenging times of Britain's Industrial Revolution. This class in Britain is just as timid as a mouse in the animal kingdom as they are dominated by the wealthy business leaders of Industrial Britain. Just like the mouse in Burns' poem, the lower class at that time were literally being pushed out of their homes by industrial manufacturing and the squalor they produced. Conditions for them were incredibly poor and oft times it was difficult for families to plan for and look beyond the present. As the farmer claims, "Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!The present only toucheth thee," before the he bids the curious little mouse adieu.