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‘The best-laid schemes of mice and men’ is one of those literary quotations which have slipped free of their origins and taken on a whole new, proverbial meaning.
Baith snell an’ keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste, 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,
John Steinbeck took the title of his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men from a line contained in the penultimate stanza. The 1997 novel The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon also draws its title from this line, and so do the novel of the same name by Canadian author Terry Fallis and the film series based on it.
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 are blest, compared wi’ me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e’e, On prospects drear! An’ forward, tho’ I cannot see, I guess an’ fear!
John Steinbeck’s 1937 novel Of Mice and Men revolves around the notion that, whatever careful plans are made, things don’t always go as expected. It took both its title and its theme from Burns’ poem.
But Mousie, thou art no thy lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy. Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
Man is equally vulnerable to disaster, and, as a tenant farmer, Burns was particularly aware that the best laid plans may often go awry.
