Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

The title comes from the poem “To A Mouse” by Roberts Burns. . . The poem is about plowing over a mouse’s burrow and destroying its hard work. . .

The specific lines the title of this novel refers to are:
“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”

Meaning: “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew”

The novel is somewhat based on broken dreams: George’s dream of settling on a farm, Lennie’s dream of the rabbits, Crooks, Candy’s dream of working on George’s farm, and Curley’s wife’s dream of fame. However, they all fail like the mice in the poem. . .

In the end of the poem, the poet compares humans and animals. . . He says to the mouse: “Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me! The present only toucheth thee.” The author of the novel makes reference that Lennie is more animal than human. . . The character is well off because he can’t remember the past or think of the future or worry about his dreams failing and his death. . .

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The poem can be found in the following site. . .

Http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/554.htm

GardenersCardiff answers:

It was taken from Robert Burns “To a Mouse”.

It basically explains how we take life for granted. We’re too busy preparing for the future that we do not get to enjoy our present. In Steinbeck’s “of Mice and Men” George and Lenny talk endlessly of the future and the farm they plan on one day having. The reference to Burn’s “To a Mouse” is simply genious.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_a_Mouse

GardenersCardiff answers:

I wasn’t aware that Robbie Burns had inspired John Steinbeck. However, there is a line in that Scottish poem saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglay’ – that means that the things you planned don’t always turn out the way you want them to. And it uses the words ‘of mice and men’. Perhaps that was where Steinbeck got his title