Analysis of Robert Burn's Poem ‘to a Mouse’

‘To a mouse’ is about a man who accidently overturns the soil of a mouse’s nest. The narrator of the poem tells the reader about his past failure and the fears for the future and uses the mouse as an example. The first six stanzas of the poem is a heart felt description and apology to the mouse who has had its nest destroyed by the narrator. The narrator tells the mouse that he had meant no harm. ‘To a Mouse’ is relevant to the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck for a number of reasons.
Firstly, in one aspect the narrator from ‘To a Mouse’ represents Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men. As Lennie is big but idiotic character, he has not much control over himself. As seen in the story, whenever Lennie is being threatened, he holds onto the person or animal frightening him, and eventually killing them unconsciously. We can see that Lennie meant no harm very much so as shown in the poem.
Also, the poem is relevant because it has a theme about the fear of the future. In ‘To a Mouse’ the narrator explains that no matter how well thought out or how well intentioned your plans are, even the best of them can be ruined by a simple turn of luck, as shown by the destruction of the mouse’s nest. Likewise, in Of Mice and Men, the theme of the American Dream is portrayed in the story where Lennie and George planned and dreamt of someday earning enough money to buy their own land, only to find out that dream didn’t come true in the end.
Furthermore, in the poem the narrator apologises to the little mouse whose death was assured thanks to his ignorant action. Likewise in Of Mice and Men, Lennie doesn’t mean to harm anyone but has no control over his actions. He is also a very apologetic person, yet he gets into bigger problems. Because Lennie did a terrible crime of murder, the story ends sadly with George had to end his life with a gun.