catcher in the rye

Comin Thro' The Rye
O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!

Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!

Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?

Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warl' ken?

Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain;
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.

-Robert Burns

Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger in 1951. First person narrative. Journal style about the events of a manic-depressive teenage on the loose in manhattan.

Holden misquotes “if a body catch a body comin’ through the rye”. After his kid-sister Phoebe asked Holden one thing he likes, the only thing he'd like to do is to catch kids as they are playing from going over the edge of a crazy cliff. The title of the novel uses the word “catch”, instead of “meet”, because Holden wants to catch the boy coming through the rye to help him deal with an unfair, violent and dishonest world.