According to an interview with Jonny 5, it’s a play on the meaning of the word Israel, which is “He who wrestles with God.”

In the Bible (Genesis 32:22-32) Jacob wrestles with either God or an angel sent by god. Jacob hangs on and demands a blessing refusing to yield and he is blessed by having his named changed from Jacob to Israel. Hence “Wrestling Israel”.

So the meaning is that while one wrestles with religion and God, only God (or whoever one believes in) can know everything, so one can’t have all the answers, and the match-up is one sided as if he were cheating.

Rough English translation:

But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

The mouse surely now realizes that not everything can be prepared for, which Burns himself now ponders. We’re meant to realize that just as the mouse’s best laid plans were dashed by a higher power, so might man’s. Even more so, Burns could easily have never noticed the mouse there after he destroyed her house in his field. Just as a higher power may barely notice destroying the life of a human being.

The line “The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men” inspired the title of John Steinbeck’s famous 1937 novel Of Mice and Men.

Rough English translation:

You saw the fields laid bare and wasted,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel plough passed
Out through your cell.

The mouse thought herself safe for the coming cold months. But Burns' plow has completely dashed her hopes of survival.

Industrial Revolution | Publish with Glogster! — Glogster

STEAM ENGINE Robert Fulton invented a steamboat that could travel against currents and strong winds.. He began paying attention to the idea of steam machinery as early as 1793. In 1803 Fulton made a steamboat and tried to launch it, but it sank immediately.

The “coulter” (plow) used by the farmer is accurately described as “cruel”. The curved edge of the plow blade would not only break apart the earth in preparation for agriculture but would make short work of any small animals unfortunate enough to cross paths with it. In a deeper analytical reading, the plow serves as a metaphor for the industrial revolution while the mouse is symbolic of those poor farmers displaced by urban expansion and industry.

Rough English translation:

Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse grass green!
And bleak December’s winds coming,
Both bitter and keen!

Burns now turns attention to the ruin that he’s brought on the mouse’s existence. Her “house,” referring to her nest, is totally destroyed, and she has nothing to build a new one with before winter comes.

Once again the speaker is showing sympathy towards the mouse as its house is ruined and it does not have the necessary materials to rebuild it. The speaker uses odd contractions to convey the authentic Scottish dialect such as “wa’s” for walls and “win’s” for winds.

Rough English Translation:

I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor little beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is a small request;
I will get a blessing with what is left,
And never miss it.

Although the mouse doubtless has stolen from him before, Burns forgives the little beast; it’s only taking what it needs to survive. After all, he grows much more than he needs only to sell the excess. He won’t truly miss the little bit that gets stolen to feed the mouse and its family.

In these lines Robert Burns displays a principal effort of the Romantic writers. Nature, being a common theme in Romantic writing, falls secondary to Burn’s focus on man finding his position within nature. Such a position would exist in harmony with the natural state. In this poem, Burns ascribes human qualities to the mouse on a level that exceeds standard personification — anthropomorphism is a more accurate description. The concept of “thieving” and “making a request” are actions distinct to humans because they involve direct interaction between two people. Burns has not only equated the mouse with himself in recognizing the mouse’s request, but also acknowledges the disruptive position within the natural state man currently occupies i.e. the Industrial Revolution.

Rough English translation:

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!

Burns acknowledges that the mouse is abiding nature by being in the ground, while he’s trying to control nature’s course by planting the field. Thus the mouse’s anguish is justified. He takes the relationship with the mouse to a personal level by apologizing for the entirety of mankind. The speaker represents all of mankind while the mouse represents the whole natural world. The old English use of the word “thee” shows friendliness and familiarity the speaker as with the mouse.

Burns refers to"Man’s dominion" compromising the integrity of nature, and the specific instance of the speaker destroying the mouse’s home. He also identifies an “ill opinion” of the mouse “at me,” suggesting the mouse as being predisposed against man——nature predisposed against man.

The poem was composed during the Industrial Revolution, furthering the idea of man disturbing the natural environment.

In the last two lines, as follows … “At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
And fellow mortal!”
… Burns gives the speaker a voice similar to the tone commonly used by the Romantic poets. Throughout the poem there is an emphasis on the strained relationship between nature and man. The speaker desires a stronger relationship with nature, and shows it by considering one of its smallest creatures as a fellow mortal and companion worthy of his empathy.

It is also worth noting, here, that the mouse in the poem is female. This stanza, in itself, is not specific in any way to mice or animals: indeed, it can be read as a statement from a human man to a human woman, expressing sorrow for the true threat men represent to women. This could be seen as an early form of male feminism.

Rough English translation:

Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast,
O, what a panic is in your little breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With argumentative chatter!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.

Burns, while plowing his field, has turned over the nest of a mother mouse. This poem is his apology for doing so; he assures the mouse he didn’t mean to disturb her and that she need not fear him. The impact of this is strong; Burns has the imagination to address the mouse in the second person as if he is talking to her and understands what the creature feels, and the compassion to identify with its suffering.

Burns' launches him poem with lush, memorable adjectives to describe the mouse. One student commented that the words are ‘so expressive you can taste them!’. Not only is this line wonderfully effective as a hook, it is one of Burns' most famous lines.

Note also that the first three lines and the fifth line are consonantly rhymed. The fourth and sixth lines are perfect rhymes. This gives the poem drama and emphasis.

Also note the alliterative and plosive ‘b’s and 'p’s, which, if spoken with exaggerated expression, make this work so well in performance.

Burns introduces his mouse using the diminutive ‘beastie’, a mark of almost affection.