What does the title of the book ';Of Mice and Men'; mean?

Eddie Izzard, comic/actor, says in one of his stand ups:





';The Best Laid Schemes Of Mice and Men Oftwn Go Arie';?


Does that mean the worst plans go quite well?';





Here's the whole poem:





To a Mouse, On Turning up Her Nest with a Plough


by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)


Wee sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,


O, what a panic's in thy breastie!


Thou need na start awa sae hasty,


Wi' bickering brattle!


I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,


Wi' murd'ring pattle!





I'm truly sorry man's dominion


Has broken nature's social union,


An' justifies that ill opinion


Which makes thee startle


At me, thy poor earth-born companion,


An' fellow-mortal!





I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;


What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!


A daimen-icker in a thrave


'S a sma' request:


I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,


And never miss't!





Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!


Its silly wa's the win's are strewin':


And naething, now, to big a new ane,


O' foggage green!


An' bleak December's winds ensuin'


Baith snell an' keen!





Thou saw the fields laid bare and 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 mony a weary nibble!


Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,


But house or hald,


To thole the winter's sleety dribble


An' cranreuch cauld!





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 promised joy.





Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!


The present only toucheth thee:


But, oh! I backward cast my e'e


On prospects drear!


An' forward , tho' I canna see,


I guess an' fear!





And my favorite part is the tim'rous beastie...the 10th doctor uses that in an episode of Doctor Who.What does the title of the book ';Of Mice and Men'; mean?
the title is taken from Robert Burns's poem, To a Mouse, which is often quoted as: ';The best-laid plans of mice and men/ often go awry,'; though the phrase in the original Scots of the poem is ';The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/ Gang aft agley.';





Steinbeck originally titled it Something That Happened, however, he changed the title after reading Robert Burns's poem, To a Mouse.[1] Burns's poem tells of the regret the narrator feels for having destroyed the home of a mouse while plowing his field; it suggests that no plan is fool-proof and no one can be completely prepared for the future.[What does the title of the book ';Of Mice and Men'; mean?
that means basically things go bad. also links in because of lennie's love for soft animals like mice.