A Biography, and Selected Poems and Songs, of Scotland's National Poet
(With a clear and accessible biography of Burns and his wo...)
With a clear and accessible biography of Burns and his work, fifty-two of Burns' poems and songs, a comprehensive glossary of Scots words, an index of first lines and line drawings of scenes from his life, this compact book combines quality, style and value.
(The most essential of the immortal poems and songs of Sco...)
The most essential of the immortal poems and songs of Scotland's beloved national bard are collected in this volume. With the publication of his first book of poems in 1786, Robert Burnsthe twenty-seven-year-old son of a farmerbecame a national celebrity, hailed as the "Ploughman Poet." When he died ten years later, ten thousand people came to pay their respects at his funeral, and in the two centuries since then he has inspired a cultlike following among Scots and poetry lovers around the world.A pioneer of the Romantic movement, Burns wrote in a light Scots dialect with brio, emotional directness, and wit, drawing on classical and English literary traditions as well as Scottish folkloreand leaving a timeless legacy. All of his most famous lyrics and poems are here, from "A Red, Red Rose," "To a Mouse," and "To a Louse" to Tam o'Shanter, "Holy Willie's Prayer," and "Auld Lang Syne."
Robert Burns, also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyric.
Background
Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, United Kingdom, on January 25, 1759, in the cottage of hard-working farmer parents. And troubles with landlords and their agents were helping to foster in him the egalitarianism and rebelliousness against privilege which became prominent themes in his poetry. Son of William Burnes and Agnes Broun.
Education
His formal education was wholly in standard English, but from his mother, from an old servant named Betty Davidson, and from the chapbooks he received a heritage of vernacular ballads, songs, and folk tales which later served him well.
Although Burns's formal schooling was skimpy, he read avidly and for a time had a good tutor in John Murdoch, who gave him a thorough grounding in the 18th-century genteel tradition of English literature.
Career
At 12 Robert was doing a man's work on insufficient food, and permanently straining his heart in the process. At Mossgiel, Burns's poetic powers developed spectacularly, and in 1786 he published Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect at nearby Kilmarnock.
At this time Burns was 27, and he had written some of the most effective and biting satires in the language. Among them were "Holy Willie's Prayer" (a dramatic monologue which exposes the hypocrisy of a Calvinist pharisee) and "The Holy Fair" (a cynically humorous description of the Scottish equivalent of a religious camp meeting).
These and other typical poems by Burns are almost unparalleled in their combination of direct colloquialism and profundity of feeling or shrewd satirical characterization.
Not for centuries had such fine poetry been written in the Scots tongue, poetry of feeling that exhibited great metrical virtuosity. But 1786 was also a year of great distress for Burns.
He contemplated emigrating to Jamaica, but he abandoned the plan and spent the winter in Edinburgh, where he was lionized. Early in 1787, a new edition of his poems was published which made him famous not only throughout Scotland but also in England and internationally.
After a summer and fall spent in touring Scotland (the only real traveling he ever did), and incidentally, in a renewal of his affair with Jean, Burns spent a second winter in Edinburgh.
After his marriage, Burns turned his efforts to support his family.
He wrote numerous songs (some of them original lyrics for old tunes, some refurbishings of old lyrics) for The Scots Musical Museum, an anthology of Scottish songs with which he had been associated since 1787. Among the lyrics, early and late, that he composed or reworked are "Mary Morison", "Highland Mary", "Duncan Gray", "Green Grow the Rashes, O", "Auld Lang Syne", "John Anderson, My Jo", "Scots Wha Hae Wi' Wallace Bled", "A Man's a Man for That", "A Red, Red Rose" and "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonie Doon. "
(Robert Burns is more than Scotland's national poet. With ...)
Religion
He grew up in the general atmosphere of dour Scottish Calvinism, but his father's moderate religious views helped instill in Burns a spirit of tolerance and of rebellion against the grimmer doctrines of Calvinism.
Membership
He accepted membership of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
One of his superiors wrote against Burns' name, "Never tried: a poet. Turns out well. "
Connections
He married Jean Armour in 1788. Armour bore him nine children, only three of whom survived infancy.