Robert Burns, selected Poems

 

Biographical elements about Robert Burns

Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796) is the best known of the poets who have written in Scots. His poem Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay.
Born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland to a poor farming family, his parents made sure that he was well educated as a child. In 1783 he started composing poetry in a traditional style using the Ayrshire dialect of Scots. These poems were well received locally and in 1786 they were published in the volume, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect by a local printer in Kilmarnock. This volume made him famous in Scotland overnight and as a result he spent several years in Edinburgh society. However the fame was not accompanied by money and he found it necessary to return to farming. However that too proved unprofitable and in 1789 he entered government service working for the Customs and Excise service.
He died at the age of 37 as a result of a weak heart brought on by years of poor working conditions on the farm dating back to his childhood. Within a short time of his death, money started pouring in from all over Scotland to support his widow and children.
His memory is celebrated by Burns clubs across the world; his birthday is an unofficial "National Day" for Scots and those with Scottish ancestry, celebrated with Burns suppers.

Who was Robert Burns? A biography and short analyses of some of his most famous poems and songs

Robert Burns: a Chronology

Robert's biography from The Electric Scotland site

Burns' Life and Time

A very detailed biography of Robert Burns by Reverend George Gilfillan (1886)

The Burns Encyclopedia on the Burns Country site

The Bard Site including:
The Man
The life, loves and lyrics of Robert Burns
Places To Visit
The best of the Bard selected by authority Dr James A. Mackay.
Follow the great man's wanderings (virtual tour).
The essential guide to the key dates in Burns' life.
How much do you know about the bard?
Get in touch with fellow Robert Burns lovers around the world.

Robert Burns on The National Gallery of Scotland site

 

Robert Burns' Poems, Songs and Letters online

A site where you can read Burns' Poems and Songs

Burns' Poems and Songs on the Burns Country site and an index of his works by date

A site where you can read most of Burns' poems and songs online

The Stories behind the Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Burns' letters From the project Gutenberg

Auld Lang Syne: origins and music

 

Essays on Robert Burns

Robert Burns' Importance to Scotland
"In his letter of 1793 enclosing the poem "Bruce’s Address at Bannockburn" more commonly known as "Scots Wha Hae" he refers to the recollection of that glorious struggle for freedom, associated with the glowing ideas of some other struggles of the same nature, not quite so ancient roused my rhyming mania. This ode then sprang from the inspiration afforded by the success of the French in beating back the arrogant enemies of the republic.
In the original manuscript Burns ends the poem with the line "So may God defend the cause of truth and liberty as He did that day. Amen." This then, although cloaked in an historical form [...]"

Robert Burns and 18th Century Oppression
"That Robert Burns, one of Scotland's greatest sons, achieved fame from a volume of poems, the Kilmarnock edition, is something of an enigma. That he consolidated his fame with a larger second edition, the Edinburgh edition, makes it even more enigmatic. Though both editions contained captivating poetry, the enigma is that nowhere between the covers are to be found poems with the type of biting condemnation of the oppression of the people by church and state that abounds in those published after his death. Yet, by that time he had written several such poems: poems that were to endear him to the people of Scotland who could identify with the sentiment they contained. As indeed, later, would people the world over. No one reading through the Kilmarnock or Edinburgh editions could have realised that there were forces driving Burns to attempt to improve the lot of his fellow men and women."

Burns and the Scots Dialect
"Eighteenth century Scottish culture was complex and confused, though the period around Burns time was the second "golden age" of literary and intellectual Scotland. ( The first was the fifteenth century , when the Scottish Chaucerians wrote some of the best poetry then being produced in Europe.)
The second age between 1740 and 1830 produced an astonishing galaxy of talent - poets, philosophers, men of letters, scientists, engineers and architects.
If we look at Burns in the context of the social and cultural forces of the Scotland of his day we are more able to understand his achievement and place him in proper perspective. Remember that the union of parliaments was in 1707 and with it came the threat of the total submergence of Scottish culture."

Burns, the Patriot Bard
"Eighteenth century Scottish culture was complex and confused, though the period around Burns time was the second "golden age" of literary and intellectual Scotland. ( The first was the fifteenth century , when the Scottish Chaucerians wrote some of the best poetry then being produced in Europe.)
The second age between 1740 and 1830 produced an astonishing galaxy of talent - poets, philosophers, men of letters, scientists, engineers and architects.
If we look at Burns in the context of the social and cultural forces of the Scotland of his day we are more able to understand his achievement and place him in proper perspective. Remember that the union of parliaments was in 1707 and with it came the threat of the total submergence of Scottish culture."

Robert Burns and Glasgow

Analysis of a few poems and songs by Burns:
Tam o'Shanter
Holy Willie's Prayer
Address to a Haggis
Love and Liberty, The Jolly Beggars
The Cotter's Saturday Night
To A Mouse
To a Louse
To A Mountain Daisy
Scotch Drink
Death and Dr Hornbook
Address to the Deil
Epistle to Davie
The First Epistle to John Lapraik
The Holy Fair.
The Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie
Mary Morison.
Auld Lang Syne
Ae Fond Kiss
My Love is Like a Red, Red, Rose
Scots Wha Hae
Is There for Honest Poverty
Green Grow the Rashes O
Comin'Thro' the Rye
My Hearts in the Highlands