Robert Burns
Scottish poet and lyricist, national cultural icon.
Robert Burns, often called Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist born in 1759 and died in 1796. He is seen as Scotland's national poet and is famous globally. While best known for writing in Scots, he also used a light Scots dialect and standard English, especially for sharp political commentary.
Quick Facts
- Other names
- Rabbie Burns
- Born
- 25 January 1759
- Birthplace
- Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland
- Died
- 21 July 1796
- Place of death
- Dumfries, Scotland
- Resting place
- Burns Mausoleum, Dumfries
- Occupation
- Poet
- lyricist
- farmer
- exciseman
- Language
- Scots language
Facts from the source article.
Life and background
Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 in Alloway, Ayrshire, two miles south of Ayr, the eldest of seven children of William Burnes, a self-educated tenant farmer, and Agnes Broun. He was baptised the following day in the Auld Kirk of Ayr. The family lived in a house built by his father until Easter 1766, when they moved to the 70-acre Mount Oliphant farm. Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and the manual labour weakened his constitution. His education was irregular; his father taught him reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history, and the young teacher John Murdoch instructed him in Latin, French, and mathematics from 1765 to 1768. After home education, he attended Dalrymple Parish School in mid-1772, then returned to farm labour, and later lodged with Murdoch for three weeks to study grammar, French, and Latin. By age 15, Burns was the principal labourer at Mount Oliphant. During the 1774 harvest, Nelly Kilpatrick inspired his first poem, 'O, Once I Lov'd A Bonnie Lass'. In 1775, he was sent to Kirkoswald for further education, where he met Peggy Thompson and wrote two songs.
Literary style
Burns's style is marked by spontaneity, directness, and sincerity, ranging from tender lyrics to the humour of 'Tam o' Shanter' and the satire of 'Holy Willie's Prayer' and 'The Holy Fair'. His poetry drew on Classical, Biblical, and English literature, as well as the Scottish Makar tradition. He wrote in both the Scots language and Scottish English dialect, sometimes using both in a single work for effect. His themes included republicanism, radicalism, Scottish patriotism, anticlericalism, class inequalities, gender roles, commentary on the Scottish Kirk, cultural identity, poverty, sexuality, and socialising. Some biographers, such as Robert Crawford, have suggested Burns suffered from manic depression, a hypothesis supported by handwriting analysis; Burns himself referred to 'blue devilism'. The National Trust for Scotland has downplayed the suggestion as insufficiently evidenced.
Influence
Burns is generally classified as a proto-Romantic poet and greatly influenced William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His direct literary influences in Scots poetry were Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson. The Edinburgh literati worked to sentimentalise Burns, dismissing his education by calling him a 'heaven-taught ploughman'. He influenced later Scottish writers, especially Hugh MacDiarmid, who fought to dismantle what he saw as a sentimental cult. Burns also influenced Alexander McLachlan and, to some extent, Robert Service, particularly in Service's Scots verse. Scottish Canadians have embraced Burns as a patron poet; Robbie Burns Day is celebrated across Canada, with newspapers publishing biographies and listings, and universities marking the date. In January 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was invited to a Burns celebration and composed a toast. John Steinbeck took the title of his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men from a line in 'To a Mouse'. Burns influenced American vernacular poets such as James Whitcomb Riley and Frank Lebby Stanton. Bob Dylan selected Burns's 1794 song 'A Red, Red Rose' as the lyric that had the biggest effect on his life.
Honours
Burns clubs have been founded worldwide; the first, known as The Mother Club, was established in Greenock in 1801 by merchants born in Ayrshire, some of whom had known Burns. Its original objectives included cherishing Burns's name, fostering love of his writings, and encouraging interest in Scottish language and literature, with local charitable work as a priority. His birthplace in Alloway is now the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, a National Trust for Scotland property including the Burns Cottage, a modern museum with over 5,000 artefacts, the Alloway Auld Kirk and Brig o Doon, and the Burns Monument finished in 1823. His house in Dumfries operates as the Robert Burns House, and the Robert Burns Centre features more exhibits. Ellisland Farm in Auldgirth, owned from 1788 to 1791, is a working farm with a museum. Significant 19th-century monuments stand in Alloway, Leith, and Dumfries; a replica of his birthplace cottage belonging to Burns Club Atlanta stands in Atlanta, Georgia. Organisations include the Robert Burns Fellowship of the University of Otago in New Zealand. Towns named Burns exist in New York and Oregon. A British Rail Standard Class 7 steam locomotive and a later Class 87 electric locomotive were named after him, and a Class 156 diesel unit was named The Kilmarnock Edition in 1996.
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