ROBERT BURNS (1759-1796)

 National Poet of Scotland—national obsession/worship of Burns

 Wrote many poems, as well as collected many Scottish folk songs

Burns’ Life
 Born in the village of Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland

Burns Cottage in Alloway, Scotland

 Son of a small tenant farmer, and was a farmer himself most of his life—unsuccessfully
 Watching his father struggle inspired Burns to rebel against the social order of his day and to satirize inhuman
religious and political thought
 Had little regular schooling
 Liked women—a lot; formed the “Tarbolton Bachelor’s Club” at age 20 w/ his brother

 In 1784 meet Jean Armour, whom he later married. She bore him twins in 1786, and although her father initially
forbade their marriage, they were eventually married in 1788. She bore him nine children in total, but only three
survived infancy. This is the “Bonnie Jean” of some of his poems.
 Learned Scottish literature from folk tales and songs
 Published Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect which was immediately successful
 In 1786 went to Edinburgh to oversee book publishing; received as an equal by the city’s aristocrats and made a
lasting impression on 16-year-old Walter Scott, who described him later with great admiration:

“His person was strong and robust; his manners rustic, not clownish, a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity
which received part of its effect perhaps from knowledge of his extraordinary talents. His features . . . convey the
idea that they are diminished, as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance was more massive than it looks in
any of the portraits . . . there was a strong expression of shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think,
indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, and literally glowed when he
spoke with feeling or interest. I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have seen the most
distinguished men of my time.”

Burns in Edinburgh, Scotland

Burns in Edinburgh, Scotland—with MacBook

 While in Edinburgh, Burns began to write many lyrics for The Melodies of Scotland
 Was an active, high-ranking Freemason
 As his health declined, Burns began to age prematurely and fell into fits of despondency. Intemperance is said to have
aggravated his long-standing rheumatic heart condition. In fact, his death was caused by “bacterial endocarditis
exacerbated by a streptococcal infection reaching his blood following a dental extraction” in winter 1795. On 21 July
1796 he died in Dumfries at the age of 37. The funeral took place on 25 July 1796, the day his son Maxwell was born. A
memorial edition of his poems was published to raise money for his wife and children, and within a short time of his
death, money started pouring in from all over Scotland to support them.
 Burns’ Work
 Wrote in English, Scotch Gaelic, and in a Scottish-English dialect
 Identifies with Scottish folk tradition by building on fragments of Scottish popular songs
 Topics include republicanism, radicalism, patriotism, class inequalities, gender roles, poverty, love, socializing
(carousing, folks songs, whisky consumption, etc.)

Burns Mausoleum in Annan, Scotland

 Burns’ Influence

 He is generally classified as a proto-Romantic poet, and he influenced William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
and Percy Bysshe Shelley greatly
 Every year Scotsmen celebrate his birth and host “Burns suppers”
Haggis served on Burns’ Night—notice the plate (haggis is essentially boiled guts of sheep)
Robert Burns’ statue in London’s Embankment Gardens

Burns socks, from the Burns’ Museum

Various Burns monuments
Same monument as above, recently torched by an arsonist

More Burns monuments, one with a bird on his head

http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknoteapp/CLYDE_5.html
Steinbeck’s novel title comes from Burns’ “To a Mouse”
“Auld Lang Syne” draft