Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard^[1][2]) was a Scottish Christianity ; other minority groups; agnostics and atheists poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished from the successive holders of a bureaucratically-appointed Poet Laureate office of Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language Scots is the Germanic language variety traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides, although much of his writing is also in English and a "light" Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these pieces, his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific and after his death became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equality. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but most liberals support such fundamental ideas as constitutions, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, free trade, and the separation of church and state and socialism Socialism is an economic and political theory based on public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources. A cultural icon A cultural icon can be a symbol, a logo, picture, name, face, person, building or other image that is readily recognized, and generally represents an object or concept with great cultural significance to a wide cultural group. A representation of an object or person, or that object or person may come to be regarded as having a special status as in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora Christianity ; other minority groups; agnostics and atheists around the world, celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult The sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic authority as "resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him." Charismatic authority is one of three forms of authority laid out in Weber's tripartite classification of during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes literature written in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin and any other language in which a piece of literature was ever written within the boundaries of modern Scotland. In 2009 2009 was a common year that started on a Thursday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 2009th year of the Common Era or of Anno Domini; the 9th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 10th and last of the 2000s decade he was voted by the Scottish Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland public as being the Greatest Scot, through a vote run by Scottish television channel STV STV is the brand used by both ITV licensees in Northern and Central Scotland, formerly known as Grampian TV and Scottish TV (now legally STV Central) respectively. The brand was adopted on Tuesday, 30 May 2006 replacing both franchises' identities. Its positioning, identity and brand guidelines were developed by Elmwood Design's Edinburgh office.

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs Folk music is a term for musical folklore which originated in the 19th century. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles from across Scotland, often revising or adapting Literary adaptation is the adapting of a literary source to another genre or medium, such as a film, a stage play, or even a video game. It can also involve adapting the same literary work in the same genre or medium, just for different purposes, e.g., to work with a smaller cast, in a smaller venue (or on the road), or for a different demographic them. His poem (and song) Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many English-speaking countries and is often sung to celebrate the start of the new year at the stroke of midnight at the start of New Year's Day is often sung at Hogmanay Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. It is, however, normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January which is a Scottish Bank (the last day of the year), and Scots Wha Hae Scots Wha Hae is a patriotic song of Scotland which served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country, but has lately been largely supplanted by Scotland the Brave and Flower of Scotland served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well-known across the world today include A Red, Red Rose; A Man's A Man for A' That "Is There for Honest Poverty", commonly known as "A Man's a Man for A' That", is a Scots song by Robert Burns, famous for its expression of egalitarian ideas of society, which may be seen as anticipating the ideas of liberalism that arose in the 18th century, and those of socialism which arose in the 19th century. The poem also; To a Louse "To A Louse, On Seeing One On A Lady's Bonnet At Church" is a 1786 Scots language poem by Robert Burns. The poem's theme is contained in the final line:; To a Mouse "To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1785, and was included in the Kilmarnock volume. As the legend goes, Burns wrote the poem after, as the poem suggests, turning up the winter nest of a mouse on his farm. Another theory of the meaning of this poem is that the farmer; The Battle of Sherramuir "The Battle of Sherramuir" is a song written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns about the Battle of Sheriffmuir which occurred in Scotland in 1715 at the height of the Jacobite rebellion in England and Scotland. It was written when Burns toured the Highlands in 1787 and first published in The Scots Musical Museum, 1790. It was written to; Tam o' Shanter Tam o' Shanter is considered to be one of Robert Burns' finest poems. It was written in 1790, and at about six A4 pages is one of his longest. The poem, first published in 1791, uses a mixture of Scots and English, and Ae Fond Kiss The Scots song "Ae Fond Kiss, and Then We Sever", by Robert Burns, is more commonly known as "Ae Fond Kiss". The song is Burns' most recorded song.

Ayrshire

Alloway

Burns was born two miles (3 km) south of Ayr Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205. Ayr is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area, which is the unitary local authority, in Alloway Alloway is a now extended village and suburb of Ayr on the River Doon, in Scotland. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns, and is also where he set "Tam o' Shanter", South Ayrshire South Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland, the eldest of the seven children of William Burness (1721-1784) (Robert Burns spelled his surname Burness until 1786), a self-educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar, The Mearns The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a local government county on the coast of northeast Scotland. It was bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and west, and by Angus on the south, and Agnes Broun (1732-1820), the daughter of a tenant farmer from Kirkoswald, South Ayrshire.

He was born in a house built by his father (now the Burns Cottage Museum), where he lived until Easter Easter (Ēostre ; Greek: Πάσχα Paskha, from Hebrew: פֶּסַח Pesakh,/Passover) is the central religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday (also 1766, when he was seven years old. William Burness sold the house and took the tenancy of the 70-acre Mount Oliphant farm, southeast of Alloway. Here Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and the severe manual labour Manual labour is physical work done with the hands, especially in an unskilled job such as fruit and vegetable picking, road building, or any other field where the work may be considered physically arduous, and which has as a profitable objective, usually the production of goods of the farm left its traces in a premature stoop and a weakened constitution.

He had little regular schooling and got much of his education from his father, who taught his children reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history and also wrote for them A Manual Of Christian Belief. He was also taught by John Murdoch (1747-1824), who opened an 'adventure school' Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from other parts of the United Kingdom in Alloway in 1763 and taught Latin Latin or sometimes Roman is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Although often considered a dead language, in view of the fact that it has no native, fluent speakers, Latin continues to be taught in schools and has been, and currently is, used in the process of new word production in modern languages from many, French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in, and mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions to both Robert and his brother Gilbert (1760-1827) from 1765 to 1768 until Murdoch left the parish. After a few years of home education, Burns was sent to Dalrymple Parish School during the summer of 1772 before returning at harvest time to full-time farm labouring until 1773, when he was sent to lodge with Murdoch for three weeks to study grammar, French, and Latin.

By the age of 15, Burns was the principal labourer at Mount Oliphant. During the harvest of 1774, he was assisted by Nelly Kilpatrick (1759-1820), who inspired his first attempt at poetry, O, Once I Lov'd A Bonnie Lass. In the summer of 1775, he was sent to finish his education with a tutor at Kirkoswald, where he met Peggy Thomson (b.1762), to whom he wrote two songs, Now Westlin' Winds and I Dream'd I Lay.

Tarbolton

At Whitsun Whitsun, also known as Pentecost in the Christian calendar, is the seventh Sunday after Easter. Whitsun commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ, 1777, William Burness removed his large family from the unfavourable conditions of Mount Oliphant to the 130-acre (0.53 km²) farm at Lochlea, near Tarbolton Tarbolton is 7 miles East North East from Ayr, 4 miles West of Mauchline and 1 and 1/4 miles from its own railway station . It has a school, church, a gospel hall, a Post Office, 3 pubs, and is home to the Bachelors Club, a frequent haunt of Robert Burns, where they stayed until William Burness' death in 1784. Subsequently, the family became integrated into the community of Tarbolton. To his father's disapproval, Robert joined a country dancing school in 1779 and, with Gilbert, formed the Tarbolton Bachelors' Club the following year. His earliest existing letters date from this time, when he began making romantic overtures to Alison Begbie (b. 1762). In spite of four songs written for her and a suggestion that he was willing to marry her, she rejected him.

In December 1781, Burns moved temporarily to Irvine, North Ayrshire to learn to become a flax-dresser, but during the New Year The New Year is the day that marks the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. The Roman new year is on March 1. In many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner celebrations of 1781/1782 the flax shop caught fire and was sufficiently damaged to eventually send him home to Lochlea farm.

He continued to write poems and songs and began a Commonplace Book in 1783, while his father fought a legal dispute with his landlord. The case went to the Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal, and Burness was upheld in January 1784, a fortnight The fortnight is a unit of time equivalent to fourteen days. The word derives from the Old English feorwertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights" before he died.

Mauchline and Freemasonry

Robert and Gilbert made an ineffectual struggle to keep on the farm, but after its failure they moved to the farm at Mossgiel, near Mauchline in March, which they maintained with an uphill fight for the next four years. During the summer of 1784, Robbie came to know a group of girls known collectively as The Belles of Mauchline, one of whom was Jean Armour Jean Armour , also known as the "Belle of Mauchline", was the wife of the poet Robert Burns. She inspired many of his poems and bore him nine children, three of whom survived into adulthood, the daughter of a stonemason from Mauchline.

Robert Burns was initiated Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around five million, including just under two million in the United States and around 480,000 in England, Scotland and Ireland. The various forms into masonic Lodge Freemasonry · Grand Lodge · Masonic Lodge · Masonic Lodge Officers · Grand Master · Prince Hall Freemasonry · Regular Masonic jurisdictions St David Tarbolton on 4 July 1781, when he was 22. He was passed and raised Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the Jurisdiction of the United on 1 October 1781. Later his lodge became dormant and Burns joined Lodge St James Tarbolton Kilwinning number 135. The location of the Temple where he was made a Freemason Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the Jurisdiction of the United is unknown.

Although regularly meeting in Tarbolton, the “Burns Lodge” also removed itself to hold meetings in Mauchline. During 1784 he was heavily involved in Lodge business, attending all nine meetings, passing and raising brethren and generally running the Lodge. Similarly, in 1785 he was equally involved as Depute Master, where he again attended all nine lodge meetings amongst other duties of the Lodge. During 1785 he initiated and passed his brother Gilbert being raised on 1 March 1788.

At a meeting of Lodge St. Andrew in Edinburgh in 1787, in the presence of the Grand Master and Grand Lodge of Scotland, Burns was toasted by the Grand Master, Francis Chateris. In early 1787, he was feted by the Edinburgh Masonic fraternity and named the Poet Laureate of the lodge--a title which has since been accepted by Freemasonry in general.^[3] The Edinburgh period of Burns's life was of great consequence, as further editions of the Kilmarnock Edition were sponsored by the Edinburgh Freemasons, ensuring that his name spread around Scotland and subsequently to England and abroad.

During his tour of the South of Scotland, as he was collecting material for The Scots Musical Museum, he visited lodges throughout Ayrshire and became an honorary member of a number of them. On his journey home to Ayrshire, he passed through Dumfries (where he later lived).

On 25 July 1787, after being re-elected Depute Master, he presided at a meeting where several well-known Masons were given honorary membership. During his Highland tour, he visited many other lodges. During the period from his election as Depute Master in 1784, Lodge St James had been convened 70 times. Burns was present 33 times and was 25 times the presiding officer.

He joined Lodge Dumfries St Andrew Number 179 on 27 December 1788. Out of the six Lodges in Dumfries, he joined the one which was the weakest. The records of this lodge are scant, and we hear no more of him until 30 November 1792, when Burns was elected Senior Warden. From this date until his final meeting in the Lodge on 14 April 1796, it appears that the Lodge met only five times.

On 28 August 1787, Burns visited Stirling and passed through Bridge of Allan on his way to the Roman fort at Braco. In 1793, he wrote his poem "By Allan Stream" ^[4].

Love affairs

His casual love affairs did not endear him to the elders of the local kirk and created for him a reputation for dissoluteness amongst his neighbours. His first child, Elizabeth Paton Burns (1785-1817), was born to his mother’s servant, Elizabeth Paton (1760-circa 1799), while he was embarking on a relationship with Jean Armour who bore him twins in 1786. Although Armour's father initially forbade their marriage, they were eventually married in 1788.^[5] Armour bore him nine children in total, but only three survived infancy.

Jean Armour first became pregnant in March 1786. Burns signed a paper attesting his marriage to Jean, but her father "was in the greatest distress, and fainted away". To avoid the disgrace her parents sent her to live with her uncle in Paisley Paisley is a town and a former burgh in the west-Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is situated on the northern edge of the Gleniffer Braes, straddling the banks of the River Cart. Paisley is the administrative capital of the Renfrewshire council area, and forms a continuous urban area with Greater Glasgow, Glasgow City Centre being 6.9 miles (11.1. Burns was in financial difficulties, and to make enough money to support a family he took up a friend's offer of work in Jamaica Jamaica (pronounced /dʒəˈmeɪkə/ ) is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, amounting to 11,100 square kilometres (4,300 sq mi). It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of Hispaniola,, at a salary of £30 per annum.^[6][7] The position that Burns accepted was as a bookkeeper on a slave plantation. This seems inconsistent with Burns' egalitarian views as typified by his writing of The Slave's Lament six year later, but in 1786 there was little public awareness of the abolitionism movement which began about that time.^[8][9]

At about the same time, Burns had fallen in love with Mary Campbell (Highland Mary) (1763-1786), who he had seen in the church while he was still living in Tarbolton. She was born near Dunoon and had lived in Campbeltown before moving to work in Ayrshire. He dedicated the poems The Highland Lassie O, Highland Mary and To Mary in Heaven to her. His song "Will ye go to the Indies. my Mary, And leave auld Scotia’s shore?" suggests that they planned to emigrate to Jamaica together. Their relationship has been the subject of much conjecture, and it has been suggested that on 14 May 1786 they exchanged Bibles and plighted their troth over the Water of Fail in a traditional form of marriage. Soon afterwards Mary Campbell left her work in Ayrshire, went to the seaport of Greenock, and sailed home to her parents in Campbeltown.^[6][7]

Kilmarnock Edition

As Burns lacked the funds to pay for his passage to the West Indies, Gavin Hamilton suggested that he should "publish his poems in the mean time by subscription, as a likely way of getting a little money to provide him more liberally in necessaries for Jamaica". On 3 April Burns sent proposals for publishing his "Scotch Poems" to John Wilson, a local printer in Kilmarnock, who published these proposals on 14 April 1786, on the same day that Jean Armour's father tore up the paper in which Burns attested his marriage to Jean. To obtain a certificate that he was a free bachelor, Burns agreed on 25 June to stand for rebuke in Mauchline kirk for three Sundays. He transferred his share in Mossgiel farm to his brother Gilbert on 22 July, and on 30 July wrote to tell his friend John Richmond that "Armour has got a warrant to throw me in jail until I can find a warrant for an enormous sum ... I am wandering from one friend's house to another".^[10]

On 31 July 1786 John Wilson published the volume of works by Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect.^[11] Known as the Kilmarnock volume, it sold for 3 shillings and contained much of his best writing, including The Twa Dogs; Address to the Deil; Hallowe'en; The Cotter's Saturday Night; To a Mouse; and To a Mountain Daisy, many of which had been written at Mossgiel farm. The success of the work was immediate, and soon he was known across the country.

Burns postponed his proposed emigration to Jamaica on 1 September, and was at Mossgiel two days later when he learnt that Jean Armour had given birth to twins. On 4 September Thomas Blacklock wrote a letter expressing admiration for the poetry in the Kilmarnock volume, and suggesting an enlarged second edition.^[11] A copy of it was passed to Burns, who later recalled, "I had taken the last farewell of my few friends, my chest was on the road to Greenock; I had composed the last song I should ever measure in Scotland–'The Gloomy night is gathering fast'–when a letter from Dr Blacklock to a friend of mine overthrew all my schemes, by opening new prospects to my poetic ambition. The Doctor belonged to a set of critics for whose applause I had not dared to hope. His opinion that I would meet with encouragement in Edinburgh for a second edition, fired me so much, that away I posted for that city, without a single acquaintance, or a single letter of introduction."^[12]

In October, Mary Campbell (Highland Mary) and her father sailed from Campbeltown to visit her brother in Greenock. Her brother fell ill with typhus, which she also caught while nursing him. She died of typhus on 20 or 21 October 1786, and was buried there.^[7]

Edinburgh

On 27 November 1786, Burns borrowed a pony and set out for Edinburgh. On 14 December William Creech issued subscription bills for the first Edinburgh edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect, which was published on 17 April 1787. Within a week of this event, Burns had sold his copyright to Creech for 100 guineas.^[11] In Edinburgh, he was received as an equal by the city's brilliant men of letters and was a guest at aristocratic gatherings, where he bore himself with unaffected dignity. Here he encountered, and made a lasting impression on, the 16-year-old Walter Scott, who described him later with great admiration:

His stay in the city resulted in some lifelong friendships, among which were those with Lord Glencairn, and Frances Anna Dunlop (1730-1815), who became his occasional sponsor and with whom he corresponded for many years until a rift developed. He embarked on a relationship with the separated Agnes 'Nancy' McLehose (1758-1841), with whom he exchanged passionate letters under pseudonyms (Burns called himself 'Sylvander' and Nancy 'Clarinda'). When it became clear that Nancy would not be easily seduced into a physical relationship, Burns moved on to Jenny Clow (1766-1792), Nancy's domestic servant, who bore him a son, Robert Burns Clow in 1788. His relationship with Nancy concluded in 1791 with a final meeting in Edinburgh before she sailed to Jamaica for what transpired to be a short-lived reconciliation with her estranged husband. Before she left, he sent her the manuscript of Ae Fond Kiss as a farewell to her.

In Edinburgh, in early 1787, he met James Johnson, a struggling music engraver and music seller with a love of old Scots songs and a determination to preserve them. Burns shared this interest and became an enthusiastic contributor to The Scots Musical Museum. The first volume of this was published in 1787 and included three songs by Burns. He contributed 40 songs to volume 2, and would end up responsible for about a third of the 600 songs in the whole collection, as well as making a considerable editorial contribution. The final volume was published in 1803.

Dumfries

Ellisland Farm

On his return to Ayrshire on 18 February 1788, he resumed his relationship with Jean Armour and took a lease on the farm of Ellisland near Dumfries on 18 March (settling there on 11 June) but trained as a Gauger, or in English, an exciseman; should farming continue to prove unsuccessful. He was appointed duties in Customs and Excise in 1789 and eventually gave up the farm in 1791. Meanwhile, he was writing at his best, and in November 1790 had produced Tam O' Shanter. About this time he was offered and declined an appointment in London on the staff of 'The Star' newspaper^{[citation needed]}, and refused to become a candidate for a newly-created Chair of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh^{[citation needed]}, although influential friends offered to support his claims.

Lyricist

After giving up his farm he removed to Dumfries itself. Burns described the Globe Inn (still running today) on the High Street as his "favourite howff" (or "inn").

It was at this time that, being requested to write lyrics for The Melodies of Scotland, he responded by contributing over 100 songs. He made major contributions to George Thomson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice as well as to James Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum. Arguably his claim to immortality chiefly rests on these volumes which placed him in the front rank of lyric poets. Burns described how he had to master singing the tune before he composed the words:

Burns also worked to collect and preserve Scottish folk songs, sometimes revising, expanding, and adapting them. One of the better known of these collections is The Merry Muses of Caledonia (the title is not Burns'), a collection of bawdy lyrics that were popular in the music halls of Scotland as late as the 20th century. Many of Burns' most famous poems are songs with the music based upon older traditional songs. For example, Auld Lang Syne is set to the traditional tune Can Ye Labour Lea, A Red, Red Rose is set to the tune of Major Graham and The Battle of Sherramuir is set to the Cameronian Rant.

Failing health and death

As his health began to give way, Burns began to age prematurely and fell into fits of despondency. The habits of intemperance (alleged mainly by temperance activist James Currie^{[citation needed]}) are said to have aggravated his long-standing possible rheumatic heart condition.^[13] His death followed a dental extraction in winter 1795.

On the morning of 21 July 1796, Robert Burns died in Dumfries at the age of 37. The funeral took place on Monday 25 July 1796, also the day that his son Maxwell was born. He was at first buried in the far corner of St. Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries; however, his body was eventually moved in September 1815 to its final resting place, in the same cemetery, the Burns Mausoleum. Jean Armour was laid to rest with him in 1834.^[14]

His widow, Jean, had taken steps to secure his movable estate, partly by liquidating two promissory notes amounting to fifteen pounds sterling (about 1,100 pounds at 2009 prices).^[15] The family went to the Court of Session in 1798 with a scheme to support his surviving children by publishing a four volume edition of his complete works and a biography written by Dr James Currie. Subscriptions were raised to meet the initial cost of publication, which was in the hands of Thomas Cadell and William Davies in London and William Creech, bookseller in Edinburgh ^[16]Hogg records that fund-raising for Burns' family was embarrassingly slow, and it took several years to accumulate significant funds through the efforts of John Syme and Alexander Cunningham. ^[17]

Burns was posthumously given the freedom of the town.^{[citation needed]} Hogg records that Burns was given the freedom of the Burgh of Dumfries on 4 June 1787, years before his death, and was also made an Honorary Burgess of Dumfries.^[18]

Literary style

Burns' poetry drew upon a substantial familiarity and knowledge of Classical, Biblical, and English literature, as well as the Scottish Makar tradition.^{[citation needed]} Burns was skilled in writing not only in the Scots language but also in the Scottish English dialect of the English language. Some of his works, such as Love and Liberty (also known as The Jolly Beggars), are written in both Scots and English for various effects.^{[citation needed]}

His themes included republicanism (he lived during the French Revolutionary period) and Radicalism which he expressed covertly in Scots Wha Hae, Scottish patriotism, anticlericalism, class inequalities, gender roles, commentary on the Scottish Kirk of his time, Scottish cultural identity, poverty, sexuality, and the beneficial aspects of popular socialising (carousing, Scotch whisky, folk songs, and so forth).^{[citation needed]}

The strong emotional highs and lows associated with many of Burns' poems have led some, such as Burns biographer Robert Crawford,^[19] to suggest that he suffered from manic depression—a hypothesis that has been supported by analysis of various samples of his handwriting. Burns himself referred to suffering from episodes of what he called "blue devilism". However, the National Trust for Scotland has downplayed the suggestion on the grounds that the evidence is not sufficient to support the claim.^[20]

Influence

Scotland and England

He is generally classified as a proto-Romantic poet, and he influenced William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley greatly. His direct literary influences in the use of Scots in poetry were Allan Ramsay (1686-1758) and Robert Fergusson. The Edinburgh literati worked to sentimentalise Burns during his life and after his death, dismissing his education by calling him a "heaven-taught ploughman". Burns would influence later Scottish writers, especially Hugh MacDiarmid, who fought to dismantle what he felt had become a sentimental cult that dominated Scottish literature.

America

An example of the Burns literary influence in America is the novelist John Steinbeck, who took the title of his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men from a line contained in the second-to-last stanza of "To a Mouse": "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley". Burns' influence on American vernacular poets such as James Whitcomb Riley and Frank Lebby Stanton has been acknowledged by their biographers. ^[21]When asked for the source of his greatest creative inspiration, singer songwriter Bob Dylan selected Burns's 1794 song "A Red, Red Rose", as the lyric that had the biggest effect on his life.^[22][23] On top of that, the recently deceased J. D. Salinger used protagonist Holden Caulfield's misinterpretation of his poem "If a Body Meet a Body Comin' thro'the Rye" As his title and a main interpretation of Holden's grasping to his childhood in his novel Catcher in the Rye. The poem, actually about a rendezvous, is thought by Holden to be about saving people from falling out of childhood.^[24]

Russia

Burns became the "people's poet" of Russia. In Imperial times, the Russian aristocracy were so out of touch with the peasantry that Burns, translated into Russian, became a symbol for the ordinary Russian people. In Soviet Russia, Burns was elevated as the archetypal poet of the people. A new translation of Burns, begun in 1924 by Samuil Marshak, proved enormously popular, selling over 600,000 copies.^[25] Russia was the first country in the world to honour the man with a commemorative stamp in 1956. The poetry of Burns is taught in Russian schools alongside their own national poets. Burns was a great admirer of the egalitarian ethos behind the French Revolution, and that was an additional reason for the Communist regime to endorse him as a "progressive" artist. However, he has remained popular in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union as well.^[26]

Honours

Landmarks and organisations

Burns clubs have been founded worldwide. The first one, known as The Mother Club, was founded in Greenock in 1801 by merchants born in Ayrshire, some of whom had known Burns. The club set its original objectives as "To cherish the name of Robert Burns; to foster a love of his writings, and generally to encourage an interest in the Scottish language and literature." The club also continues to have local charitable work as a priority.^[27]

Burns' birthplace in Alloway is now a public museum known as Burns Cottage. His house in Dumfries is operated as the Robert Burns House, and the Robert Burns Centre in Dumfries features more exhibits about his life and works. Ellisland Farm in Auldgirth, which he owned from 1788 to 1791, is a museum and working farm.

Significant 19th-century monuments to him stand in Alloway, Edinburgh and Dumfries. An early 20th century replica of his birthplace cottage belonging to the Burns Club Atlanta stands in Atlanta, Georgia. These are part of a large list of Robert Burns memorials and statues around the world.

Organisations include the Robert Burns Fellowship of the University of Otago in New Zealand, and the Burns Club Atlanta in the United States. Towns named after Robert Burns include Burns, New York, and Burns, Oregon.

In the suburb of Summerhill, in Dumfries, the majority of the streets have names with Burns connotations. A BR Standard Class 7 steam locomotive was named after him, along with a later British Rail Class 87 electric locomotive, No.87035.

On 24 September 1996, class 156 diesel unit 156433 was named "The Kilmarnock Edition" by Jimmy Knapp, General Secretary of the RMT union, at Girvan Station to launch the new 'Burns Line' services between Girvan, Ayr and Kilmarnock, supported by Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT). In the vestibule behind the cycle racks there was a poster explaining the significance of the naming.

Several streets surrounding the Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.'s Back Bay Fens in Boston, Massachusetts were designed with Burns connotations. A life size statue was dedicated in Burn's honor within the Back Bay Fens of the West Fenway neighborhood in 1912. It stood until 1972 when it was relocated downtown, sparking protests from the neighborhood, literary fans, and preservationists of Olmsted's vision for the Back Bay Fens.

The Friends of Ellisland maintain Ellisland Farm as a museum and interpretation centre.

Stamps and currency

Russia was the first country in the world to honour Burns with a commemorative stamp, in 1956.

The Royal Mail has issued postage stamps commemorating Burns three times. In 1966, two stamps were issued, priced fourpence and 1 shilling and threepence, both carrying Burns' portrait. In 1996, an issue commemorating the bicentenary of his death comprised four stamps, priced 19 p, 25 p, 41 p and 60 p, and included quotes from Burns' poems. On 22 January 2009, two stamps were issued by the Royal Mail to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth.

Burns is pictured on the £5 banknote (since 1971) of the Clydesdale Bank, one of the Scottish banks with the right to issue banknotes.^[28] On the reverse of the note there is a vignette of a field mouse and a wild rose which refers to Burns' poem "to a mouse". In September 2007, the Bank of Scotland redesigned their banknotes, and Robert Burns' statue is now portrayed on the reverse side of new £5. ^[29]

In 2009, the Royal Mint issued a commemorative two pound coin featuring a quote from "Auld Lang Syne".^[30]

Musical tributes

In 1996, a musical called Red Red Rose won third place at a competition for new musicals in Denmark. The musical was about Burns' life, and he was played by John Barrowman. On 25 January 2008, a musical play about the love affair between Robert Burns and Nancy McLehose entitled "Clarinda", premiered in Edinburgh before touring Scotland. ^[31]

Burns suppers

Burns Night, effectively a second national day, is celebrated on 25 January with Burns suppers around the world, and is still more widely observed than the official national day, Saint Andrew's Day. The first Burns supper in The Mother Club in Greenock was held on what they thought was his birthday on 29 January 1802, but in 1803 they discovered from the Ayr parish records that the correct date was 25 January 1759.^[27] The format of Burns suppers has not changed since. The basic format starts with a general welcome and announcements, followed with the Selkirk Grace. After the grace, comes the piping and cutting of the haggis, where Burns' famous Address To a Haggis is read and the haggis is cut open. The event usually allows for people to start eating just after the haggis is presented. This is when the reading called the "immortal memory", an overview of Burns' life and work, is given; the event usually concludes with the singing of Auld Lang Syne.

Greatest Scot

In 2009, STV ran a television series and public vote to decide who should be named as being the Greatest Scot. On St Andrew's day, STV revealed the results of the public vote, and Robert Burns was voted as being officially the Greatest Scot of all time, narrowly beating William Wallace, Scottish Patriot and Independence campaigner, for the title.

See also

• Of Mice and Men
• List of Robert Burns memorials
• A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
• Homecoming Scotland 2009
• Robert Burns and the Eglinton Estate
• Drukken Steps - A Burns site in Irvine
• John Anderson (carpenter)

Notes

1. ^ Andrew O'Hagan, "The People's Poet", The Guardian, 19 January 2008.
2. ^ "Scotland's National Bard". Robert Burns 2008. Scottish Executive. 25 January 2008. http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/01/24104549. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
3. ^ "A successor to Robert Burns; crowning the Poet-Laureate of Freemasonry" (PDF). New York Times. December 18, 1884. p. 2. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9505EED61E3BE033A2575BC1A9649D94659FD7CF. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
4. ^ Stream, Allan. "Rabbie Burns". Kilronan House. http://www.kilronan.co.uk/burns.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
5. ^ "Mauchline kirk session records, National Archives of Scotland". 'The Legacy of Robert Burns' feature on the National Archives of Scotland website. National Archives of Scotland. 1 July 2009. http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/090717.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
6. ^ ^{a b} Burns 1993, p. 19
7. ^ ^{a b c} "Highland Mary (Mary Campbell)". Famous Sons and Daughters of Greenock. Nostalgic Greenock. http://www.greenock-town.co.uk/highland_mary.html. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
8. ^ "Feature on The Poet Robert Burns". Robert Burns History. Scotland.org. 2004-01-13. http://www.scotland.org/about/history-tradition-and-roots/features/culture/burns-and-slavery.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
9. ^ "Folkin' For Jamaica: Sly, Robbie and Robert Burns". The Play Ethic. 2009-01-01. http://www.theplayethic.com/2009/01/folkin-for-jamaica-sly-robbie-and-robert-burns.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
10. ^ Burns 1993, pp. 19–20
11. ^ ^{a b c} Burns 1993, p. 20
12. ^ edited by Robert Chambers; the Rev. Thos. Thomson (1856). "Significant Scots - Thomas Blacklock". Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. Blackie and Son. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/blacklock_thomas.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
13. ^ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2008). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Edinburgh : Mainstream Publishing. ISBN. 978-1-84596-412-2. p. 321.
14. ^ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2008). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Edinburgh : Mainstream Publishing. ISBN. 978-1-84596-412-2. p. 321.
15. ^ "Testament Dative and Inventory of Robert Burns, 1796, Dumfries Commissary Court (National Archives of Scotland CC5/6/18, pp. 74-75)". ScotlandsPeople website. National Archives of Scotland. http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=546&1081. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
16. ^ "Appointment of judicial factor for Robert Burns' children, Court of Session records (National Archives of Scotland CS97/101/15), 1798-1801". 'The Legacy of Robert Burns' feature on the National Archives of Scotland website. National Archives of Scotland. 1 July 2009. http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/090717.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
17. ^ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2008). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Edinburgh : Mainstream Publishing. ISBN. 978-1-84596-412-2. p. 321.
18. ^ Hogg, Patrick Scott (2008). Robert Burns. The Patriot Bard. Edinburgh : Mainstream Publishing. ISBN. 978-1-84596-412-2. p. 154.
19. ^ Rumens, Carol (2009-01-16). "The Bard, By Robert Crawford". Books (London: The Independent). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-bard-by-robert-crawfordbr-a-night-out-with-robert-burns-ed-andrew-ohagan-1379914.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
20. ^ Watson, Jeremy (2009-06-07). "Bard in the hand: Trust accused of hiding Burns' mental illness". Scotland on Sunday. http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Bard-in-the-hand-Trust.5342051.jp. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
21. ^ See, e.g., Paul Stevenson, "Stanton—the Writer with a Heart" in Atlanta Constitution, 1925 January 18, p. 1; republished by Perry, L.L.; Wightman, Melton F. (1938), Frank Lebby Stanton: Georgia's First Post Laureate, Atlanta: Georgia State Department of Education., pp. 8–14
22. ^ "Bob Dylan names Scottish poet Robert Burns as his biggest inspiration". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1069069/Bob-Dylan-names-Scottish-poet-Robert-Burns-biggest-inspiration.html. Retrieved 2009-07-13. "Bob Dylan has named his own greatest inspiration as the Scottish poet Robert Burns. The American singer-songwriter was asked to say which lyric or verse has had the biggest effect on his life. He selected the 1794 song "A Red, Red Rose", which is often published as a poem, penned by the man regarded as Scotland's national poet."
23. ^ {{cite news | title = Bob Dylan: Robert Burns is my biggest inspiration | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/oct/06/bob.dylan.robert.burns.inspiration | publisher = The Guardian | accessdate = 2009-06-11 | quote = Dylan has revealed his greatest inspiration is Scotland's favourite son, the Bard of Ayrshire, the 18th-century poet known to most as Rabbi Burns. Dylan selected A Red, Red Rose, written by Burns in 1794.
24. ^ | title = J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye | url = http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catcher/summary.html | publisher = [Sparknotes]] | accessdate = 2010-07-14 | quote = When [holden] tries to explain why he hates school, she accuses him of not liking anything. He tells her his fantasy of being “the catcher in the rye,” a person who catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe tells him that he has misremembered the poem that he took the image from: Robert Burns’s poem says “if a body meet a body, coming through the rye,” not “catch a body.”
25. ^ "Burns Biography". Standrews.com. 1990-01-27. http://www.standrews.com/burns/HERALDWRITINGS/feature30.html. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
26. ^ Trew, Jonathan (10 April 2005). "From Rabbie with love". Scotsman.com Heritage & Culture. http://heritage.scotsman.com/robertburns/From-Rabbie-with-love.2617247.jp. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
27. ^ ^{a b} "Congratulation Greenock Burns Club". The Robert Burns World Federation Limited. http://www.worldburnsclub.com/newsletter/0107/greenock_burns_club.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
28. ^ "Current Banknotes : Clydesdale Bank". The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknotes_current_clydesdale_bank.php. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
29. ^ "Current Banknotes : Bank of Scotland". The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. http://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknotes_current_bank_of_scotland.php. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
30. ^ "The 2009 Robert Burns £2 Coin Pack". http://www.royalmint.com/store/BritishBase/UKREBBU.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
31. ^ "Clarinda - The Musical - No woman shunned Robert Burns' advances, until he met Clarinda !". Clarindathemusical.com. http://www.clarindathemusical.com. Retrieved 2009-06-10.

References

• Burns, Robert (1993). Bold, Alan. ed. Rhymer Rab: An Anthology of Poems and Prose. London: Black Swan. ISBN 1-84195-380-6.
• Burns, Robert (2003). Noble, Andrew; Hogg, Patrick Scott. eds. The Canongate Burns: The Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. ISBN 1-84195-380-6.
• This article incorporates public domain text from : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton. (p.57)
• Dietrich Hohmann: Ich, Robert Burns, Biographical Novel, Neues Leben, Berlin 1990 (in German)

External links

• Official site of Burns Cottage Museum
• National Burns Collection (Scottish national archive of Burns-related portraits, manuscripts and objects)
• Works by Robert Burns at Project Gutenberg
• National Library of Scotland's Burns site
• Archival material relating to Robert Burns listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Legacy of Robert Burns - National Archives of Scotland website

Categories: Robert Burns | 1759 births | 1796 deaths | 18th-century Scottish people | Infectious disease deaths in Scotland | Lallans poets | People from South Ayrshire | People illustrated on sterling banknotes | Romantic poets | Scottish folk-song collectors | Scottish literature | Scottish poets | Scottish songwriters

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