Burns, Robert

Burns, Robert (1759-96), poet, b. Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Robert Burns is said to be Scotland's greatest ever poet.

He was born on 25 January and on that date Burns Night is still celebrated by Scottish people all over the world.

Burns's father was a poor farmer. Robbie worked on the farm from the age of thirteen and, after his father's death, ran the farm himself.

He was educated in the village school and afterwards read a great deal and, at the age of fifteen, began writing poetry.

Some of his poems, written out by hand, were passed from person to person in the district.

At the age of twenty-six, Burns made up his mind to go and settle in Jamaica and, to obtain money, he had some of his poems published in a book. The book was a success. So Burns gave up the idea of going to Jamaica.

Instead he went to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and there received the praise of literary experts.

Later he tried farming again at Dumfries and then became an Excise officer. At the same time he wrote hundreds of poems and songs. His best known songs are Auld Lang Syne, My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose, Comin thro' the Rye, Ye Banks and Braes 0' Bonnie Doon and, in Scotland, Scots Wha Hae.

Many of Burns's poems are written in the Scottish dialect and lines from them are sometimes quoted for their wisdom, such as: O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us.'

See Geddes The Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns