Robert Burns

Robert Burns

� Date of birth - 25 January 1759

� Date of death - 21 July 1796

� Also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's

favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard

of Ayrshire and The Bard

� National poet of Scotland

Robert Burns

� He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language.

� Pioneer of the Romantic movement

� Strong influence on Scottish literature

� Collected folk songs from across Scotland

Robert Burns

� His poem Auld Lang Syne is often sung at

Hogmanay

� Scots Wha Hae served for a long time as an

unofficial national anthem of the country.

� Other poems A Red, Red Rose; A Man's A

Man for A' That; To a Louse; To a Mouse;

The Battle of Sherramuir; Tam o' Shanter,

and Ae Fond Kiss.

Robert Burns

� Burns was born two miles south of Ayr, in

Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland

� the eldest of the seven children of William

Burness and Agnes Broun

� Received most of his education from his

father

Education

� R. Burns was housetaught

� He was also taught by John Murdoch

� Dalrymple Parish School 1772

� In 1775, he was sent to finish his education

with a tutor at Kirkoswald, where he met

Peggy Thomson

Love affairs

� Elizabeth Paton

� Jean Armour

� Mary Campbell (Highland Mary)

Ellisland Farm

� Burns returned to Ayrshire on 18 February 1788

� Resumed his relationship with Jean Armour

� Took a lease on the farm of Ellisland near Dumfries on 18 March

� Gave up the farm in 1791

� Refused to become a candidate for a newly-created Chair of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh

Lyricist

� After giving up his farm he removed to

Dumfries itself

� It was at this time that, being requested to

write lyrics for The Melodies of Scotland

� Burns also worked to collect and preserve

Scottish folk songs at that time

� One of the better known of these collections

is The Merry Muses of Caledonia

Failing health and death

� As his health began to give way, Burns

began to age prematurely and fell into fits of

despondency

� His death was probably caused by bacterial

infection reaching his blood

� On the morning of 21 July 1796, Robert

Burns died in Dumfries at the age of 37

Failing health and death

� The funeral took place on Monday 25 July

1796

� He was at first buried in the far corner of St.

Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries

� His body was eventually moved in

September 1815 to its final resting place, in

the same cemetery, the Burns Mausoleum

Literary style

� Burns' poetry drew upon a substantial

familiarity and knowledge of Classical,

Biblical, and English literature, as well as the

Scottish Makar tradition.

� His themes included republicanism and

Radicalism which he expressed covertly in

Scots Wha Hae, Scottish patriotism,

anticlericalism, class inequalities

Influence

� 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 and

Robert Fergusson.

� Burns would influence later Scottish writers,

especially Hugh MacDiarmid

My Heart’s In The Highlands

� My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer - A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe; My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

� Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North The birth place of Valour, the country of Worth; Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My Heart’s In The Highlands

� Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow;

Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;

Farewell to the forrests and wild-hanging woods;

Farwell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

� My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer

Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;

My heart's in the Highlands, whereever I go.

� THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!