Transcript Robert Burns
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.
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