ROBERT BURNS
The greatest poets of the 18 th century was Robert Burns. His popularity in Scotland is immense. The Scottish bard was born in a clay cottage in the village of Alloway. His father was a poor farmer, but a man who valued knowledge. It was from his father that Robert received his learning and his love for books. His mother had a beautiful voice and taught Robert old Scottish songs and ballads which he later turned into his best poems.
Robert Burns had no regular schooling. But when Robert was seven, his father engaged a teacher to educate him and his brother Gilbert. John Murdoch, an eighteen year-old scholar, was a very enthusiastic teacher. He taught Robert, who was his favourite, many subjects, French and literature among them.
However, Robert could not afford much time for his studies. His father wanted to try his hand in farming and Robert had to help him on the farm. At the age of thirteen he had to take over from his father most of the work on the farm as his father was growing old. Those were hard times for Robert, and he had to leave school. Nearly all life Robert Burns worked on his small piece of land.
At fifteen he did most of the work on the farm, his father’s health being very poor. And as Burns followed the plough he whistled and sang. He made up his own words to the old folk tunes of Scotland that he knew so well. In his songs he spoke of what he saw — of the woods and fields and valleys, of the deer and the skylark and the small field-mouse, of the farmer’s poor cottage.
Burns wrote his first verses when he was fifteen. Very soon his poems became popular among his friends and acquaintances. In 1785 he met a girl, who became the great love of all his life and inspirer of his numerous lyrical verses. Jean had a wonderful voice and knew a lot of old melodies to which Burns composed his songs.
In 1786 Burns published his first book under the title of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The book was a great success. He was invited to Edinburgh. He conquered the Edinburgh society by his wit and manners as much as by poetry. In Edinburgh he was often advised to write in standard English on noble themes, but he refused. He wanted to write poetry about the people and for the people.
While in Edinburgh Burns got acquainted with some enthusiasts of Scottish songs and ballads and became engaged in collecting the treasures of the Scottish folklore. He travelled about Scotland collecting popular songs
After his father’s death he did not give up farming and worked hard to earn his living. In 1791 Burns got the post of excise, officer and moved to Dumfries. The last years of his life were very hard. The hard daily work on the farm, the constant starvation and privations finally undermined Burns’s health.
On July 21, 1796, at the age of 37, Burns died. His body rests in a Mausoleum in Dumfries. The house in Alloway, where he was born, has now been restored. Every year thousands of people from all over the world come there to pay homage to the great poet.
Burns’s Literary Work Robert Burns’s poetry was inspired by his deep love for his motherland, for its history and folklore. His beautiful poem My Heart’s in the Highlands, full of vivid colourful descriptions, is a hymn to the beauty of Scotland’s nature and to its glorious past. He admires the green valleys, “mountains high covered with snow, and wild hanging woods”. He calls his country “the birthplace of valour, the country of worth”. In Burns’s poems nature forms part of people’s life, though he does not personify it.
Address to Edinburgh is a hymn to the common Scottish people. Burns’s poetry is closely connected with the national struggle of the Scottish people for their liberation from English oppression, the struggle that had been going on in Scotland for many centuries. His favourite national hero is William Wallace (1270— 1305), the leader of the uprising against the English oppressors.
The Scottish people led by William Wallace and Robert Bruce (1274— 1329), King of Scotland, overthrew the English army in the battle at Bannockburn (a burn is a small stream) in 1314 and secured Scottish independence. Bruce at Bannockburn is one of the best poems by Burns. It is the poet’s call to his people to keep up the freedomloving spirit of their fathers.
Robert Burns is a true son of the Scottish peasantry. His poems express their thoughts and hopes, their human dignity, and their love of freedom and hatred for all oppressors. In his poem A Man’s A Man For A’That Burns says that it is not wealth and titles, but the excellent qualities of man’s heart that make “a man for a’that” (=all that).
The poet praises the healthy, happy, wise Scottish peasant, who in his shabby clothes is worth a score of lords, however fine. Titles and riches are not enough to make people happy.
Many verses of the poet were inspired by the French Revolution which he supported with all his heart. In his poem The Tree of Liberty Burns praised the French revolutionaries who planted “The Tree of Liberty” in their country. In this poem Burns expresses his belief that the time will come when all the people will be equal and happy.
In spite of his poverty, hunger and neverceasing toil, Burns was an optimist. He enjoyed life as few of his contemporaries did. The poem John Barleycorn expresses Burns’s optimism. It tells of the way people prepare whiskey.
The poem is symbolic in its meaning. John Barleycorn personifies the strength of the common people which is immortal and cannot be done away with. Three kings wanted to kill John Barleycorn. However, all their efforts were in vain. John Barleycorn was not dead, as his joyful spirit was alive in those who had a chance “to taste his blood”.
Burns was a remarkable lyric poet. His lyrical poems are known for their beauty, truthfulness, freshness, depth of feelings and lovely melody. Many of Burns’s lyrical poems have been put to music and are sung by all English-speaking people. One of them is Auld Lang Syne , a beautiful song of brotherhood and friendship.
Burns’s wit, humour, contempt for falsehood and hypocrisy are best revealed —short four line satirical verses in which he attacks lords, churchmen, persons of rank. The biting satire of his epigrams was greatly admired by the common people. In his epigrams Burns shows the ignorance of the nobility, the falsehood of priests and his hatred of the rich.
Once Burns was invited by a nobleman to see his magnificent library. Observing a splendidly bound, but uncut and worm-eaten copy of Shakespeare on the table, the poet left the following lines in the volume: Through and through the inspired leaves.
Ye maggots, make your windings; But, oh! Respect his lordship’s taste, And spare the golden bindings. Someone remarked that he had seen falsehood in the very look of a certain priest. The poet replied: That there is falsehood in his looks I must and will deny; They say their master is a knave —
And sure they do not lie. The following lines were addressed to the coach of a very rich lady: If you rattle like your mistress’s tongue, Your speed will outrival the dart; But a fly for your load, you’ll break down on the road, If your stuff be as rotten’s her heart.
