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69-544: Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns , was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language , although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect " of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary

138-561: A "heaven-taught ploughman". Burns influenced later Scottish writers, especially Hugh MacDiarmid , who fought to dismantle what he felt had become a sentimental cult that dominated Scottish literature. Burns had a significant influence on Alexander McLachlan and some influence on Robert Service . While this may not be so obvious in Service's English verse, which is Kiplingesque, it is more readily apparent in his Scots verse. List of national poets A national poet or national bard

207-494: A 1792 poem argued as an example of his abolitionist views, is disputed. His name is absent from any abolitionist petition written in Scotland during the period, and according to academic Lisa Williams, Burns "is strangely silent on the question of chattel slavery compared to other contemporary poets. Perhaps this was due to his government position, severe limitations on free speech at the time or his association with beneficiaries of

276-451: A Mouse ", " Epitaph for James Smith ", 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 planned 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

345-552: A farmer. In order to make enough money to support a family, he accepted a job offer from Patrick Douglas, an absentee landowner who lived in Cumnock , to work on his sugar plantations near Port Antonio , Jamaica . Douglas' plantations were managed by his brother Charles, and the job offer, which had a salary of £30 per annum, entailed working in Jamaica as a "book-keeper", whose duties included serving as an assistant overseer to

414-521: A fortnight before he died. Robert and Gilbert made an ineffectual struggle to keep on the farm, but after its failure they moved to Mossgiel Farm , near Mauchline , in March, which they maintained with an uphill fight for the next four years. In mid-1784 Burns came to know a group of girls known collectively as The Belles of Mauchline, one of whom was Jean Armour , the daughter of a stonemason from Mauchline. Burns's first child, Elizabeth "Bess" Burns ,

483-516: A four-volume edition of his complete works and a biography written by 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. Hogg records that fund-raising for Burns's family was embarrassingly slow, and it took several years to accumulate significant funds through

552-415: 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." On 27 November 1786 Burns borrowed

621-524: A lasting impression on, the 16-year-old Walter Scott , who described him later with great admiration: [His person was strong and robust;] his manners rustic, not clownish, a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity which received part of its effect perhaps from knowledge of his extraordinary talents. His features are presented in Mr Nasmyth's picture but to me it conveys the idea that they are diminished, as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance

690-527: A letter expressing admiration for the poetry in the Kilmarnock volume, and suggesting an enlarged second edition. 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

759-525: A local plasterer of Queensbury Street, Dumfries. The skull was later returned to the tomb. A plaster cast was sent to George Combe , a Scottish lawyer and practitioner of phrenology based in Edinburgh. Combe published a report about his findings, entitled ‘Phrenological development of Robert Burns. From a cast on his skull moulded at Dumfries, the 31st day of March, 1834’. It is unknown how many casts were made by Fraser, with some sources reporting three were made. Six casts are known though some may be copies of

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828-432: 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. He also had an affair with a servant girl, Margaret "May" Cameron . His relationship with Nancy concluded in 1791 with a final meeting in Edinburgh before she sailed to Jamaica for what turned out to be a short-lived reconciliation with her estranged husband. Before she left, he sent her

897-590: 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. For the edition, Creech commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to paint the oval bust-length portrait now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery , which

966-421: A publisher commissioned arrangements of "Scottish, Welsh and Irish Airs" by such eminent composers of the day as Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven , with new lyrics. The contributors of lyrics included Burns. While such arrangements had wide popular appeal, Beethoven's music was more advanced and difficult to play than Thomson intended. Burns described how he had to master singing the tune before he composed

1035-463: A suggestion that he was willing to marry her, she rejected him. Robert Burns was initiated into the Masonic lodge St David, Tarbolton, on 4 July 1781, when he was 22. In December 1781, Burns moved temporarily to Irvine to learn to become a flax -dresser, but during the workers' celebrations for New Year 1781/1782 (which included Burns as a participant) the flax shop caught fire and was burnt to

1104-576: 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. On his return from Edinburgh in February 1788, he resumed his relationship with Jean Armour and they married in March 1788. He took out a lease on Ellisland Farm, Dumfriesshire, settling there in June. He also took up a training position as an exciseman or gauger, which involved long rides and detailed bookkeeping. He

1173-566: A warrant for an enormous sum ... I am wandering from one friend's house to another." On 31 July 1786 John Wilson published the volume of works by Robert Burns, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect . Known as the Kilmarnock volume , it sold for 3 shillings and contained much of his best writing, including "The Twa Dogs" (which features Luath, his Border Collie ), " Address to the Deil ", " Halloween ", " The Cotter's Saturday Night ", " To

1242-420: 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 successive holders of a bureaucratically-appointed poet-laureate office. The idea and honoring of national poets emerged primarily during Romanticism , as a figure that helped consolidation of

1311-543: Is customary for the cotton mills etc., to close for Whitsuntide week to give the hands a holiday; the men going to the races etc. and the women visiting Manchester on Whit-Saturday, thronging the markets, the Royal Exchange and the Infirmary Esplanade, and other public places: And gazing in at the shop windows, whence this day is usually called 'Gaping Sunday'. Whit Monday was officially recognised as

1380-580: Is often at its bluntest. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement , and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism , and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature . In 2009 he

1449-693: Is set to the tune of "Major Graham" and " The Battle of Sherramuir " is set to the "Cameronian Rant". Burns alienated some acquaintances by freely expressing sympathy with the French, and American Revolutions, for the advocates of democratic reform and votes for all men and the Society of the Friends of the People which advocated Parliamentary Reform. His political views came to the notice of his employers, to which he pleaded his innocence. Burns met other radicals at

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1518-617: The American Revolution . Burns sent the poem anonymously in 1795 to the Glasgow Magazine . He was also a radical for reform and wrote poems for democracy, such as – "Parcel of Rogues to the Nation" and the "Rights of Women". Many of Burns's 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 "

1587-723: The Anglo-Saxon word also appears in Icelandic hvitasunnu-dagr , but that in English the feast was called Pentecoste until after the Norman Conquest , when white ( hwitte ) began to be confused with wit or understanding. According to one interpretation, the name derives from the white garments worn by catechumens , those expecting to be baptised on that Sunday. Moreover, in England white vestments, rather than

1656-586: The Black slaves on the plantations (Burns himself described the position as being "a poor Negro driver"). The position, which was for a single man, would entail Burns living on a plantation in rustic conditions, as it was unlikely a book keeper would be housed in the plantation's great house . Some historians have argued in Burns's defence that in 1786, the Scottish abolitionist movement was just beginning to be broadly active. Burns's authorship of " The Slave's Lament ",

1725-531: The Mearns , and Agnes Broun (1732–1820), the daughter of a Kirkoswald tenant farmer. He was born in a house built by his father (now the Burns Cottage Museum), where he lived until Easter 1766, when he was seven years old. William Burnes sold the house and took the tenancy of the 70-acre (280,000 m) Mount Oliphant farm, southeast of Alloway. Here Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and

1794-653: 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). The strong emotional highs and lows associated with many of Burns's poems have led some, such as Burns biographer Robert Crawford, 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". The National Trust for Scotland has downplayed

1863-574: The University of Edinburgh , although influential friends offered to support his claims. He did however accept membership of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792. After giving up his farm, he removed to Dumfries. 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

1932-413: The nation states , as it provided validation of their ethno-linguistic groups. Most national poets are historic figures, though a few contemporary writers working in relatively new or revived national literatures are also considered "national poets". Though not formally elected, national poets play a role in shaping a country's understanding of itself. Some nations may have more than one national poet;

2001-557: The 17th century the nearby Kersal Moor Whit races were the great event of the year when large numbers of people turned the area into a giant fairground for several days. With the coming of industrialisation it became convenient to close down whole towns for a week in order to clean and maintain the machinery in the mills and factories. The week of closure, or wakes week , was often held at Whitsuntide. A report in John Harlan and T.T. Wilkinson's Lancashire Folk lore (1882) reads: It

2070-625: The Globe Inn Dumfries. As an Exciseman he felt compelled to join the Royal Dumfries Volunteers in March 1795. Latterly Burns lived in Dumfries in a two-storey red sandstone house on Mill Hole Brae, now Burns Street. The home is now a museum. He went on long journeys on horseback, often in harsh weather conditions as an Excise Supervisor, and was kept very busy doing reports. The father of four young children, he

2139-607: The Spring bank holiday. Whaddon, Cambridgeshire , has its own Whitsun tradition of singing a unique song around the village before and on Whit Sunday itself. The name is a contraction of "White Sunday", attested in "the Holy Ghost, whom thou didst send on Whit-sunday" in the Old English homilies , and parallel to the mention of hwitmonedei in the early 13th-century Ancrene Riwle . Walter William Skeat noted that

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2208-490: The Voice as well as to James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum . Arguably his claim to immortality chiefly rests on these volumes, which placed him in the front rank of lyric poets . As a songwriter he provided his own lyrics, sometimes adapted from traditional words. He put words to Scottish folk melodies and airs which he collected, and composed his own arrangements of the music including modifying tunes or recreating melodies on

2277-416: The air with the verses I have framed. when I feel my Muse beginning to jade, I retire to the solitary fireside of my study, and there commit my effusions to paper, swinging, at intervals, on the hind-legs of my elbow chair, by way of calling forth my own critical strictures, as my, pen goes. Burns also worked to collect and preserve Scottish folk songs , sometimes revising, expanding, and adapting them. One of

2346-527: The basis of fragments. In letters he explained that he preferred simplicity, relating songs to spoken language which should be sung in traditional ways. The original instruments would be fiddle and the guitar of the period which was akin to a cittern , but the transcription of songs for piano has resulted in them usually being performed in classical concert or music hall styles. At the 3 week Celtic Connections festival Glasgow each January, Burns songs are often performed with both fiddle and guitar. Thomson as

2415-459: The better known of these collections is The Merry Muses of Caledonia (the title is not Burns's), a collection of bawdy lyrics that were popular in the music halls of Scotland as late as the 20th century. At Dumfries, he wrote his world famous song " A Man's a Man for A' That ", which was based on the writings in The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine , one of the chief political theoreticians of

2484-508: The city also 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

2553-491: 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 ", " To a Louse ", " To a Mouse ", " The Battle of Sherramuir ", " Tam o' Shanter " and " Ae Fond Kiss ". Burns was born two miles (3 km) south of Ayr , in Alloway , the eldest of the seven children of William Burnes (1721–1784), a self-educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar in

2622-477: The efforts of John Syme and Alexander Cunningham . Burns was posthumously given the freedom of the town of Dumfries. Hogg records that Burns was given the freedom of the Burgh of Dumfries on 4 June 1787, 9 years before his death, and was also made an Honorary Burgess of Dumfries. Through his five surviving children (of 12 born), Burns has over 900 living descendants as of 2019. Armour died on 26 March 1834 and

2691-433: The following attractions: On Whit Monday, in the morning, will be a punting match   ...   The first boat that comes in to receive a guinea...In the afternoon a gold-laced hat, worth 30s. to be cudgell'd for   ... On Whit Tuesday, in the morning, a fine Holland smock and ribbons, to be run for by girls and young women. And in the afternoon six pairs of buckskin gloves to be wrestled for. In Manchester during

2760-505: The ground. This venture accordingly came to an end, and Burns went home to Lochlea farm. During this time he met and befriended Richard Brown , who encouraged him to become a poet. 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 , and Burnes was upheld in January 1784,

2829-436: The group included Adam Rankine, James Kerr, James Bogie, Andrew Crombie and their assistants. The night before Armour's funeral, the group was supposedly granted permission to exhume Burns's body by Armour's brother, Robert Armour. The group attempted to enter the mausoleum at 7pm. There were many people present in the graveyard and they decided to try again later that evening. The skull was removed and taken to James Fraser,

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2898-430: The idea of a single one is always a simplification. It has been argued that a national poet "must write poetry that closely identifies with the nation's cause – or is thought to do so", with an additional assumption being that "a national poet must write in a national language". The following is a list of nations, with their associated national poets. It is not a list of sovereign states or countries , though many of

2967-467: The manuscript of " Ae Fond Kiss " as a farewell. 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 was published in 1787 and included three songs by Burns. He contributed 40 songs to volume two, and he ended up responsible for about

3036-500: The more usual red, were traditional for the day and its octave . A different tradition is that of the young women of the parish all coming to church or chapel in new white dresses on that day. However, Augustinian canon John Mirk (c. 1382–1414), of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire, had another interpretation: Goode men and woymen, as ȝe knowen wele all, þys day ys called Whitsonday, for bycause þat þe Holy Gost as þys day broȝt wyt and wysdome ynto all Cristes dyscyples. Thus, he thought

3105-770: The nations listed may also be such. The terms " nation " (as cultural concept), " country " (as geographical concept) and " state " (as political concept) are not synonyms . Whitsun In the North West of England , church and chapel parades called whit walks still take place at this time (sometimes on Whit Friday , the Friday after Whitsun). Typically, the parades include brass bands and choirs; girls attending are dressed in white. Traditionally, Whit fairs (sometimes called Whitsun ales ) took place. Other customs, such as Morris dancing , were associated with Whitsun, although in most cases they have been transferred to

3174-486: The original cast. Burns's style is marked by spontaneity, directness, and sincerity, and ranges from the tender intensity of some of his lyrics through the humour of "Tam o' Shanter" and the satire of "Holy Willie's Prayer" and "The Holy Fair". Burns's poetry drew upon a substantial familiarity with and knowledge of Classical , Biblical , and English literature , as well as the Scottish Makar tradition. Burns

3243-507: The parish. After a few years of home education, Burns was sent to Dalrymple Parish School in mid-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 1775, he

3312-403: The river Nith, now holds a unique collection of Burns's books, artefacts, and manuscripts and is mostly preserved as when Burns and his young family lived there. Burns gave up the farm in 1791 to move to Dumfries. About this time he was offered and declined an appointment in London on the staff of The Star newspaper , and refused to become a candidate for a newly created Chair of Agriculture in

3381-470: The root of the word was "wit" (formerly spelt "wyt" or "wytte") and Pentecost was so-called to signify the outpouring of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost on Christ's disciples. The following day is Whit Monday , a name coined to supersede the form Monday in Whitsun-week used by John Wycliffe and others. The week following Whit Sunday is known as "Whitsuntide" or "Whit week". As the first holiday of

3450-555: 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 the 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

3519-615: The severe manual labour of the farm left its traces in a weakened constitution. He was given irregular schooling and a lot of his education was with 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 and tutored by the young teacher John Murdoch (1747–1824), who opened an " adventure school " in Alloway in 1763 and taught Latin, French, and mathematics to both Robert and his brother Gilbert (1760–1827) from 1765 to 1768 until Murdoch left

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3588-803: The slave trade system". Around the same time, Burns fell in love with a woman named Mary Campbell , whom he had seen in 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

3657-712: 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. In October 1786, 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

3726-480: The suggestion on the grounds that evidence is insufficient to support the claim. Burns 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 and Robert Fergusson . The Edinburgh literati worked to sentimentalise Burns during his life and after his death, dismissing his education by calling him

3795-466: The summer, Whitsun was one of the favourite times in the traditional calendar, and Whit Sunday, or the following week, was a time for celebration. This took the form of fêtes, fairs, pageants and parades, with Whitsun ales and Morris dancing in the south of England and Whit walks , Club Days and wakes in the north. A poster advertising the Whitsun festivities at Sunbury , Middlesex in 1778 listed

3864-633: The unfavourable conditions of Mount Oliphant to the 130-acre (0.53 km) farm at Lochlea , near Tarbolton , where they stayed until William Burnes's 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

3933-420: The words: My way is: I consider the poetic sentiment, correspondent to my idea of the musical expression, then chuse my theme, begin one stanza, when that is composed—which is generally the most difficult part of the business—I walk out, sit down now and then, look out for objects in nature around me that are in unison or harmony with the cogitations of my fancy and workings of my bosom, humming every now and then

4002-471: Was 21, and a bacterial infection, possibly arising from a tooth abscess, may have exacerbated this. On the morning of 21 July 1796, Burns died in Dumfries, at the age of 37. The funeral took place on Monday 25 July 1796, the day that his son Maxwell was born. He was at first buried in the far corner of St. Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries; a simple "slab of freestone" was erected as his gravestone by Jean Armour, which some felt insulting to his memory. His body

4071-426: Was also frequently occupied as a song collector and songwriter . As his health began to give way, he aged prematurely and fell into fits of despondency. Rumours of intemperance (alleged mainly by temperance activist James Currie ) may have been overstated. Hard manual farm labour earlier in his life may have damaged Burns's health. Burns possibly had a long-standing rheumatic heart condition, perhaps beginning when he

4140-475: Was appointed to duties in Customs and Excise in 1789. Burns chose the land of Ellisland a few miles north of the town of Dumfries , from Patrick Miller's estate at Dalswinton, where he had a new farmhouse and byre built. He and Jean moved in the following summer 1789 to the new farm house at Ellisland. In November 1790, he had written his masterpiece, the narrative poem " Tam O' Shanter ". The Ellisland farm beside

4209-620: Was born to his mother's servant, Elizabeth Paton , while he was embarking on a relationship with Jean Armour, who became pregnant with twins 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 disgrace, her parents sent her to live with her uncle in Paisley . Although Armour's father initially forbade it, they were married in 1788. Armour bore him nine children, three of whom survived infancy. Burns had encountered financial difficulties due to his lack of success as

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4278-490: Was buried there . As Burns lacked the funds to pay for his passage to Jamaica, Gavin Hamilton suggested that he should "publish his poems in the meantime 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 printer in Kilmarnock , who published these proposals on 14 April 1786, on

4347-418: Was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV . As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) " Auld Lang Syne " is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and " Scots Wha Hae " served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of

4416-439: Was engraved to provide a frontispiece for the book. Nasmyth had come to know Burns and his fresh and appealing image has become the basis for almost all subsequent representations of the poet. In Edinburgh, he was received as an equal by the city's men of letters—including Dugald Stewart, Robertson, Blair and others—and was a guest at aristocratic gatherings, where he bore himself with unaffected dignity. Here he encountered, and made

4485-624: Was eventually moved to its final location in the same cemetery, the Burns Mausoleum, in September 1817. The body of his widow Jean Armour was buried with his in 1834. Armour had taken steps to secure his personal property, partly by liquidating two promissory notes amounting to fifteen pounds sterling (about 1,100 pounds at 2009 prices). The family went to the Court of Session in 1798 with a plan to support his surviving children by publishing

4554-430: Was interred into the Burns Mausoleum on 31 March 1834. The opening of the mausoleum provided an opportunity to exhume Burns body by a local group who believed in phrenology , a pseudo-science whose practitioners believed an individual's personality could be predicted by measuring the skulls. The group was led by Archibald Blacklock, a surgeon, and John McDiarmid, Dumfries Courier editor and phrenologist. Other members of

4623-467: Was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits ... there was a strong expression of shrewdness in all his lineaments; the eye alone, I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a dark cast, and literally glowed when he spoke with feeling or interest. [I never saw such another eye in a human head, though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time.] The new edition of his poems brought Burns £400. His stay in

4692-421: Was sent to finish his education with a tutor at Kirkoswald, where he met Peggy Thompson (born 1762), to whom he wrote two songs, "Now Westlin' Winds" and " I Dream’d I Lay ". Despite his ability and character, William Burnes was consistently unfortunate, and migrated with his large family from farm to farm without ever being able to improve his circumstances. At Whitsun , 1777, he removed his large family from

4761-650: 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. 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

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