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Burns Robert 1759 - 1796 (37)

Dare to be honest and fear no labor.


QUOTES

Tam o' Shanter

When the peddler people leave the streets,
And thirsty neighbours, neighbours meet;
As market days are wearing late,
And folk begin to take the road home,
While we sit boozing strong ale,
And getting drunk and very happy,

Robert Burns (1759-1796) is regarded as the national poet of Scotland. He was born in Allowaya, a small rural village near the town of Ayr, on January 25, 1759, first of seven children,. His father was a farmer who taught his children at home and encouraged then to read literature. Robert was also taught Latin, French, and mathematics in an “adventure school” in his hometown His father died in 1784 so Robert and his brother had to take over the farm. At 15 Robert fall in love and wrote his first poems. Thereafter he pursued love and poetry with great zeal. In 1785 he fathered his first children, especially in the period 1784 to 1788, he was engaged in simultaneous relationships and had several illegitimate children. In 1786 he was about to run away to Caribbean when his first poems collection was published; it had great success so he decided to stay in Scotland.

In 1788, he married Jean Amour with whom he had 9 children (only 3 survived infancy) In 1791 he accepted a position of tax collecting, and continued to write poems and gather traditional Scottish songs. In his final years, Burns sympathized with the French Revolution and he was in favor of radical reforms. His health was bad for years with heart problems, he died on July 21, 1796. Four days later his fourteen child was born.

Most of Burns’ poems were written in Scots, they document traditional Scottish culture, expressions of farm life, class distinctions and also celebrate love, friendship, work, and drink with often hilarious sympathy. Burns is considered a pioneer of the Romantic Movement, he influenced many other poets and writers in the coming years.