Robert Burns Popular Books

Robert Burns Biography & Facts

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 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 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 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". Life and background Ayrshire Alloway 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 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 m2) Mount Oliphant farm, southeast of Alloway. Here Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and 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 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 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". Tarbolton 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 the unfavourable conditions of Mount Oliphant to the 130-acre (0.53 km2) 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 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 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, a fortnight before he died. Mauchline 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. Love affairs Burns’s first child, Elizabeth "Bess" Burns, 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 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 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. Apologists 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", a 1792 poem argued as an example of his aboli.... Discover the Robert Burns popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert Burns books.

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  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    'Oh would some power the gift give us, to see ourselves as others see us!' Robert BurnsRobert Burns, poet and lyricist, also known as Rabbie Burns, is widely regarded as the Nation...

  • English Romantic Verse synopsis, comments

    English Romantic Verse

    David Wright

    English Romantic poetry from its beginnings and its flowering to the first signs of its decadence. Nearly all the famous piéces de résistance will be found here 'Intimations of Im...

  • Life of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Life of Robert Burns

    Thomas Carlyle

    This is a biographical history book. Robert Burns is the best loved Scottish poet, admired not only for his verse and great lovesongs, but also for his character, his high spirits,...

  • They Were Soldiers synopsis, comments

    They Were Soldiers

    Joseph L. Galloway & Marvin J. Wolf

    They Were Soldiers showcases the inspiring true stories of 49 Vietnam veterans who returned home from the "lost war" to enrich America's present and future...

  • The Real Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    The Real Robert Burns

    J. L. Hughes

    A man’s biography should relate the story of his development in power, and his achievements for his fellowmen. Biography can justify itself only in two ways: by revealing the agenc...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    Burns' poetry is ever popular. It's easily accessible, a celebration of ordinary life, his love of nature and his democratic belief in the worth of every human being. Includes much...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    William Allan Neilson

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • Charles Bukowski synopsis, comments

    Charles Bukowski

    Barry Miles

    'Fear makes me a writer, fear and a lack of confidence'Charles Bukowski chronicled the seedy underside of the city in which he spent most of his life, Los Angeles. His heroes were ...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Karyn Wilson Costa

    Figure protéiforme s'il en est, le poète écossais Robert Burns (17591796) est inspiré par les Révolutions américaine et française et formé par les Lumières écossaises ; se plaçant ...

  • The Hitopadesa synopsis, comments

    The Hitopadesa

    M Narayana

    Composed between 800 and 950 AD, Narayana's Hitopadesa is one of the bestknown of all works in Sanskrit literature. A fascinating collection of fables, maxims and sayings in verse,...

  • Delphi Complete Works of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Delphi Complete Works of Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature's finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents the complete works of Scotland’s favourite son Rob...

  • Areopagitica and Other Writings synopsis, comments

    Areopagitica and Other Writings

    John Milton

    John Milton was celebrated and denounced in his own time both as a poet and as a polemicist. Today he is remembered first and foremost for his poetry, but his great epic Paradise L...

  • The Penguin Book of English Song synopsis, comments

    The Penguin Book of English Song

    Richard Stokes

    The Penguin Book of English Song anthologizes the work of 100 English poets who have inspired a host of different composers (some English, some not) to write vocal music. Each of t...

  • Poems and Songs of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    The Poetry of Burns' (175996) is characterised by its disarming honesty and humanity, and by the poet's remarkable lyric gift. Angry or compassionate, sentimental or satirical, rom...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Auguste Angellier

    Ce livre contient tous les poèmes de Robert, y compris les épitaphes, ainsi que toutes ses paroles de chansons, mais pas la partition, parce qu'il n'a pas composer de la musique. B...

  • Vietnam synopsis, comments

    Vietnam

    Paul Ham

    For the first time this is the full story of Australia's involvement in our longest military campaign 'Surely God weeps,' an Australian soldier wrote in despair of the conflict in ...

  • The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry synopsis, comments

    The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry

    Jonathan Wordsworth

    The Romanticism that emerged after the American and French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 represented a new flowering of the imagination and the spirit, and a celebration of the soul...

  • Classical Literary Criticism synopsis, comments

    Classical Literary Criticism

    T. Dorsch

    The works collected in this volume have profoundly shaped the history of criticism in the Western world: they created much of the terminology still in use today and formulated endu...

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls synopsis, comments

    For Whom the Bell Tolls

    Ernest Hemingway

    Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece on war, love, loyalty, and honor tells the story of Robert Jordan, an antifascist American fighting in the Spanish Civil War.In 1937 Ernest Hemingway...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    John Drinkwater

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    William Allan Neilson

    William Burnes, the father of the poet, came of a family of farmers and gardeners in the county of Kincardine, on the east coast of Scotland. At the age of twentyseven, he left his...

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls synopsis, comments

    For Whom the Bell Tolls

    Ernest Hemingway

    Introduced by Hemingway’s grandson Seán Hemingway, this newly annotated edition and literary masterpiece about an American in the Spanish Civil War features early drafts and supple...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Patrick Scott Hogg

    Following the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns (175996), Patrick Scott Hogg presents the greatest of Scotland's poets within the true context of his times. Exploding ...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Donald A. Low

    The Critical Heritage gathers together a large body of critical sources on major figures in literature. Each volume presents contemporary responses to a writer's work, enabling stu...

  • Making History synopsis, comments

    Making History

    Richard Cohen

    A “supremely entertaining” (The New Yorker) exploration of who gets to record the world’s historyfrom Julius Caesar to William Shakespeare to Ken Burnsand how their biases influenc...

  • Poetry 101 synopsis, comments

    Poetry 101

    Susan Dalzell

    Become a poet and write poetry with ease with help from this clear and simple guide in the popular 101 series. Poetry never goes out of style. An ancient writing form found in civi...

  • The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse synopsis, comments

    The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse

    Quentin Blake

    Ever eaten Poodle Strudel? Slain a Jabberwock? Bathed in Irish Stew? Quentin Blake is one of the best loved of children’s illustrators. In this brilliant book he has selected and i...

  • The Language of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    The Language of Robert Burns

    Alex Broadhead

    This is the first monograph to focus exclusively on the language of Robert Burns. While engaging fully with uptodate literary criticism, it makes use of theories and analytical tec...

  • With Malice Toward None synopsis, comments

    With Malice Toward None

    Stephen B. Oates

    “The standard onevolume biography of Lincoln.” Washington Post“Certainly the most objective biography of Lincoln ever written.” David Herbert Donald, New York Times Book Revie...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    John Campbell Shairp

    Like other works in this series, Shairp's 1879 biography is a work of both history and literary criticism, one that invites the reader to a wider study of its subject. Shairp organ...

  • Poems and Songs of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    Poems and Songs of Robert Burns Robert Burns Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) called himself "an Aeolian harp strung to every wind of heaven." His first volume of poems, entitle...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    John Campbell Shairp

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Auguste Angellier

  • Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    This anthology is a complete compendium of all poems and songs written by Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. Arranged according to the date they were written, this anthology c...

  • Burns in English. Select poems of Robert Burns. Translated from the Scottish dialect by Alexander Corbett, etc. synopsis, comments

    Burns in English. Select poems of Robert Burns. Translated from the Scottish dialect by Alexander Corbett, etc.

    Robert Burns & Alexander Corbett

    The POETRY & DRAMA collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The books reflect the complex and changing role of literature in society, ranging ...

  • The Letters of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    The Letters of Robert Burns

    Robert Burns

    It is not perhaps generally known that the prose of Burns exceeds in quantity his verse. The world remembers him as a poet, and forgets or overlooks his letters. His place among th...

  • Life of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Life of Robert Burns

    Thomas Carlyle

    Thomas Carlyle (4 Dec 1795 – 5 Feb 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and satirical writer, known for works like Sartor Resartus and The French Revolution. Considered one of ...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Gabriel Setoun

    Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Robbie Burns, Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire ...

  • Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns

    Gabriel Setoun

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • This Brave New World synopsis, comments

    This Brave New World

    Anja Manuel

    “By turns alarming and encouraging…Manuel delineates with clarity [why] the US must attend closely to…harmonious future relations with China and India” (Kirkus Reviews) and why our...

  • The Life of Robert Burns synopsis, comments

    The Life of Robert Burns

    Catherine Carswell

    This classic and controversial biography of Scotland’s National Bard offers an unvarnished chronicle of the 18th century poet’s life. First published in 1930 to an unprecedented st...

  • The Poems synopsis, comments

    The Poems

    Catullus

    One of the most versatile of Roman poets, Catullus wrote verse of an almost unparalleled diversity and stylistic agility, from the brevity of the epigram to the sustained elegance ...

  • Robert Burns, A Very Peculiar History synopsis, comments

    Robert Burns, A Very Peculiar History

    Fiona Macdonald

    Taking a unique look at one of the world's most acclaimed and bestloved poets, 'Robert Burns, A Very Peculiar History' provides a fascinating insight into the life and times of Sco...