The Poetry of Robert Burns

by Robert Burns

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Scotland, Fiction, Literature, British Literature, Romanticism

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1801

About the author

Robert Burns (also known as Robin) was a Scottish poet and a 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. He also wrote in English and a "light" Scots, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism. 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.

As well as making original compositions, Burns collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and Scots Wha Hae has served as an unofficial national anthem. 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.

Reviews

[notgettingenough · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thing I don't understand about the people who analyse Plath's poems in terms of the tawdry details of her life - 'She wrote this one after Ted put his dick in what's her name' - is that it demeans the nature of the relationship. Plath's poetry isn't a never-ending series of reactions to whose vagina her husband's penis is in today. Her poetry is, if you like, her contribution to the never-ending discussion of the meaning of life. I don't see that it is being interpreted the right way if we take some microscope to it and her.

Same here. Look at this rather lovely poem:

continued on my blog

[Manny]

To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough

Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An' fellow mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request;
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't.

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's win's ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.

That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turned out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yea I’m just not educated enough to understand most of this

[Anant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charismatic poet whose every creation was full of reality and gift of nature.

[Simon Robs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abe Lincoln's fav. poet!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Yes, it’s a struggle to read Burn’s dialectic poems but I realized how shallow my introduction to Burn’s was in high school and college. His writings are much more than “Wee, sleekit, cowerin’, tim’rous beastie”. By turns funny, sarcastic, indignant, Burns wrote poems about class inequality, arrogance of clerics and the wealthy, rural life. My god, the man wrote poetry for proposed legislative bills before Parliament. And of humorous sorrow upon the death of a sheep. What’s not to like?

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those readings that makes me so glad to be studying my degree in Scotland. A huge layer of my appreciation for this work was built by my current understanding of Scots as a language, and the significance of Burns in shaping Scottish national identity - contexts I had no familiarity with until being here. This was by no means an easy read, found myself just not understanding ANYTHING at some points but after labouring through the translations, it really was just so fulfilling. Burns is quite brilliant in what he achieves with his poetry. His writing is wholly vibrant and energetic, suiting performance perfectly- watching and listening to Tam o'Shanter and To a Haggis definitely added a new level of enjoyment. Totally understand why Burns is such a big deal, loved the challenge and was definitely very fulfilled by it.
On another note I am now ashamed that I did not go for any Burns night events but I shall do better.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

As my good fortune would have it, I stumbled upon this great poet as I walked through George's Square in Glasgow and perused the statues and the names attached to them, the tallest and most central statue being of Robert Burns, of course. Some featured on other statues I'd heard of previously, James Watt and Sir Walter Scott, but who was this poet whose stature seemingly dwarfed them all to the Scots themselves?

A little research showed that he is the National Bard, and such titles always make me apprehensive as most supposed national poets I've read disappoint in conveying much of the national x,y, or z in their works, at least, to an outlander such as myself they often fail to catch us before we slip out of the rye that is national character contained in their works. The last part of that sentence is trash, it's an attempt to show that maybe I am misinterpreting them like Holden Caulfield misinterpreted Burns. Many apologies, most of them to Burns for mentioning that obnoxious brat in the same... Anyway, it took some time, roughly 10 years, to work up to reading Burns. Ten years where I'd see or hear him referenced in other works more often then you'd rightly expect someone who isn't Tolstoy or Dante to be referenced...

Contrary to a' that, Burns paints with a brush dripping in Scotland's landscapes and ruins, the Scottish people from the lowest to the highest ranks, her history, her auld drink, her cuisine, her politics, her vermin, her heroes, her vanities, her pets, her monsters and legends, her ancient feuds and most hated enemies, etc, and the canvas that the paint drips onto is, in my estimation (for what little it is worth), a vivid portrait of Scotland, at least as vivid as any national poet has ever painted, and I'm willing to include all the national poets I haven't read (a vast majority) in this recklessly bold claim; but Burns' writing also has a great charm in it's use of Scots dialect along with English. There's something of a mix of James Joyce and drunk Scottish twitter uses in some of the lines that pop out. That is, however, just a novel benefit of reading Burns. The real benefits are the literary merit, the excuse to drink that single malt Scotch, the nostalgia for Caledonia, and the intensity of feeling for even a mouse, even a louse, that the great writer gives. The Twa Dogs is my personal favorite of the poems I read.

[John Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't class Burns as a "great poet" but he's certainly an able poet and a very likeable old chap to boot. I don't think you will get a great deal out of reading his poems, but his company is pleasant enough.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone really, but I didn't dislike it either.

In conclusion: bluh.

[Mike Lemon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Burns is a good poet, but it is hard for me, the reader, to get into the Scottish lyrics.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes all of Robert Burns' poems and songs including those that were discovered fragemented or only partly written. I'm not brilliant when it comes to poetry so can't comment on how well written these are but there are plenty to chose from, all with a different feel and purpose so there is something for everyone. I even found a few that I enjoyed, although the one entitled Halloween was not what I thought it would be. As well as these, it also provides a relatively detailed look at Burns' life from birth to death, following his travels and life around Scotland in what is now referred to as Burns Country. These sections are well written and provide an excellent insight into the poet's life giving context to his work and how it changed as his circumstances did.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poems about nature and wildlife are awesome. The poems about political figures of Burns's time and place are [mostly] lost on me. The poems about how much fun it is to have flings with women, coupled with the ones about how nagging wives who try to ruin their husbands' drunken, adulterous fun should be violently put in their place, have not aged well and are pretty darned disgusting.
If I'd only read Burns's nature poetry, I'd probably think he was fantastic. Unfortunately, most of these poems were NOT about nature, and the fact that someone who clearly was not in favor of women's rights wrote some of the poems from a woman's point of view really left a bad taste in my mouth.
Overall, I'm glad to be done with the book and beyond chuffed to be moving on to other things.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burns is perhaps the greatest lyrical poet to have lived.

This collection gathers an unnecessary portion of his work. Not all of it is memorable, or good. But is fair enough for someone seeking his complete works, and underlines the breadth of his career, which was short.

Love songs stir the soul with sadness and beauty. He knew how to tug at those strings.

My favourite section of any poem (though contested) is by Burns:

'Me nae' cheerful, twinkle lights me... Dark despair around benights me'.

Pure joy.

[Jen Well-Steered · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's how I approached this book: I picked out the poems that are famous or with interesting titles. Then I'd google the title and read the analysis of it. Then I'd look it up on YouTube. Fortunately because of Burns night, there are a lot of videos of people reciting his poems. Then I'd listen to the poem with the book open in front of me. This way I got about 80% of the ones written in 18th century Scots dialect. I'd do that for 20-30 minutes per day, and probably skipped half the book because otherwise I'd have spent the whole year on this.

[Jacob Cronin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the meter of Burns' poetry, but the language was hard to get through. I think the old scotish was too much for my mind to overcome at certain times and as such, I wasn't able to fully enjoy the poetry or understand all of it. In the end, despite the language barrier, I enjoyed most of the poems in this book more than any other poetry book I've read this year, so thank you to Robert Burns for that.

[Lucius Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry for all kinds of weather, celebrated as Scotlands national poet his works inspire great emotion and thoughtfullness on all matters of nature. His poetry ranges from the tender and romantic, as seen in "A Red, Red Rose," to the politically charged and satirical, exemplified by "A Man's a Man for A' That." Burns' use of Scots dialect lends authenticity and a distinct voice to his work, resonating deeply with readers both within and beyond Scotland.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scotland's Own Bard, a truly sterling author with a love of life, a progressive mentality and a sense of humour to boot. It's a shame that his writings get relegated to one measly holiday every year (not counting New Year's for Auld Lang Syne) since he is a refreshing and jovial author, essential for any lover of poetry and for the spirit of the Romantic movement.

[Keradwen Sweeten · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Scottish lass, I can only give Robert 5 stars. I grew up listening to verse and song and celebrating with Haggis every January. I've been reading this one or two poems a day since August and forgot to mark progress. It takes a while when you're not used to reading Scottish writing.

Overall, I enjoyed this collection.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished this book of poems. Robert Burns definitely had a strong voice as the Bard. His poems and songs rang true then and continue to ring true today. Ones you know and ones you don't. I really enjoyed this collection.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Scottish woman, part of our required reading at school was Robert Burns. I must admit when I was younger, I found the language quite difficult. However, I have grown to love the works and have gone on to sing many of his songs. I would recommend anyone to have a read at his works.

[Jonathan Davenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect blend of 'write about what you know about' and 'tell a story with your descriptive imagery'. Loved walking the Brig O' Doon, following the path of Tam O' Shanter, wandering through the church graveyard by his childhood house and the field where he plowed up the mouse.

[Alan Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

lmao @

“Lament him, Mauchline husbands a’,
He aften did assist ye;
For had ye staid hale weeks awa,
Your wives they ne’er had miss’d ye.

Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press
To school in bands thegither,
O tread ye lightly on his grass,
Perhaps he was your father!”

[Trevor Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a selection of these poems while travelling in the Burns country of Scotland.

[Marius CEO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me by surprise completely.

A gem of a collection.

Burns is witty, quirky and even hilarious at times.

[Elita M Zizlane C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful ❤

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Gunnyon is my 3rd great grandfather on my maternal side. It is thrilling to see his books still in print

[Poli]

read: - “Corn Rigs an’ Barley Rigs”, “Green Grow the Rashes”, “A Red, Red Rose”, “Scots, Whae Hae”, and “Auld Lang Syne” 25.01

[Shulamith Farhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh no, we won. Stay hidden.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every few years, I come back to these works. Every time they speak to me.

[Kayla Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where kilts meets quills