News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns was born on the 25th of January 1759, and the 25th of January every year is now celebrated as Robert Burns Day. Traditionally marked with a Burns supper, enthusiastic Burns Clubs all over the world will be celebrating tonight with a good measure of whisky.

The son of a tenant farmer in Ayrshire and a pre-Romantic poet, Robert Burns is a cultural icon in Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora around the world for his poetry and songs in both English and the Scots language (not Gaelic). An interesting New Zealand connection, is that his nephew – Thomas Burns – immigrated to New Zealand and was a prominent religious leader in the early settlement of Otago. There are many memorials to Robert Burns all over the world, and if you’ve visited Dunedin you will have seen the statue of Robert Burns in the Octagon that commemorates him there.

In lieu of celebrating with the more traditional haggis and whisky, we thought we’d collect together some books and web links to commemorate the Ploughman Poet. Enjoy!

Robert Burns / selected by Donald A. Low.
“Let other poets raise a fracas ‘Bout vines, an’ wines, an’ drucken Bacchus, An’ crabbit names an’ stories wrack us, An’ grate our lug: In glass or jug.–from “Scotch Drink”. Robert Burns, the son of a tenant farmer in Ayshire, Scotland, endured great hardship before emerging as a poet and songwriter in his native dialect, as well as in English. This “Bard of Scotland” caught the spirit of his country, as these 23 verses and songs so vividly show. Though his works frequently focused on two of his greatest pleasures–women and Scotch–he also found inspiration in local subjects. His “Tam O’Shanter” is one of the finest examples of narrative verse ever written: it vividly evokes the Scottish landscape and weather, the native inns and native folk, all while telling a compelling, almost supernatural story of the drunken Tam. From “The Twa Dogs” to “Death and Doctor Hornbook,” this colorful collection is a pure delight.” (Syndetics summary)

The bard : Robert Burns, a biography / Robert Crawford.
“Biographies of Burns are as plentiful as hangovers after Burns Suppers, and some of them are equally unrewarding. But this one is genuinely useful. Evenhanded and earnest, it isn’t the raciest version of Burns’s high-octane career: Those who want a simplified story can look elsewhere. But The Bard, while approachable and concise, sets a new standard for scholarly readings of Burns’s life. This biography is enlightening and entertaining, a good read in a gray month.” (Amazon.co.uk)

Dirt & deity : a life of Robert Burns / Ian McIntyre.
“July 21, 1996, is the 200th anniversary of the death of Scotland’s great national poet, Robert Burns, which is reason enough to bring McIntyre’s exhaustively documented–indeed, for all practical purposes, documentary–biography, first published in England last year, to America. But besides marking the occasion, the book has strong virtues to commend it, too. McIntyre strives mightily to tell the facts about Burns; to that end, he constructs a fabric made up of excerpts from letters, recollections of those who knew Burns, occasional public records, and the testimony of Burns’ poems. He stitches these materials together with clear, precise prose, concisely sketching Burns’ historical and cultural milieu as he proceeds; and he refrains from speculating about cloudy details in Burns’ life or interpreting Burns’ works. He doesn’t coddle old legends or foster new ones but reinforces the familiar image of Burns as a sparkling conversationalist, something of a rake (as were several friends), and, unfortunately for his longevity (he died at 37), rather a boozer–and, supremely, what Jews call a mensch, for a’ that.” (Booklist)

Rhymer Rab : an anthology of poems and prose / Robert Burns ; edited by Alan Bold.
“The poems and songs of Robert Burns are known throughout the world, yet many people are unaware of the wealth of writing of all kinds which he left at his death in 1796. This is a collection of verse and prose which gives insights into Burns’s complex and contradictory character. It includes some of his most revealing letters, ranging from formal appeals to potential patrons, to bawdy accounts of sexual conquests; from the elevated passion of the “Clarinda” letters to the touching domesticity of notes to his wife and family; and from fiery political satire to poignant pleas sent in the final days of his life. Here also are extracts from commonplace books, passages from travel journals and other significant pieces, including the complete text of the Autobiographical Letter, Burns’s only extended account of his meteoric rise to fame.” (Amazon.co.uk)

From our databases:

• Burns, Robert (1759-1796). Accessed via Gale Biography In Context.

Website Links:

• Index of Robert Burns’ Poems with English translations (Via the World Burns Club)
• BBC audio archive of 716 works by Robert Burns (created to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2009)