Bronze Statue Sculpture of Scottish Poet Robert Burns in The Birks of Aberfeldy Moness Perthshire
Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, January 25, 1759. He was the eldest of seven children born to William Burness, a struggling tenant farmer, and his wife, Agnes Broun. Although poverty limited his formal education, Burns read widely in English literature and the Bible and learned to read French. He was encouraged in his self-education by his father, and his mother acquainted him with Scottish folk songs, legends, and proverbs. Arduous farm work and undernourishment in his youth permanently injured his health, leading to the rheumatic heart disease from which he eventually died. He went in 1781 to Irvine to learn flax dressing, but when the shop burned down, he returned home penniless. He had, meanwhile, composed his first poems. The poet's father died in 1784, leaving him as head of the family. He and his brother Gilbert rented Mossgiel Farm, near Mauchline, but the venture proved a failure. In 1784 Burns read the works of the Edinburgh poet Robert Fergusson. Under his influence and that of Scottish folk tradition and older Scottish poetry, he became aware of the literary possibilities of the Scottish regional dialects. During the next two years he produced most of his best-known poems, including "The Cotter's Saturday Night," "Hallowe'en," "To a Daisy," and "To a Mouse." In addition, he wrote "The Jolly Beggars," a cantata chiefly in standard English, which is considered one of his masterpieces. Several of his early poems, notably "Holy Willie's Prayer," satirized local ecclesiastical squabbles and attacked Calvinist theology, bringing him into conflict with the church. Burns touched with his own genius the traditional folk songs of Scotland, transmuting them into great poetry, and he immortalized its countryside and humble farm life. He was a keen and discerning satirist who reserved his sharpest barbs for sham, hypocrisy, and cruelty. His satirical verse, once little appreciated, has in recent decades been recognized widely as his finest work.
Size: 3573px × 5380px
Location: The Birks of Aberfeldy Moness Tayside Perthshire Scotland
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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