Burns’ poetry may be regarded as a treasury of all that is best in Scottish songs.
Robert Burns is very popular in Russia.
We admire the plain Scottish peasant who became one of the world’s greatest poets.
His father, William Burns, was a poor farmer. Poor as he was, he tried to give his son the best education he could afford. Robert was sent to school at the age of six, but as his father could not pay for his two sons, Robert and his brother Gilbert attended school in turn.
He strained his heart, he suffered from severe attacks of rheumatic fever.
The school was closed some months after the boys had begun attending it, and William Burns together with his neighbours invited a clever young man, Murdoch by name, to teach their children languages and grammar.
The ploughing was profitless. In 1784, worn out, exhausted and burdened with debts, Burns’ father died. After his death the family moved to Mossgiel where Robert and Gilbert managed to rent a farm. The young men worked hard, but the land gave poor crops and the affairs of the family went from bad to worse.
There was no way for a poor peasant in Scotland, so Burns decided to sail to Jamaica, in the hope of obtaining a job on some sugar plantation. To raise the passage money, Robert published some of his poems in 1786.
The letter changed his life. He accepted the invitation, went to Edinburgh and was welcomed there as one of the “wonders of the world”. A new and enlarged edition of his poems was the result. He toured Scotland as “Caledonia’s Bard”.
The job was extremely hard: the poet had to cover long distances on horseback in any weather. However, he continued his literary work.
Hard work undermined Burns’ health. He died in poverty at the age of thirty-seven, haunted by the shadow of the debtors’ prison. Burns was mourned by all the honest people of the country.
The common Scottish people whom he had loved and for whom he had written his poems and songs, raised enough money by subscription to provide his widow with sustenance for the rest of her life and give all his children an education.
Since the death of Robert Burns, all visitors to Dumfries pay homage to the poet by visiting his burial-place.
O, my Love's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Love's like a melody
That's sweetly played in tune.
As fair as thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till all the seas go dry.
Till all the seas go dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt with the sun:
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands of life shall run:
And fare thee well, my only love!
And fare thee well, a while!
And I will come again, my love,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
People sing the song “Auld Lang Syne” on the last day of the year.
They sing it, holding one another’s hands.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.
And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
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