National holiday
Robert Burns is a truly unique poet. There are few countries in which there is a writer whose birthday has been celebrated according to a pre-established procedure for more than two centuries.
January 25 is a real national holiday in Scotland, which is remembered by all its residents. On this day, it is customary to set a rich table made up of dishes that the poet sang in his works. First of all, it is a rich pudding called haggis. It is prepared from lamb offal (liver, heart and lungs), mixed with lard, onions, salt and all kinds of seasonings, and then boiled in a lamb stomach.
According to ancient tradition, it is customary to bring these dishes into the room accompanied by Scottish bagpipes, and before starting the feast, one should read the poems of Burns himself. For example, “Zazdravny Toast”, known in Russia as translated by Samuil Marshak, or “Ode to Scottish Haggis Pudding”. On this day, the poet’s name day is celebrated by admirers of his work around the world.
Childhood and youth
Robert Burns was born in 1759. He was born in a small Scottish village called Alloway, which is located just three kilometers from the town of Ayr in Ayrshire. His father was a peasant named William.
In 1760, William Burns rented a farm, introducing Robert and his brother to hard physical labor from an early age. They did almost all the dirty and hard work themselves. At that time, the family did not live well, there were always problems with money, and at times there was even nothing to eat. Due to the fact that Robert Burns often went hungry as a child, this negatively affected his health in the future. He constantly had problems with his health.
In between work, Robert Burns literally voraciously read all the books in a row. Literally everything he could get his hands on in his small village.
As a rule, these were inexpensive brochures with a simple plot and content. But it was thanks to them, as well as the knowledge that his mother and servants passed on to him, that the hero of our article became acquainted with traditional Scottish folklore. In the future, it became an important part of his life and was reflected in most of Robert Burns' books. He wrote his first poems in 1774.
Moving
An important new stage in the biography of Robert Burns is the move to a farm called Lochley, which took place in 1777, when he was 18 years old.
Here he found many like-minded people who, like Burns himself, were interested in literature, Scottish history and folklore. As a result, he becomes the organizer of the Bachelors Club.
In 1781, Robert Burns came under the influence of the Freemasons. This fact has a serious impact on all his subsequent works, and on his creative style itself.
Popularity
The hero of our article becomes popular in his homeland in Scotland after the publication of two satirical poems entitled “The Two Shepherds” and “The Prayer of Saint Willie.” These books by Robert Burns are published in 1784 and 1785 respectively.
But what makes him truly famous as a writer is his “Poems written primarily in the Scottish dialect.” This collection was published in 1786.
The next year he comes to Edinburgh, where he quickly becomes a welcome guest in high society. Robert Burns's poems are valued in aristocratic circles, so he immediately has influential patrons. The hero of our article himself soon becomes the owner of the unofficial status of “Bard of Caledonia.” His name is assigned by the Masonic Grand Lodge.
Since 1783, Burns has written many of his works in the Ayshire dialect. And in 1784 his father died. The hero of our article, together with his brother, are trying to manage the farm together, taking care of the affairs of the farm, but after several unsuccessful attempts they leave it.
By this period of creativity, which can be called the initial period, such famous poems by Robert Burns as “John Barleycorn”, “Holy Fair”, “The Prayer of Holy Willie” were published. His fame spreads throughout the country.
It is interesting how the German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe assessed its popularity. Goethe emphasized that the greatness of Burns lies in the fact that the old ancestors of his native people always lived in the mouths of all his relatives. It was in them that he found a living foundation, relying on which he was able to advance so far. In addition, his own songs immediately found fertile ears among his own people, as they often sounded from the lips of sheaf binders and reapers who walked towards him.
Biography
Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759 in the village of Alloway (Ayrshire), into a peasant family. In 1765, his father leased the Mount Oliphant farm, and the boy had to work like adults, enduring hunger and other hardships. From 1783, Robert began to compose poetry in the Ayshire dialect. In 1784, his father died, and after a number of unsuccessful attempts to engage in agriculture, Robert and his brother Gilbert moved to Mossgiel. In 1786, Burns's first book, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect, was published. The initial period of creativity also includes: “John Barleycorn” (John Barleycorn, I782), “The Jolly Beggars” (“The Jolly Beggars”, 1785), “Holy Willie's Prayer”, “Holy Fair” (“The Holy Fair”, 1786). The poet quickly becomes known throughout Scotland.
About the origins of Burns’s popularity, I. Goethe noted:
Let's take Burns. Isn’t it because he is great because the old songs of his ancestors lived in the mouths of the people, because they sang them to him, so to speak, back when he was in the cradle, because as a boy he grew up among them and became close to the high perfection of these samples that he found do they have that living foundation, based on which you could go further? And also, is it not because he is great that his own songs immediately found receptive ears among his people, that they then sounded towards him from the lips of the reapers and sheaf binders, that they were used to greet his cheerful comrades in the tavern? Something really could have worked out here. Johann Peter Eckermann. Gespräche mit Goethe in den letzten Jahren seines Lebens. Leipzig, 1827.
In 1787, Burns moved to Edinburgh and became a member of the capital's high society. In Edinburgh, Burns met the popularizer of Scottish folklore James Johnson, with whom they began publishing the collection “The Scot's Musical Museum”. In this publication, the poet published many Scottish ballads in his own adaptation and his own works.
Published books bring Burns a certain income. He tried to invest the money he earned in renting a farm, but only lost his small capital. The main source of livelihood since 1791 was work as a tax collector in Damphies.
Robert Burns led a fairly free lifestyle and had three illegitimate daughters from casual and short-lived relationships. In 1787, he married his longtime lover Jean Amour. In this family he had five children.
In the period 1787-1794, the famous poems "Tarn o'Shanter" (1790) and "Honest Poverty" ("For A'That and A'That", 1795), "Ode dedicated to the memory" were created Mrs. Oswald" (“Ode, sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald”, 1789).
In essence, Burns was forced to engage in poetry in between his main work. He spent his last years in poverty and a week before his death he almost fell into debt.
Burns died on 21 July 1796 in Dumfries. He was only 37 years old. According to biographers of the 19th century, one of the reasons for Burns’ sudden death was excessive drinking. Historians of the 20th century are inclined to believe that Burns died from the consequences of hard physical labor in his youth and congenital rheumatic carditis, which in 1796 was aggravated by diphtheria suffered by Burns.
Main dates of the poet's life
- 25 January 1759 birth of Robert Burns
- 1765 Robert and his brother enter school
- 1766 move to Mount Oliphant Farm
- 1773 Robert writes his first poems
- 1777 move to Lochley Farm
- 1784 father's death, move to Mossgiel
- 1785 Robert meets Jean, “The Jolly Beggars”, “The Field Mice” and many other poems are written
- 1786 Burns transfers rights to Mossgiel farm to brother; birth of twins; trip to Edinburgh
- 1787 reception of the poet into the Grand Lodge of Scotland; the first Edinburgh edition of the poems is published; trips around Scotland
- 1789 excise job
- 1792 appointment to port inspection
- 1793 second Edinburgh edition of poems in two volumes
- December 1795 Burns's serious illness
- 21 July 1796 death of Robert Burns
- July 25, 1796 funeral, on the same day Burns' fifth son, Maxwell, was born
Life in Edinburgh
Since 1787, Burns began to live permanently in Edinburgh. Here he meets national music fan James Johnson. Together they begin to publish a collection, which they give the name “Scottish Music Museum”. The hero of our article remains its editor almost until the end of his life.
Together with Johnson, they are promoting Scottish folklore. This publication publishes a large number of ballads arranged by Burns himself, as well as his own original works.
They collected texts and melodies by any means from all kinds of sources, and if some lines turned out to be irretrievably lost or too frivolous, Robert Burns, a famous poet of his time, replaced them with his own. Moreover, he did it so skillfully that it was simply impossible to distinguish them from folk ones.
He also paid attention to the release of the collection "A Select Collection of Original Scottish Tunes".
All these books brought a good income to Burns himself and his companion Johnson. True, as soon as the hero of our article had his first small capital, he invested all of it in renting a farm, but as a result he completely went bankrupt. In 1789, he finally abandoned attempts to establish his own business.
In 1790, having connected his own connections, of which he had accumulated quite a few by that time, Burns got a job as an exciseman in a rural area. Within a few months, he was transferred to Dumfries for his diligent service, and his salary became the poet’s main source of income for the coming years.
Due to his busy schedule, he could not devote as much time to poetry as he would have liked. Robert Burns's poems began to appear much less frequently. His poems “Honest Poverty”, “Tam o' Shanter”, as well as “Ode to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald” can be attributed to this period. In 1793, Robert Burns published his best works for the second time in two volumes.
In 1789 he wrote a famous poem dedicated to John Anderson. In it, the author, who is only 30 years old, begins to reflect on the prospect of death, the end of life’s journey, which surprises his researchers, and his contemporaries reacted to this with bewilderment.
From the biography of Robert Burns (1759-1790)
Robert Burns was the son of a poor farmer. In the Scottish village of Alloway, there is still a clay house with a thatched roof where Robert Burns, the eldest of seven children of a Scottish farmer, was born on January 25, 1759.
Burns House He did not receive a systematic education - he studied in fits and starts, and spent most of his time on the farm, helping his father. His father knew letters and had a small library in his house. He was the first teacher of his talented son. The village teacher, a friend of his father, also noticed the boy’s talent and contributed to his development. And then there was a path of self-education. Since childhood, Robert Burns loved folk songs and ballads and always composed himself, even at work. What is the secret of such a long popularity of his work? The secret of the charm of his poetry is in the amazing combination of richness of thoughts, feelings and simplicity. His poetry reflected the thoughts and aspirations of ordinary people, the desire for freedom and independence of the enslaved people (in his case, the English bourgeoisie and landlords, i.e. landowners):
Our honor commands us to sweep away the Oppressors from the path and gain Death or freedom in battle!
(Translation by S. Marshak)
The first poem, “Beautiful Nelly,” was dedicated to his first love; he wrote it at the age of 15. Then other songs appeared. His friends liked them, they were picked up and remembered. By subscription of such admirers, a small book of his poems, “The Kilmarnock Volume,” was published in 1786. The young poet was invited to Edinburgh, where he spent about 2 years. But in “high society” Burns was looked at as a curiosity; he aroused only condescending curiosity. Staying there did nothing for the young man’s material or mental state; on the contrary, he became personally convinced of the hypocrisy, callousness, and depravity of this “high society” and in “Stances on Nothing” he called those he encountered in Edinburgh nonentities. They are indifferent to the aspirations of ordinary people, they flatter, strive for rank and wealth. For Burns, others are closer - those who live by their own labor, but retain the concepts of honor, humanity, and decency.
R. Burns “Honest Poverty”
He who is ashamed of his honest poverty and everything else is the most pitiful of people, a cowardly slave and so on.
With all this, With all this, Even though you and I are poor, Wealth is a stamp on gold, And gold is us ourselves!
We eat bread and drink water, We cover ourselves with rags and all that jazz, and meanwhile the fool and the rogue are dressed in silk and drink wine and all that jazz.
For all that, For all that, Judge not by the dress. Those who feed themselves by honest labor, I call such people nobility.
This jester is a natural lord. We must bow to him. But let him be prim and proud, A log will remain a log!
With all this, With all this, Even though he is all in braids, - A log will remain a log And in orders and in ribbons!
The king will appoint his lackey as a general, But he cannot appoint anyone as an honest fellow.
For all that, For all that, Awards, flattery and so on do not replace intelligence and honor And all that stuff
The day will come and the hour will strike, When it will be the turn of mind and honor Throughout the entire earth to stand in first place.
With all this, With all this, I can predict for you, That there will be a day when all people around will become brothers!
(Translation by S.Ya. Marshak)
Charles Hardy “Meeting of Robert Burns and Walter Scott (then still a teenager) in 1787 at Abbotsford House (1893) The main characters of his poems are ordinary people: a ploughman, a blacksmith, a coal miner, a shepherd, a soldier. His hero is kind and courageous; he treats his beloved tenderly and boldly goes to fight for freedom. Of course, with such priorities, Burns could not find a common language with the bourgeois society of his time.
Ellisland Farm. The poet Robert Burns farmed here between 1788 and 1791, when he moved to Dumfries. The farm is now run as a museum by the voluntary body Friends of Ellisland. Burns returned to his farm, and when he learned of the outbreak of revolution in France, he bought a cannon with his meager savings and sent it as a gift to French patriots. Burns worked hard, but was never able to escape poverty. He did not write for the sake of earning money, because... believed that an artist should listen only to his heart, and his heart belonged to the poor Scottish people. Burns died at the age of 37 in 1790, but left his homeland and the world many wonderful and truthful poems and songs.
His poetry is cheerful, no matter what. Sometimes traits of mischief appear in her, she is full of jokes and subtle wit.
His life and work are inseparable from peasant labor and everyday life, which is why he was a people's poet: he wrote for the people, told them the truth about modern reality, exalted their moral qualities, and called on them to fight for freedom and happiness. But Burns was a man of progressive views. He adopted the ideas of educational philosophy and defended the ideals of freedom and equality.
Personal life
Speaking about the personal life of the hero of our article, it is worth noting that Burns led a very free lifestyle. He had three illegitimate daughters at once, who were born as a result of short-lived and casual relationships.
Robert Burns's wife's name was Jean Armor. She was his longtime lover, he had been courting her for several years. In total, five children were born to the happy parents.
All this time, Burns had to practice poetry virtually in between his main job, which was vital for him to support his family.
At the same time, he had very good prospects for moving up the career ladder. But his poor health did not allow him to achieve success in the service.
At the end of life
Moreover, the last years of his life, even despite such diligence, he spent in poverty and deprivation. Moreover, a week before his death he almost ended up in debtor's prison.
The poet died in July 1796 in Dumfries, where he went on official business for two weeks. It is known that at that time he was already sick, felt very bad, but still had to go to settle all matters. At that time he was only 37 years old.
Burns' authoritative biographer James Currie suggests that one of the reasons for his sudden death was alcohol abuse. But modern researchers believe that Curry himself may not have been completely objective, since he was in a temperance society, perhaps in this way he wanted to once again convince the public of the dangers of drinking alcohol.
A more convincing version is that Burns died from a whole range of problems. They were caused by backbreaking physical labor since childhood, which actually undermined his health. Chronic rheumatic carditis, which he suffered for many years, most likely since childhood, also played a role. In 1796, his condition worsened significantly after he contracted diphtheria.
On the day of the Scottish poet's funeral, his wife Jean Armor gave birth to their fifth child. The work of Robert Burns received the highest appreciation not only in his homeland, but also far beyond its borders. His work was distinguished by emotional, lively and expressive poetry. His works have been translated into dozens of languages, including Russian, and his ballads formed the basis for a large number of songs.
Date and cause of death of the poet
Robert Burns died in the summer of 1796.
Official business forced the writer to make a trip to Dumfries. Before leaving, Burns feels unwell. Two weeks after arriving in Dumfries, Robert dies. According to researcher of the life of the poet James Curry, the cause of death was alcohol abuse. Modern biographers tend to consider the temperance activist Curry's point of view exaggerated.
Without a doubt, the writer’s health was shaken by heavy physical labor from childhood, chronic rheumatic heart disease and diphtheria suffered in 1796. The Scottish Archives contains an interesting document in which the last days of Burns' life are mentioned. This is a letter from the poet's employer to the head of excise taxes. It talks about the painful condition of a writer who went on a business trip to raise funds for his salary.
Features of the language
Stories about Robert Burns always focus on his unique language, which immediately sets him apart from most other poets. It is worth noting that he received his basic education at a rural school, but his teacher was John Murdoch, a man with a university diploma.
At the time when the poet’s fame flourished, his native Scotland was at the peak of national revival and was considered one of the most cultural corners of Europe at that time. For example, on the territory of this small state there were five universities at once.
Murdoch did a lot to ensure that Burns received a comprehensive education; he saw that before him was the most talented of his students. In particular, they paid great attention to poetry, especially to the outstanding representative of British classicism of the 18th century, Alexander Pope.
Surviving manuscripts indicate that Burns had an impeccable command of literary English. In particular, “Sonnet to a Blackbird”, “The Villager’s Saturday Evening” and some of his other works were written on it.
In many of his other texts, he actively used the Scots language, which was considered at that time one of the dialects of English. This was his conscious choice, which was declared in the title of the first collection - “Poems Mainly in the Scottish Dialect.”
Initially, many of his works were specifically created as songs. It was not difficult, since the texts were musical and rhythmic. Russian composers, including Georgy Sviridov and Dmitry Shostakovich, also created musical works.
Burns' songs are often used in films, including domestic ones. For example, the romance “Love and Poverty” is heard in Viktor Titov’s musical comedy “Hello, I’m your aunt!” performed by Alexander Kalyagin, in Eldar Ryazanov’s lyrical comedy “Office Romance” the song “There is no peace for my soul” is performed by Alisa Freindlikh, and from the lips of Olga Yaroshevskaya we hear the composition “Love is like a red rose” in Pavel Lyubimov’s school melodrama “School Waltz”.
BURNS, ROBERT
BURNS, ROBERT
(Burns, Robert) (1759–1796), Scottish poet.
Born on January 25, 1759 in Alloway (County Ayr) in the family of gardener and tenant farmer William Burns. Robert and his brother Gilbert attended school for two years. In 1765, his father leased the Mount Oliphant farm, and Robert worked as an adult laborer from the age of 12, was malnourished and had a strained heart. He read everything he could get his hands on, from penny pamphlets to Shakespeare and Milton. At school he heard only English, but from his mother and old servants and from the same brochures he became familiar with the language of Scottish ballads, songs and fairy tales. Also on topic:
SCOTLAND
In 1777, his father moved to Lochley Farm near Tarbolton, and a new life began for Robert. In Tarbolton he found a company he liked and soon became its leader. In 1780, Burns and his friends organized a cheerful "Bachelors' Club", and in 1781 he joined the Masonic lodge. On February 13, 1784, his father died, and with the money left behind, Robert and Gilbert moved the family to the Mossgiel farm near Mauchlin. Even earlier, in 1783, Robert began to write down his youthful poems and rather stilted prose in a notebook. A relationship with the maid Betty Peyton led to the birth of his daughter on May 22, 1785. Local clergy took advantage of the opportunity and imposed penance on Burns for fornication, but this did not stop the laity from laughing when reading the lists of the Holy Fair
and
Holy Willie's Prayer
.
At the beginning of 1784, Burns discovered the poetry of R. Fergusson and realized that the Scottish language was by no means a barbaric and dying dialect and was capable of conveying any poetic shade - from salty satire to lyrical delight. He developed the traditions of Fergusson, especially in the genre of the aphoristic epigram. By 1785 Burns had already gained some fame as the author of colorful friendly messages, dramatic monologues and satires.
Also on topic:
POETRY (CLUB)
In 1785, Burns fell in love with Jean Armor (1765–1854), the daughter of the Mauchlin contractor J. Armor. Burns gave her a written “undertaking” - a document that, according to Scottish law, certified an actual, albeit illegal, marriage. However, Burns's reputation was so bad that Armor broke the "engagement" in April 1786 and refused to take the poet as his son-in-law. Even before this humiliation, Burns decided to emigrate to Jamaica. It is not true that he published his poems to earn money for the trip - the idea of this publication came to him later. printed in Kilmarnock, predominantly in the Scottish dialect
(
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
) went on sale on August 1, 1786. Half of the edition of 600 copies was sold by subscription, the rest was sold in a few weeks. Fame came to Burns almost overnight. Noble gentlemen opened the doors of their mansions to him. Armor dropped the claim and Betty Peyton was paid off with 20 pounds. On September 3, 1786, Jean gave birth to twins.
The local nobility advised Burns to forget about emigration, go to Edinburgh and announce a nationwide subscription. He arrived in the capital on November 29 and, with the assistance of J. Cunningham and others, concluded an agreement with the publisher W. Creech on December 14. During the winter season, Burns was in great demand in secular society. He was patronized by the "Caledonian Hunters", members of an influential club for the elite; At a meeting of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Scotland he was proclaimed "Bard of Caledonia". Edinburgh Edition of Poems
(published April 21, 1787) attracted about three thousand subscribers and brought Burns about 500 pounds, including one hundred guineas, for which he, having listened to bad advice, ceded the copyright to Creech. About half of the proceeds went to help Gilbert and his family in Mossgiel.
Before leaving Edinburgh in May, Burns met J. Johnson, a semi-literate engraver and fanatical lover of Scottish music, who had recently published the first edition of The Scots Musical Museum. From the autumn of 1787 until the end of his life, Burns was actually the editor of this publication: he collected texts and melodies, supplemented the surviving passages with stanzas of his own composition, and replaced lost or obscene texts with his own. He was so successful in this that without documented evidence it is often impossible to establish which are the folk texts and which are the Burns texts. For the “Museum”, and after 1792 for the more refined, but less vibrant “Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs” (1793–1805) by J. Thomson, he wrote more than three hundred texts, each with its own motive.
Burns returned triumphantly to Mochlin on July 8, 1787. Six months of glory did not turn his head, but they changed the attitude towards him in the village. The Armors welcomed him, and he resumed his relationship with Jean. But Edinburgh maid Peggy Cameron, who gave birth to Burns's child, sued him, and he returned to Edinburgh.
There, on December 4, he met an educated married lady, Agnes Craig M'Lehuz. Three days later he sprained his knee and, bedridden, began a love correspondence with “Clarinda,” as she called herself. The dislocation also had more significant consequences. The doctor who used Burns knew the Commissioner of Excise in Scotland, R. Graham. Having learned about the poet's desire to serve in the excise, he turned to Graham, who allowed Burns to undergo proper training. The poet passed it in the spring of 1788 in Mauchlin and Tarbolton and received a diploma on July 14. The prospect of an alternative source of income gave him the courage to sign the lease for Ellisland Farm on March 18.
Upon learning that Jean was pregnant again, her parents kicked her out of the house. Burns returned to Mauchlin on February 23, 1788 and, apparently, immediately recognized her as his wife, although the announcement took place only in May, and the church court approved their marriage only on August 5. On March 3, Jean gave birth to two girls, who died soon after. On June 11, Burns began working on the farm. By the summer of 1789 it became clear that Ellisland would not generate income in the near future, and in October Burns, through patronage, received the post of exciseman in his rural area. He performed it perfectly; in July 1790 he was transferred to Dumfries. In 1791 Burns refused the lease of Ellisland, moved to Dumfries and lived on the exciseman's salary.
Burns's creative work during his three years at Ellisland consisted mainly of texts for Johnson's Museum, with one major exception - a story in verse by Tam O'Shanter
(
Tam O'Shanter
).
In 1789, Burns met the antiquities collector Fr. Grose, who was compiling a two-volume anthology,
The
Antiquities of
Scotland . The poet invited him to include in the anthology an engraving depicting the Alloway Church, and he agreed - on the condition that Burns would write a legend about witchcraft in Scotland to accompany the engraving. This is how one of the best ballads in the history of literature arose.
Meanwhile, passions flared up around the Great French Revolution, which Burns accepted with enthusiasm. Investigations began into the loyalty of government officials. By December 1792, so many denunciations had accumulated against Burns that Chief Exciseman William Corbet arrived in Dumfries to personally conduct an inquiry. Through the efforts of Corbett and Graham, it all ended with Burns being ordered not to talk too much. They still intended to promote him, but in 1795 he began to lose his health: rheumatism affected his heart, which had been weakened in adolescence. Burns died in Dumfries on July 21, 1796.
Burns is extolled as a romantic poet, both in the popular and literary sense of the term. However, Burns' worldview was based on the practical sanity of the peasants among whom he grew up. He essentially had nothing in common with romanticism. On the contrary, his work marked the last flowering of Scottish poetry in its native language - lyrical, earthly, satirical, sometimes mischievous poetry, the traditions of which were laid by R. Henryson (c. 1430 - c. 1500) and W. Dunbar (c. 1460 - c. 1530), forgotten during the Reformation and revived in the 18th century. A. Ramsay and R. Ferguson.
