Robert Burns

Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 at Alloway in Ayrshire, the eldest son of William Burnes, a poor tenant farmer and devout Presbyterian who saw that his children were taught to read the Bible and good books. Robert did heavy farm work from boyhood, first at Mount Oliphant and Lochlea and then, with his brother Gilbert, at Mossgiel. In 1786, planning to emigrate to Jamaica, he published Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect at Kilmarnock; its success brought him to Edinburgh as a celebrity instead. He married Jean Armour in 1788, farmed Ellisland near Dumfries, and became an excise officer. In his last years he wrote or restored hundreds of Scottish songs, including Auld Lang Syne and A Red, Red Rose. His life also included heavy drinking and several children born outside marriage. He died at Dumfries on 21 July 1796, aged thirty-seven.

Robert Burns is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: Raised in the Church of Scotland by a devout father; he satirised the strict Calvinist (Auld Licht) party and its hypocrisy in poems such as Holy Willie's Prayer, sided with the moderates, and also wrote prayers and psalm paraphrases. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Thomas Carlyle · Walter Scott · Robert Fergusson · James Hogg · William Wordsworth