He would take existing Scottish folk melodies and set them to words. Over the next few years, Burns would continue to produce more poems and even started writing songs. It was here that he met and made a lasting impression upon a then 16 year old Walter Scott. However, the money from his published poetry did allow him to travel around Scotland, including to Edinburgh where he was well-received. He continued to labour for a living and also worked as an excise officer for a time. He would continue to use his own experiences as inspiration for his work.ĭespite his popularity, Robert Burns would never earn enough in his lifetime to write as a full time professional. Within this first volume was one of Burn’s best known poems, “To a Mouse.” Burns is said to have composed this poem on the spot after accidentally destroying a mouse’s nest while ploughing a field.

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (also known as the Kilmarnock Volume) cemented Burns’s reputation among Scotland’s literary elite. When the children weren’t assisting with farm work, they received an education.īurns started to display his poetic talents at a young age, but it would take until 1786 for him to find fame with the publication of his first collection of poems. Despite this, his father was determined that Burns and his siblings learn to read and write. The eldest of seven children, Burns’s early life was full of hardship and poverty. Eventually the family moved to Mount Oliphant Farm. He was born in a house built by his tenant-farmer father, which is now the Burns Cottage. Robert Burns was born on 25th January 1759 in Alloway near Ayr. But what’s so special about 25th January? How did Robert Burns come to be celebrated on this day? Traditionally, toasts will be accompanied by whisky. There will be speeches, readings of poems and bagpipes – the latter usually to accompany the guests as they arrive and the haggis as it is brought into the hall.

It is a celebration of the life and works of Robert Burns.īoth informal and formal Burns Suppers include haggis as the centre piece of the proceedings, usually served with neeps (swede) and tatties (potato). Every year on 25th January, people all over the world celebrate Burns Night (sometimes referred to as Robert Burns Day), usually with a Burns Supper.

Burns night poems and songs