Robert Burns

Burns, Robert (1759–96), Scottish poet. The son of a poor farmer, he himself farmed for a living and later worked as a customs official. In 1786 he published Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (enlarged 1787). His poetry, in Scots-English idiom, deals with rural life. He also wrote satirical poems such as “The Twa Dogs” and “The Jolly Beggars.” Influenced by Scottish folk tradition, he was a master at writing songs to traditional airs (“Auld Lang Syne”). At first taken up by fashionable society, he died neglected and in debt. Other poems are “Tam O'Shanter,” “To a Mouse,” and “The Cotter's Saturday Night.”