Robert Burns
(1759-1796)
Outline of the lecture
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Brief introduction of Burns and his poetry
Poem appreciation: A red, red rose
Summary: Features of Burns’ poetry
Appreciation: “days of long ago”
Robert Burns
• an excellent native poet of Scotland
• his poems written in the Scottish dialect;
• many lyrics praising nature, love, and friendship, such as “A
Red, Red Rose,” “My heart’s in the Highland”.
• His “Auld Lang Syne” (Old Long Ago) which have been
sung as a parting song in many places of the world in
different languages.
Celebration of Burns
Burns Supper
• On Jan. 25, as Burns night
• Have haggis (羊肚包杂碎), traditional
Scottish food
• Play pipes
• Poetry reading
Burns’ Cottage
in Alloway, Scotland
Burns’ statues
• Statue in Australia
• Statue in Dumfries,
Scotland
Poetry of Burns
• The poems of Burns are written in the
Scottish dialect on a variety of subjects.
Mainly, 3
kinds
1) Political poems
2) Satirical poems
3) Lyrics
Examples
Political: “Epistle to J. Lapraid” “致拉布雷克书”
我只求大自然给我一点火种，
我所求的学问便全在此中！
纵使我驾着大车和木犁，
浑身是汗水和泥土，
纵使我的诗神穿得朴素，
她可打进了心灵深处。
（王佐良译）
common feelings of
the working people
Satirical: “For a’That and a ‘That” “不管那一套”
不管怎样变化，明天一定会来到
那时侯真理和品格
将成为整个地球的荣耀！
管他们这一套那一套，
总有一天会来到：
那时侯全世界所有的人，
都成了兄弟，不管他们那一套！
（王佐良 译）
in defiance of the rand
and title of the gentlefolk
嘲弄王公豪绅
Lyrical: A red, red rose
written in 1794, published in 1796
Questions
• How dose the narrator in the love song
express his love?
• Why is this poem so touching to the
readers?
Question 1
• How dose the narrator in the love song
express his love?
to use many figures of speeches: simile,
metaphor, repetition
Question 2
• Why is this poem so touching to the
readers?
1) original flavor in fiery and direct
expression: directly passionate
2) artistic recreation; imagery presentation:
newly sprung rose/ sweetly played melody
3) in repetition to stir an echoing effect
Comparison with Chinese folk song
上邪
上邪，吾欲与君相知，长命无绝衰。
山无陵，江水为竭，冬雷震震，夏雨雪，
天地合，乃敢与君绝！
Q: what are the similarities between the two
songs?
Summary writing
• Write 500-word summary on Burns’ lyric “A
red, red rose”.
Summary
• This is one of Burns’ popular love lyrics and is also a
good example of how the poet made use of old
Scottish folk poetry and created immortal lines by
revising the old folk material. The extreme simplicity
of the language and the charming rhythmic beat of
the verse express better than anything else the poet’s
true sentiments toward his beloved.
Summary (con.)
• This song is truly Burns own hand, every line has produced a
rush of traditioners who pretend to treat us with what they call
the old words. To all lovers of Burns and to the great mass of
romantic souls who appreciate fine love songs, these are
immortal words for the rose newly sprung in June provides us
with perfect imagery. Indeed the poet's world-wide appeal
rests strongly on this and other love songs whose various
elements of old ballads are brought together. Only the touch
of a genius could transform them into such a song.
• Burns imagination and his ear gathered these inherited
comparisons and metaphors together, altered them, however
slightly, purged them of all vulgarity and created in the end
one of the loveliest lyrics of all time. It is a masterpiece of
technique rather than of passion. It is by the superb blending
of the various units into one harmonious whole that the song
achieves its beauty.
Summary (con.)
• The red rose is a lyric of genius, made out of the common
inherited material of folk song. It is an example of something that
is very old but which seems startlingly new because it manages to
convey deep feeling without qualification or embroidery. In the
rose, there is no incongruence between particular and universal.
The reader, still more, the singer, experiences what they have felt
for a person which they themselves have loved. The reader
attaches the beautiful words and tune to their own image of the
face and of the person. This they can do, only because the song
generalizes the emotions of countless lovers, high and low, at all
times and in all places. Here the distinction between personal and
impersonal becomes quite worthless. Burns is any man in love
with any woman, yet in the act of artistic creation he is more truly
and more intensely himself than at any ordinary moment of daily
life.
Burns’s position and his features
• A great Scottish peasant poet; a national
poet of Scotland
• Numerous are Burns’s songs of love and
friendship.
• His great success was largely due to his
comprehensive knowledge and excellent
mastery of the old song traditions.
• His poetry have a musical quality that
helps to perpetuate the sentiment.
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Burns ushered a tendency that prevailed
during the high time of Romanticism:
1) To cultivate medieval literary legacy and
embrace national culture;
2) To introduce daily expressions into poetic
diction;
3) To pick up the life of common people as
poetic subjects and show great sympathy
Robert Burns, a representative of PreRomanticism
• Interests in folk literature
• Exploration of emotions and feelings
• Under the influence of French Revolution,
and be against the bondage of classicism
Supplementary poem
• Read Burns’ “Auld Lang Syne”
• Listen to the song of “Auld Lang Syne” and
Chinese version
• Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
• For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet
For auld lang syne.
Auld Lang Syne
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Auld: old
Lang: long
Syne: since
auld lang syne: days of long ago
Gowans: daisies
Mony: many
Fitt: foot
English song
• Should old friendship be forgot'
And never remembered ?
Should old friendship be forgotten,
And days of long ago.
• We two have run about the hills
And pulled the daisies fine :
But we have wandered many a weary foot
Since days of long ago.
• We two have waded in the stream
From dawn till dinner-time :
But seas between us broad have roared
Since days of long ago.
• And there's a hand my trusty friend !
And give me a hand of thine !
And we will take a large draught
For days of long ago.
• And surely you will have your tankard !
And surely I will have mine !
And we will take a cup of kindness yet,
For days of long ago'
怎能忘记旧日朋友
心中能不欢笑
旧日朋友岂能相忘
友谊地久天长
友谊万岁
朋友
友谊万岁
举杯痛饮
同声歌颂友谊地久天长
我们曾经终日游荡在故乡的青山上
我们也曾历尽苦辛到处奔波流浪
友谊万岁
万岁朋友
友谊万岁
举杯痛饮
同声歌颂友谊地久天长
(music)
我们也匆匆日逍遥荡桨在微波上
当如今已经劳燕分飞
愿歌大海重洋
我们往日情意相投
让我们紧握手
让我们来举杯畅饮
友谊地久天长
Burn’s Poetry
• Some of Burns famous songs are: Auld Lang Syne;
Comin’ Thro the Rye; Sweet Afton; Scots Wha Hae;
Green Grow the Rashes; and A Red, Red, Rose.
• The Chinese Version of Robert Burns: Selected Poems (.pdf)
Natural scene of Scottish Highland
• Highland cow
Highland in October