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A BURNS COMPANION A BURNS COMPANION ALAN BOLD Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-21167-8 ISBN 978-1-349-21165-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21165-4 ©Alan Bold 1991 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991 978-0-333-42270-0 All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, lnc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1991 ISBN 978-0-312-04500-5 library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bold, Alan Norman, 1943- A Bums companion I Alan Bold. p. em. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-312-04500-5 1. Burns, Robert, 1759-1796.2. Poets, Scottish -18th century- Biography. I. Title. PR4331.B64 1991 821'.6 -dc20 89-70109 [B] CIP Contents List of Plates ix Preface xi Abbreviations xiii PART I: BURNS IN CONTEXT 1 A Burns Chronology 3 The Burns Circle 21 A Burns Topography 62 PART II: ASPECTS OF BURNS 77 Dialect and Diction in Burns 79 Bums and Religion 89 Bums and Politics 100 Bums and Philosophy 109 Bums and Booze 116 Bums and the Theatre 123 The Bawdy Bums 133 A Technical Note 143 PART III: AN APPROACH TO BURNS 149 PART IV: THE ART OF BURNS 175 POEMS The Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie, the Author's only Pet Yowe 177 v vi Contents Holy Willie's Prayer 180 Death and Doctor Hornbook 185 The Holy Fair 189 The Vision 193 Halloween 199 The Twa Dogs 203 The Jolly Beggars 208 The Cotter's Saturday Night 217 To a Mouse 223 To a Louse 226 The Auld Farmer's New-Year Morning Salutation to his Auld Mare, Maggie 229 Address to the Deil 232 The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer 236 The Ordination 240 Address of Beelzebub 242 A Dream 246 Address to the Unco Guid 249 The Calf 253 The Brigs of Ayr 254 A Winter Night 259 The Kirk's Alarm 262 Elegy on Captain Matthew Henderson 267 Tam o Shanter 272 The Tree of Liberty 281 VERSE EPISTLES 286 Epistle to John Rankine 287 Epistles to Davie 288 Epistles to J. Lapraik 291 To William Simson, Ochiltree 294 Epistle to John Goldie 296 Epistle to the Rev John McMath 296 To J. Smith 298 To Gavin Hamilton, Esq., Mauchline 299 Epistle to James Tennant of Glenconner 300 Epistle to a Young Friend 301 Reply to a Trimming Epistle 302 Epistle to Captain William Logan 304 To the Guidwife of Wauchope House 305 Contents vii Epistle to Hugh Parker 306 Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry 307 Epistle to Dr Blacklock 308 To Alexander Findlater 309 Epistle to Colonel De Peyster 311 THE SONGS 313 Handsome Nell 317 Now Westlin Winds 318 The Lass of Cessnock Banks 319 Mary Morison 320 The Rigs o Barley 322 Green Grow the Rashes, 0 323 When Guildford Good 324 My Highland Lassie, 0 326 The gloomy night is gath'ring fast 328 Rantin, Rovin Robin 328 Where, braving angry winter's storms 330 My Peggy's Face 330 Of a' the airts the wind can blaw 331 Auld Lang Syne 332 The Silver Tassie 333 The Banks o Doon 334 Ae Fond Kiss 336 The Devil's awa wi' th' Exciseman 337 The Chevalier's Lament 338 Scots Wha Hae 339 A Red Red Rose 341 As I stood by yon roofless tower 344 It was a' for our rightfu king 347 A Man's a Man for a' That 348 0, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast 351 Fairest Maid on Devon Banks 352 ELECTION BALLADS 354 EPITAPHS AND EPIGRAMS 360 THE LETTERS 365 viii Contents THE COMMON PLACE BOOKS 382 PART V: SELECT BIBLIOCRAPHY 389 PART VI: APPENDIXES 401 A: Preface to the Kilmarnock Edition 403 B: Dedication to the Caledonian Hunt 405 C: The Autobiographical Letter 407 0: Gilbert's Narrative 418 Glossary 432 General Index 440 Index of Poems 445 List of Plates The author and publishers wish to acknowledge with thanks the following illustration sources, and to state that in cases where they may have failed to contact all copyright holders, they will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. 1. Map of the Burns Country. Katrina Ellor. 2. Agnes Broun, the poet's mother. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 3. Burns Cottage. The Burns Cottage Museum, Alloway. Photo- graph by McKissack Photographers, Ayr. 4. Mount Oliphant Farm. Prof. Robert T. Fitzhugh. 5. Lochlea Farm, Tarbolton, Ayrshire. Prof. Robert T. Fitzhugh. 6. Mossgiel Farm. Prof. Robert T. Fitzhugh. 7. Robert Fergusson, attributed to Alexander Runciman. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 8. Robert Fergusson's Poems: Rt. Hon. the Earl of Rosebery. National Library of Scotland. 9. 'The Cotter's Saturday Night': David Allan (1744-96). The Mansell Collection. 10. Burns and 'Highland Mary' 1796: etching by W. B. Scott. The Mansell Collection. 11. The Kilmarnock Edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Bums Cottage Museum, Alloway. Photograph by McKissock Photographers, Ayr. 12. Gilbert Bums, brother of the poet. The Scottish National Por­ trait Gallery. 13. Dr. Thomas Blacklock: William Bonnar. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 14. Peter Taylor's portrait of Robert Burns in Edinburgh in 1786. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 15. Henry Mackenzie. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. ix X List of Plates 16. Mrs. Frances Anna Dunlop. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 17. Margaret Chalmers. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 18. Robert Bums, 1787: Alexander Nasmyth. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 19. John Beugo's engraving of Robert Bums, based on Alexander Nasmyth's bust portrait, February 1787. National Library of Scotland. 20. John Miers's silhouette of Robert Bums, 1787. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 21. Neil Gow (1727-1807): Sir Henry Raeburn. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 22. William Smellie, Printer. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery 23. William Creech, Publisher. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 24. Miers's silhouette of Agnes McLehose. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 25. Ellisland Farm, Dumfriesshire. Prof. Robert T. Fitzhugh. 26. Maria Riddell: Sir Thomas Lawrence. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 27. 'Tam o Shanter', holograph from the Afton Manuscript in the Bums Cottage Museum, Alloway. National Library of Scotland. 28. Kirk Alloway. National Library of Scotland. 29. The Theatre Royal, Shakespeare Street, Dumfries. Photograph by David Hope, Dumfries. 30. Bums House, Dumfries. Bums Museum, Dumfries. 31. Scale model showing Dumfries in 1794. Robert Bums Centre, Dumfries. Photograph by David Hope, Dumfries. 32. Dr. William Maxwell. Kind permission of Francis Maxwell­ Witham, Kirkonue House, New Abbey, Dumfries. Photograph by David Hope, Dumfries. 33. Jessy Lewars. Prof. Robert T. Fitzhugh. 34. Alexander Reid's miniature of Robert Bums, 1795. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 35. Alexander Skirving's red-chalk portrait of Robert Bums, based on Nasmyth's bust portrait, c. 1797. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 36. Jean Armour, the poet's widow, in 1821. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery. 37. Bums Mausoleum, Dumfries. Bums Museum, Dumfries. Preface This Companion has been designed as a biographical and criti­ cal guide to Bums, indicating the personal outlines and social background of the personality; and assessing the most important poems and songs in some detail. It is in six parts. Part I places Bums in context. The Chronology follows his career, 'The Bums Circle' describes his friends and enemies, and the Topog­ raphy looks at those places that meant most to him as a man and a poet. Part II explores significant Bumsian issues. Short essays on his use of language and technique frame discussions of his position with regard to religion, politics, philosophy, drink, drama and sex. Part III is a more extended essay on Bums as a poetic phenomenon and, with its consideration of role-playing and reality, is intended to stimulate debate about the relevance of Bums to his time and ours. The longest section of the book, Part IV: 'The Art of Bums', examines twenty-five poems, eighteen verse epistles and twenty-six songs. It also comments on his other writings: Election Ballads, Epigrams and Epitaphs, the Letters and the Common Place Books. A Select Bibliography (Part V) and four Appendixes (Part VI) are followed by a Glossary of Scots words, a general index, and an index of poems. The aim of the Companion is to inform and advise on the complex nature of this seemingly uncomplicated poet. This Companion is complete in itself in that biographical allusions and literary echoes in the poems discussed are elucidated and the poet's critical reputation is considered. Bums, of course, speaks for himself through the extensive quotations. I would like to thank Oxford University Press for allowing me to make reference, throughout this Companion, to James Kinsley's xi xii Preface monumental three-volume edition of The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns (1968); and the same editor's one-volume version of that edition, Burns: Poems and Songs (1969), available as an Oxford Paperback. I am similarly grateful to James A. Mackay for allowing me to make reference to his two editions, both authorised by the Bums Federation: The Complete Works of Robert Burns (1986) and The Complete Letters of Robert Burns (1987). Part III of the Companion, 'An Approach to Bums', adapts material from two sources: my essay 'Robert Burns: Superscot' from The Art of Robert Burns, edited by R. D. S. Jack and Andrew Noble and published by Vision Press (London) and Barnes and Noble (Totowa, New Jersey) in 1982; and my article 'Skulduggery with the Bard's Brains' in the Observer Scotland (22 January 1989).
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