Robert Burns

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of the man who, in his lifetime, was called The Caledonian Bard and whose fame and influence was to spread around the world. Burns (1759-1796) was born in Ayrshire and his work as a tenant farmer earned him the label The Ploughman Poet, yet it was the quality of his verse that helped his reputation endure and grow. His work inspired other Romantic poets and his personal story and ideas combined with that, giving his poems a broad strength and appeal - sung by revolutionaries and on Mao's Long March, as well as on New Year's Eve and at Burns Suppers. With Robert Crawford Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews Fiona Stafford Professor of English at the University of Oxford and Murray Pittock Bradley Professor of English Literature and Pro Vice Principal at the University of Glasgow Producer: Simon Tillotson

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:04.8	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.3	There's a reading list to go with it on our website,
0:09.5	and you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter
0:12.8	at BBC In Our Time.
0:14.7	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:16.8	Hello, in 1786, Robert Burns had a collection of his verse published.
0:20.6	It was, Pirm's, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect, and it made him famous.
0:25.2	He'd been a struggling tenant farmer on the point of emigration,
0:28.6	yet was now celebrated as Caledonia's Bard, the heaven-tored plumber,
0:32.9	and his reputation spread around the world.
0:35.5	English romantic poets made pilgrimages to his cottage.
0:38.5	His songs were sung by revolutionaries in Germany and China,
0:41.5	and all-langed Zion has become an international anthem at New Year.
0:45.6	When me to discuss Robert Burns' Ah, Robert Crawford,
0:48.2	Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of St Andrews,
0:51.8	Fiona Stafford, Professor of English at the University of Oxford,
0:55.0	and Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of English Literature,
0:57.6	and Pro Vice Principal at the University of Glasgow.
1:00.3	Murray Pittock, what was Robert Burns' early life like?
1:04.5	Well, Barnes grew up in poverty because his farmer,
1:08.3	who is effectively a landscape gardener,
	...

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