Robert_Burns

Robert Burns There are two reasons that Robert Burns is the national poet of Scotland. The first is his “rags to riches” success story, and the second is “the way in which Burns in his songs identified himself with the Scottish folk tradition” (Scott-Kilvert 310). The poems of Robert Burns contain many appealing elements, such as colorful, vivid imagery and specific diction, allowing Burns to convey exactly what he is picturing while writing them. These characteristics, influenced by his Scottish background, are easily identified in his classic poem To A Mouse. Burns was born and raised in Alloway, Ayrshire. During his upbringing, Burns’ father, continually prone to bad luck, suffered sickness and a series of bankruptcies until he finally passed away in 1784 (Scott-Kilvert 313). From this stemmed Burns’ matchless satire of the social structure of his day and hardened his heart against “all forms of religious and political thought that condoned or perpetuated inhumanity” (Scott-Kilvert 313). Burns’ schooling involved everything from French to a minute amount of Latin. Heavily imposed on him during his education were the works of such literary greats as William Shakespeare and John Dryden, orienting most of his formal education toward English culture burns, mouse, scottish, farmer, scott-kilvert, while, kalasky, english, both, 80, two, diction, same, robert, poet, poems, poem, imagery, earth, during, different, conveys, burns’, 313, wrote, writing, words, word, way, vivid, until, success, state, specific, simply