Scotland Today

January 25, 2009 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. Burns is truly Scotland’s national poet. His poems are still widely read and enjoyed the world over.

He was born on January 25, 1759 in Alloway, Ayrshire, to William Burness and Agnes Broun. Burns was mainly home schooled by his father but briefly attended schools in the area. When he  did attend school it was in the summer so that he could help out on the family farm the rest of the time.

Robert Burns is known to have fathered at least 12 children with four different women; his first was a daughter with the family maid who was born in 1785.  In 1786, he and Jean Armour had twins;  they were married the following year. They had 9 children in all, with only 3 surviving to adulthood.

Robert Burns’ poems were first published in 1786 in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. Burns was a fan of Scottish songs and many of his poems were later rewritten as songs. Among Burns’ most famous poems are To a Mouse, Address to a Haggis, Tam O’Shanter and Is There for Honest Poverty.

Robert Burns died on July 25, 1796, on the same day that his son Maxwell was born.

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