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Welcome
to the Robert Burns Website.
This
site offers an essential guide to the Scotland's Bard.
Inside this site you'll a selection of Burns songs, lyrics and poems, together
with spoken word audio, and an extensive archive of writings by many of Scotland's
journalists, literati and Burns experts.
Born
in Alloway, Ayrshire, in 1759 to William Burness, a poor tenant farmer, and Agnes
Broun, Robert Burns was the eldest of seven. He spent his youth working his father's
farm, and despite their relative poverty, Burns was extremely well read - at the
insistence of his father, who employed a tutor for Robert and younger brother
Gilbert.
When
his father died in 1784, Burns and his brother became partners in the farm. However,
Burns was more interested in poetry and, after a series of failed relationships,
planned to escape to the safer, sunnier climes of the West Indies.
However,
before he could finalise any travel plans, "Poems- Chiefly in the Scottish
Dialect - Kilmarnock Edition" (a set of poems essentially based on a broken
love affair), was published and received critical acclaim. From this point on
Burns became gradually more and more famous.
 The
last years of Burns' life were devoted to penning great poetic masterpieces such
as The Lea Rig, Tam O'Shanter and a Red, Red Rose.
He
died aged 37 of heart disease exacerbated by the hard manual work he undertook
when he was young. His death occurred on the same day as his wife Jean gave birth
to his last son, Maxwell.
On
the day of his burial more than 10,000 people came to watch and pay their respects.
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