Scotland s most famous poet almost relocated to the Caribbean
Credit: Getty
If Robert Burns had got his way we might celebrate Burns Night by eating rice and peas and jerk chicken – perhaps with a ginger beer or a Red Stripe – rather than haggis, neaps and a dram. The tough lot of a farmer’s son and, later, as a tenant farmer, and the birth of no fewer than three illegitimate daughters in the space of a year, led Burns to seriously contemplate voyaging to the Caribbean to try his luck over there.
Chances are, if he’d made the break and lived a colonial’s life in the sultry tropics, he’d not have produced such memorable poems and songs. Influenced by the Scottish makar tradition and espousing republicanism and traditional Scottish values, Burns is known as the “national poet of Scotland”. Sometimes dubbed a pre-Romantic, he wrote about farm life, local experiences, traditional culture and religious practices; his poems, rich in vernacular and full of emotion, influe
Dumfriesshire and international talent join forces to Gie a Haun tae Ellisland tonight
The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust concert is being held as the group launches their Auld Lang Syne Campaign to attract new members
Updated
Ellisland was donated to the nation but now needs help to save it.
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Dumfries Big Burns Supper team all set for virtual Burns Night celebration
Janey Godley will host the online event on January 25 which will feature stars such as KT Tunstall, Skerryvore and Dougie Maclean
Janey Godley will host the virtual Big Burns Supper. (Image: DAILY RECORD)
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By Hamish MacPherson
Back in the Day I have long considered it a national disgrace that we do not do more to promote Robert Burns as Scotland’s gift to the world REGULAR readers may recall that I asked for people to email me about local history and heritage projects, and already I have a backlog, though please keep sending them to the above address. The latest in this occasional series is a local project with national implications, for in this case it involves one of the homes of our National Bard, Robert Burns. I have long considered it a national disgrace that we do not do more to promote Robert Burns as Scotland’s gift to the world. Given his connections to places across the country, it mystifies me why there is no nationally co-ordinated trail that would take you from his birthplace of Alloway in Ayrshire to his mausoleum in Dumfries via the many locations attached to Burns.