Robert Burns

1. When was Robert Burns born?

2. How many children were there in their family?

3. What did Robert's father try to give his children?

4. Who knew many Scottish songs and ballads?

5. What did his mother's friend Betty tell Robert?

6. When did Robert begin to write poetry?

7. What did Robert Burns publish in 1786?

8. Why did Robert Burns return to his native village?

9. Who was Robert Burns's funeral attended by?

10. Whom did Robert Burns's poems and verses inspire?

__5_ The poetry and songs of Robert Burns are famous all over the world. Robert Burns's poems and verses inspired Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn and other composers who wrote music to them. Burns is a democratic poet. His sympathy was with the poor. That is why his funeral was attended by a crowd of ten thousand. They were the common Scottish people whom he had loved and for whom he had written his poems and songs. The most popular poems of Robert Burns are "The Tree of Liberty", "My Heart's in the Highlands", "A Red, Red Rose" and many others.

_2__ Robert's mother knew many Scottish songs and ballads and often sang them to her son in his childhood. His mother's friend Betty told Robert many fantastic tales about devils, fairies and witches. Her tales made Burns become fond of reading. He read whatever he could lay his hands on. His favourite writers were Shakespeare and Robert Fergusson, a talented Scottish poet, whose tragic fate deeply touched Burns. He devoted to Fergusson many verses.

_4__ Robert Burns left Edinburgh. While in the capital, he had saved as much money as he could, so that he was able to return to his native village with money enough to buy a farm and marry Jean Armour who he was deeply in love with. His love for Jean was so great that he devoted to Jean many beautiful poems, such as "I love my Jean", "Bonnie Jean" and many others. Although Robert Burns's poems were very popular, he always remained poor. He worked hard and completely destroyed his health. He died in poverty at the age of thirty-seven in 1796.

_1__ Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, was born to a life of poverty on January 25, 1759 in Scotland. His father, William Burns, was a poor farmer. There were seven children in the family, and Robert was the eldest. His father knew the value of a good education, and he tried to give his children the best education he could afford. Robert was sent to school at the age of six, but as his father could not pay for the two sons, Robert and his brother Gilbert attended school in turn. When the boys were not at school, they helped their father with his work in the fields. But soon the teacher left, and so Burns's father invited a young school teacher to teach the boys. When the teacher left, the poet's father was so desperate to give his children good education that he taught them himself. Reading and writing, arithmetic, English grammar, history, literature, and Latin - that was Robert Burns's education.

_3__When he was fifteen Burns began to write poetry. He composed verses to the melodies of old folk-songs, which he had admired from his early childhood. He sang of the woods, fields and wonderful valleys of his native land. Burns published some of his poems in 1786. Their success was complete and Robert Burns became well known and popular. He came to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, so that a new and enlarged edition of his poems could be published. Burns’s poems were so popular that he became very famous among the citizens. Robert Burns enjoyed great success but soon Edinburgh society grew tired of the poet and forgot about him.

3. Grammar. Look at these sentences from the biography of Robert Burns. Which of them describes purpose and which result? Look at the other words in italic in the text. Are they describing purpose or result?

a) When the teacher left, the poet's father was so desperate to give his children good education that he taught them himself.

b) While in the capital, he had earned as much money as he could, so that he was able to return to his native village with money enough to buy a farm and marry Jean Armour who he was deeply in love with.