Ingrid Kauler, 11 B

 Was born into a farming family  Alloway in Ayrshire  Died in Dumfries at the early age of 37  Took the Scottish literary world by storm  Secured a place for himself in history and in legend The best-known portrait of Burns

 Rabbie Burns,  Scotland's favourite son,  The Ploughman Poet,  Robden of Solway Firth,  The Bard of Ayrshire  In Scotland as simply The Bard The statue of Robert Burns erected by Clement Wilson at Eglinton Country Park, North Ayrshire

 William Burnes - the poet's father – was a gardener  He married Agnes Brown  Their eldest child, Robert, was born on 25 January 1759 Burns Cottage in Alloway, Scotland

 Burns spent his first seven years at Alloway  Mount Oliphant farm  In 1777 the family moved to Lochlea farm  He attended a local school  When he was about 15 he first turned his hand to poetry  Became a freemason of St David's Lodge, Tarbolton, in Inside the Burns Cottage Museum in Alloway

 Remained at Lochlea until his father's death in 1784  The family moved to Mossgiel farm  The years 1784 to 1785 were one of Burns's most prolific periods  He wrote such well-known poems as 'Holy Willie's Prayer', 'To A Mouse', 'The Jolly Beggars'and 'The Holy Fair' The poet's introduction to 'Holy Willie's Prayer

 Burns had farming and personal difficulties  Mossgiel was not profitable  Jean Armour  Wanted to emigrate and sail for Jamaica  Gavin Hamilton - a local lawyer  Financing the voyage  The 'Kilmarnock edition'  Printed by John Wilson of Kilmarnock in July 1786  Burns's Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect  Cost three shillings  612 copies sold out within a month

 For the next 18 months he stayed frequently in Edinburgh  Mrs Agnes McLehose  Pseudonyms 'Clarinda' and 'Sylvander'  One of the most famous examples of stylised romantic letter-writing  Ae fond kiss, 1791 Engraving of Clarinda

 May 1787  the Borders and central Scotland and the Highlands  In became involved in a project  James Johnson  Began to collect and publish the words and music of all Scottish songs.  The Scots Musical Museum in 1787  Six volumes of 100 songs each.  George Thomson in publishing  'classical' arrangements of Scottish folk-songs  A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs was issued in 1793.

 One of the greatest narrative poems in the language,  Captain Grose's drawing of Alloway Kirk in his collection Antiquities of Scotland  Folklore of witchcraft which he learned from his childhood nurse, Betty Davidson 'Warlocks and witches in a dance; Nae cotillion brent new frae France, But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels, Put life and mettle in their heels. A winnock-bunker in the east, There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast; A towzie tyke, black, grim and large, To gie them music was his charge: He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl, Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.'

 Spent the final years of his life in Dumfriesshire  Farm at Ellisland  Failing health  Overshadowed his literary and musical output  Long-standing heart condition  Premature death at the age of 37 on 21 July  Youngest son Maxwell Ellisland farm in the time of Robert Burns

 J. S. Blackie summed up Burns's importance to Scotland and the Scots with the words:  'When Scotland forgets Burns, then history will forget Scotland.'  The fruits of his legacy can be seen not only in Scotland but around the world - on product packaging, in advertising and on a wealth of merchandise, as well as through continued scholarship and academic study. Robert Burns Mausoleum at St. Michael's churchyard in Dumfries

Monument in Tallinn, The Scottish ClubBurns by Alexander Nasmyth, 1787

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