author
Robert Burns
1759–1796
Loved as Scotland’s national poet, this farmer’s son turned everyday speech, folk song, and sharp feeling into lines that still live on the page and in song. His work ranges from warm and comic to politically bold, with favorites like "Auld Lang Syne," "To a Mouse," and "Tam o' Shanter."
6 Audiobooks
Poems and Songs of Robert Burns
by Robert Burns
The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham
by Robert Burns, Allan Cunningham
Lauluja ja ballaadeja
by Robert Burns
The Letters of Robert Burns
by Robert Burns
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Robert Burns
by Robert Burns
Songs and lyrics of Robert Burns
by Robert Burns
About the author
Born in Alloway, Ayrshire, on January 25, 1759, Robert Burns grew up in a farming family and knew hard work from childhood. Despite limited means, he was well read, drew deeply on Scots song and oral tradition, and began writing poetry that mixed wit, tenderness, and social insight.
His first collection, commonly known as the Kilmarnock edition, appeared in 1786 and quickly brought him fame. Burns wrote in both Scots and English, and his poems and songs helped preserve and renew Scottish vernacular culture; among the best known are "To a Mouse," "Tam o' Shanter," and "Auld Lang Syne."
Burns spent his later years in Dumfriesshire, where he continued writing while also working as an excise officer. He died in Dumfries on July 21, 1796, at just 37, but his reputation only grew, and he remains one of the most widely read and celebrated poets in the English-speaking world.