I ‘did’ Tam o Shanter for O level in England many years ago….loved it, and agree as you say, no harder than Chaucer and Shakespeare who also read and enjoy!
That’s great! Thanks for reading and commenting, Kate. I didn’t really come across it until I was 14 and I was rather bemused back then, but I’ve come to love and admire it as I’ve got older.
Love my books of Burns poems I bought as a little girl from the Burns museum in Ayrshire. Although my Scots relations spoke standard English (with a smattering of Scots words to convey a meaning better), they could all explain the poems, and my English father encouraged a fascination with language anyway. My favourite is still ‘To a Louse’ though ‘Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie’ is a perfect line of description.
I’ve not got my own copy, sadly. Have borrowed and read them often though. I love that line too and the fact he’s bothered about the smallest creatures. They’re definitely meant to be read and lots of his poems were actually songs (Auld lang Syne the most famous).
I love Burns' poetry. I'm always interested when visiting Dumfries and Galloway, how many traces of his life there are, museums, plaques denoting incidents from his life, places where he wrote. I love Scots as a language too, so many brilliant words.
I ‘did’ Tam o Shanter for O level in England many years ago….loved it, and agree as you say, no harder than Chaucer and Shakespeare who also read and enjoy!
That’s great! Thanks for reading and commenting, Kate. I didn’t really come across it until I was 14 and I was rather bemused back then, but I’ve come to love and admire it as I’ve got older.
Love my books of Burns poems I bought as a little girl from the Burns museum in Ayrshire. Although my Scots relations spoke standard English (with a smattering of Scots words to convey a meaning better), they could all explain the poems, and my English father encouraged a fascination with language anyway. My favourite is still ‘To a Louse’ though ‘Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie’ is a perfect line of description.
I’ve not got my own copy, sadly. Have borrowed and read them often though. I love that line too and the fact he’s bothered about the smallest creatures. They’re definitely meant to be read and lots of his poems were actually songs (Auld lang Syne the most famous).
I love Burns' poetry. I'm always interested when visiting Dumfries and Galloway, how many traces of his life there are, museums, plaques denoting incidents from his life, places where he wrote. I love Scots as a language too, so many brilliant words.