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Robert Burns:

‘A strong appetite for sociability’

After Henryson we come, over three hundred years later, to the outstanding representative of the Scottish contribution – Robert Burns (1759-1796). By this time, especially following unification early in the 18th century, Scotland was no longer isolated from England, and an educated Scot was proficient in English as well as the native dialect derived from Middle-Scottish. Burns, accordingly, wrote his poetry in both dictions but it is chiefly in his Scots verse that his genius is apparent.

This was mostly written within two years, ’85 and ’86, and it is here, apart from the vast number of songs that he wrote or revived, that his fame rests. The Scottish dialect, homely, earthy and racy, proved to be the ideal medium, as the English rarely did for Burns’ personality. His own description of this also fits his poetry: “..a strong appetite for sociability as well from native hilarity as from pride of observation and remark…a certain wild logical talent, and a strength of thought something like the rudiments of good sense..”

It is a personality which causes him to sympathise with the underprivileged and the vulnerable as well as to be critical of the privileged and exploitative elements of society. Yet, whatever the attitude, it is conveyed with a characteristic ebullience that finds expression in a poetry that is both comic and satirical. Sometimes the satire is tolerant, sometimes it is intolerant. The outstanding example of the latter is ‘Holy Willie’s Prayer’, described by Walter Scott as “ a piece of satire more exquisitely severe than any which Burns ever afterwards wrote.”

Robert Burns

It is also a supreme example of comic irony, since its subject is unaware that his imprecations, (to use the word both in its old sense of ‘prayers’ and in its present sense of ‘curses’), are serving to expose the full extent of his religious hypocrisy: After the mock-humility of these words: “What was I, or my generation, That I should get sic exaltation ….Yet I am here, a chosen sample, To show Thy grace is great and ample;” we have the sheer envy of these: “L-d, mind Gawn Hamilton’s deserts! He drinks, and swears, and plays at cartes, Yet has sae mony takin’ arts Wi’ grit and sma’, Frae G-d’s ain priests the people’s hearts He steals awa’”; the appalling vindictiveness of these: “Curse Thou his basket and his store, Kail and potatoes!..And pass not in Thy mercy by ‘em And dinna spare!”; followed by the delusional self-exaltation of the conclusion: “But, L-d, remember me and mine Wi’ mercies temp’ral and divine, That I for gear and grace may shine Excelled by nane..” (The diction is intelligible if one bears in mind that it often substitutes “i”, “ae” and “o” for the accustomed vowels and omits consonants. Thus ‘sic’ for ‘such’, ‘frae’ for ‘from’ and ‘mony’ for ‘many’.)

‘To a Louse’ is an example of Burns’ more tolerant, but no less comical, satire. Its subtitle is ‘On Seeing One on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church’. It begins: “HA! Where ye gaun, ye crowlin’ ferlie! Your impudence protects you sairly: I canna say but ye strunt rarely Owre gauze and lace; Though, faith, I fear ye dine but sparely On sic a place”; and continues “Ye ugly, creepin’ blastit wonner, Detested, shunned by saunt an’ sinner, How dare ye set your fit upon her, Sae fine a lady! Gae somewhere else, and seek your dinner On some puir body.” That last line implicitly deplores the gentlefolk’s attitude towards the lower orders, this continuing into the next verse: “Swith! In some beggar’s haffet squattle; There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle”.

The irony reaches its comic pitch when the louse becomes plainly visible at the top of the bonnet of the lady who, in blissful ignorance, believes that she is making a grand impression: “O Jenny, dinna toss your head, And set your beauties a’ abread! Ye little ken (know) “a strong appetite for sociability” what cursed speed The blastie’s makin’! Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread, Are notice takin’!”

In the last verse, with its famous opening couplet, Burns reveals that the lady’s laughable plight is actually an extreme representation of a universal failing: “Oh wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursel’s as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us And foolish notion: What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us, And e’en devotion!”

But there is also a warmly compassionate side to Burns’ comic criticism of life. This is to be seen in ‘To a Mouse’, which he wrote after he had saved a startled mouse from being killed by his farm-hand.”WEE, sleekit, cowrin’, tim’rous beastie, Oh, what panic in thy breastie! Thou needna start awa’ sae hasty, Wi’ bick’ring brattle; I wad be laith to rin and chase thee Wi’ murd’ring pattle (plough-cleaning tool).”

His compassion enables him to realise the gross injustice of man’s mistreatment of what are actually his fellow-creatures: “I’m truly sorry man’s dominion Has broken nature’s social union, And justifies that ill- opinion Which maks thee startle At me, thy poor earth-born companion And fellow-mortal.”

This sense of fellowship with the animal creation prompts the moral of the penultimate verse, with its equally famous third line: “But Mousie, thou art no thy lane (not alone) In proving foresight may be vain; The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men Gang aft a-gley (go oft awry), And lea’e us nought but grief and pain For promised joy.”

The serious note struck here finds fuller expression in the longer poem, ‘The Twa Dogs’. This is a dialogue between two dogs, one a member of an aristocratic household, the other belonging to a poor ploughman. Through the mutual observations of the dogs about their respective masters, Burns dramatically contrasts the life-styles of the rich and the poor and leaves us in no doubt that his sympathies lie with the latter. The aristocratic dog could, in fact, be a metamorphosed version of the poet himself: “His locked, lettered, braw brass collar Showed him the gentleman and scholar; But though he was o’ high degree, The fient a pride, nae pride had he, But wad hae spent an hour caressin’ E’en wi’ a tinkler-gipsy’s messin (mongrel)” His assessment of his idly rich masters shows the “wild logical talent and strength of thought” that Burns attributed to himself: “Lord, man were ye but whyles whare I am, The gentles ye wad ne’er envy them. It’s true they need na starve or sweat, Through winter’s cauld or simmer’s heat; They’ve nae sair wark to craze theur banes, An’ fill auld age with grips an’ granes: But human bodies are sic fools, That when nae real ills perplex them, They make enow themselves to vex them; An aye the less they hae to sturt (trouble) them, In like proportion less will hurt them.”. The wit of that last couplet is reminiscent of Pope.

After the lowly dog’s description of an occasion of merrymaking in his humble household, he adds one of the most heart-warming comments in Burns’ poetry: “The cantie (merry) auld folks crackin’ crouse (chatting cheerfully), The young anes rantin’ through the house - My heart has been sae fain (glad) to see them, That I for joy hae barkit wi’ them.”

How often we have seen a dog joining in the fun with the rest of the family with joyful barking. Only a genuine animal-lover could have thus understood the depth of a dog’s affection for his masters, and only a genuine lover of humanity could have been so moved by contemplating the simple joys of the poor. We understand more fully the breadth and the depth of Burns’ “strong appetite for sociability.”

For prosody Burns relied on traditional Scottish forms, such as the ‘sixain’ used in the first three poems discussed above, as well as accustomed English forms like the octosyllabic rhymed couplet used in ‘Twa Dogs’. These regular measures are throughout enlivened by Burns’ highly individual style. We might describe this as ‘stream of commentary’ since, by the sheer vigour of its expression and the sheer energy of its rhythm, it seems to enable Burns to carry everything before him.

 

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