Robert burns biography book

Added to Cart. Add all 3 to Cart. Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details Hide details. Choose items to buy together. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. Previous set of slides. Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns. Robert Burns. Daniel Bee. Life of Robert Burns.

John Stuart Blackie. The Life of Robert Burns. Allan Cunningham. Nancy Marshall. Next set of slides. More brilliantly than any other literary figure, perhaps, Burns was the man and artist of the common people. He shares with great hip-hop artists a genius for catchy, sexy, and memorable rhymes gloriously liberated from the hegemony of standard English.

Crawford is an academic himself, a professor at the University of St. Andrews, as well as a poet, and perhaps that is why disparagement of Burns by academics worries him so much. For Crawford, however, Burns's gradual disappearance from 'the research culture of modern academia' is a serious concern, and this biography seeks to show why his poetry is worth literary examination, as well as how it is illuminated by his life.

By combining a reliable account of the former with a rich appreciation of the latter, Robert Crawford has done him a great service. Crawford has righted old wrongs--scraping layers of yellowing varnish from received impressions of Burns--and he has also made some vital new connections between Burns's independent-minded politics and the nationalism of contemporary Scotland.

Like a good history teacher, he is quick to make simple but illuminating connections between the past and the present, and he employs modern concepts with tact and restraint. The ideal biographer must admire his subject but remain clear-eyed. Crawford is both partisan and sensible. In The Bard , he manages to combine narrative richness with a close reading of the work that sets it in both its literary and historical context.

In lengthy, deeply rewarding chapters, Crawford brings a poet's ear and a novelist's technique to bear to bring a lost world to life. Thoughtful but tough analysis dispels myths and sets us as near to a truthful account of Burns we are likely to get. It is an essential work. In short, it's a terrific tribute to the short life of an unlikely celebrity-poet.

Crawford makes a determined effort to situate the poetry within the contexts of both Burns's life and the Scottish history within which it was written. Himself a poet, the author appreciates Burns's achievement in verse; indeed without this sensitivity the biography would be little more than a collection of many sordid details. Slotkin, Choice "Robert Crawford, a fine poet himself, writes with subtlety and insight, drawing out the contradictions between Burns' defiantly republican sympathies and his need for aristocratic and government patronage.

This is a fine biography, and it is difficult to imagine its being surpassed for a very long time. But this one is genuinely useful. Evenhanded and earnest, it isn't the raciest version of Burns's high-octane career: Those who want a simplified story can look elsewhere. But The Bard , while approachable and concise, sets a new standard for scholarly readings of Burns's life.

Andrews in Scotland, knows more about Robert Burns than Burns did--and is willing to share enough in pages to give you a real insight into the life and times of Scotland's national poet. Byrne, Newark Star-Ledger " Because Crawford is such an incandescent and engaging writer, his page book, despite its page chapters and sometimes page-long paragraphs, is something of a page-turner.

Andrews, Eighteenth-Century Scotland "I both admired and enjoyed this thoughtfully sustained and planned biography. Buy on Amazon. Rate this book. Burns: A Biography of Robert Burns. James A. A biography of Robert Burns, arguably one of the world's greatest poets. This work places him and his poetry in the context of the period in which he lived.

In many respects Burns remains an enigma to this day, and controversy continues to overshadow and obscure much of his life. Even the manner and cause of his death remains a subject which is hotly debated. There are many discrepancies and contradictions, myths and half-truths, distortions and outright falsehoods which prevail to this day, some created or connived at by the man himself and many others perpetrated by previous biographers who had a certain axe to grind.

Not the least important aspect of this new work is a re-appraisal of earlier biographers and a re-examination of their sources. Another new dimension has been the study of the lives of those with whom Burns came into contact, those who influenced the course of his life and the quality and range of his work. This life of Scotland's national poet is set against the world in which he lived and the events which shaped his outlook.

Robert burns biography book

The Scotland in which Burns lived was in ferment, in which the old religious orthodoxies were being challenged, in which the ideals of the French Revolution threatened the political status quo, in which the agricultural and industrial revolutions were rapidly transforming everyday living, in which the philosophy of the Enlightenment and the Augustan age in literature were overturning the way in which people thought and read.

Gregory likes to bring in other poets to contrast them with Burns, something which becomes tedious. I could have enjoyed more passages from the Bard himself rather than second rate dialect poetry. The Robert Burns which emerges from this book is fickle, petty, worried about keeping both his job and his street cred, and a drunkard. And I will say that the book has helped me ken more of Burns poetry.

So I give it a recommendation. This book was a slow read for me. Most of the text in the book is not as much a narrative of Burnss' life as an analysis of his influences, poetry, feelings, and political views. I enjoy Burns's poetry and read this book before a scheduled trip to the Writer's Museum in Edinburgh. Burns is a hard figure to sympathize with.

He slept around, got many girls pregnant, lied to women about this relationships with other women, cheated on his wife, spent a good deal of his time drunk, and got an excise officer fired so he could have his job. I did enjoy the parts of the book that intersected with world history, like the effect of the American and French Revolutions on Scotland.

Burns himself was a Jacobite and sympathetic to both American and French revolutionary views. These sympathies worried him later and life and he lived a dual life of private republican views while publicly working for the British government and proclaiming his loyalty to the crown. Crawford's biography of Robert Burns connects the Bard's life and personality with his songs and poetry.

In doing so, Crawfors makes the Bard and his poetry come to life. Crawford discusses the informal and formal influences on Burns development as a poet. I found the book a great read but very intenese and a bit dense. The book contains an Acknowledgements section; a Reading Burn's Poems section; an Introduction; seven, lengthy chapters; a list of Abbreviations; a Notes section; and an Index.

The book is full of quotes from letters and of course, the poems. Brian Willis. While the definitive Burns biography is yet to be written, this is the best available "popular" biography, as in not overtly academic in scope. It's well done, accessible, covers the basics, explicates the key verses well, and doesn't engage too much in tabloid gossip, though Burns's life lends itself to that.

I tried Mackay's bio, purchased at the Edinburgh Writer's Museum, but it read far too academically, although it appears he broke new ground with uncovering new personal ties and relationships and even illegitimate children, but was later criticized for academic practices. This hits the right spot. A massive, thoroughly researched biography of Burns, who had enough fame while he was alive, and wrote and received enough letters, that Crawford can trace almost all of the poet's movements - which he does.

Crawford's a friendly writer as well as being a painstaking reasearcher, and the last third of the book is really compelling as he shows how Burns' many sides an ambitious man flattering the great and good, while at the same time writing powerful egalitarian poetry; a womanizer - 'rake' is far too gentle - impregnating women left and right, and bragging to friends about his prowess, while swearing absolute fidelity and creating devoted love poetry were lived and performed.

It was slow going to get there, though, although admittedly that might be because I'm just a casual admirer of Burns' work - for readers with a deeper interest in the poet or the social world of 18th century Scotland, Crawford's detailed history could be deeply rewarding. Emory Grace. I'm not usually a non-fiction reader, but I read this in anticipation of delivering the Immortal Memory at a Burns' Night this year, and I was genuinely getting teary by the end.

Crawford does a lovely job of introducing Burns as a dear friend, tracking his life with thorough but not overwhelming detail, infusing his letters and poetry, both iconic and less known, to paint a beautiful picture of Robert Burns the man. I checked out a copy from the library, but I'll be buying my own soon. The second half was definitely better than the first half, which I found tedious and disjointed.

Robert Crawford has put together a tremendous amount of material. He has arranged it chronologically putting the poetic pieces, some never published before, along in the time where they are presumed to be written. This life of Scotland's national poet is set against the world in which he lived and the events which shaped his outlook. The Scotland in which Burns lived was in ferment, in which the old religious orthodoxies were being challenged, in which the ideals of the French Revolution threatened the political status quo, in which the agricultural and industrial revolutions were rapidly transforming everyday living, in which the philosophy of the Enlightenment and the Augustan age in literature were overturning the way in which people thought and read.

All these left their mark on Burns, and he, in turn, left his mark on them. Report an issue with this product or seller. Previous slide of product details. Print length. Trafalgar Square. Publication date. January 1, See all details. Next slide of product details. Similar items that may deliver to you quickly. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1.

Previous set of slides. The Life of Robert Burns. Allan Cunningham. Robert Burns: How to Know Him. William Allan Neilson. Life of Robert Burns. John Stuart Blackie. Next set of slides. From Publishers Weekly Published previously in Great Britain, this well-researched examination of the life of Scotland's National Poet relies heavily on primary source materials.

Although he was born into a farming family and was poorly educated, Burns wrote artfully and skillfully in standard English as well as in the Scottish vernacular.