Earlier this week many people in the UK celebrated Burn’s Night. If you don’t know about this British tradition, let me explain…..

Robert Burns was a Scottishbard, a poet, that lived in the 18th century. He wrote poems and songs and became very famous during his lifetime. People celebrate on his birthday, 25th January, by eatinghaggisandswede, drinking whiskey andrecitinghis poetry. My mum’s Scottish and I remembersneakingdownstairs as a child, after being put to bed and spying on my parents and their friends enjoying whiskey-fuelled Burns Night suppers.

In the Guardian article, they tell us that this calendar date is still going strong. As the UK is still in lockdown, it’s being celebrated online and there’s been asteepincrease in peopleoptingfor the post-a-haggis service that some butchers are offering. Mackay, a lecturer in Robert Burns studies, said that the themes of friendship and unity that come up in his work, particularly Auld Lang Syne, are 'especially poignant at a moment when separation is beingenduredon a global scale.’ A quick glance at social media shows me lots of pics of people intartanplayingbagpipesand fiddles.

So what is it about his poetry that has stood the test of timeandspeaks toso many? He wrote about about a variety of subjects: friendship, love, sex, nature, religion and politics. He was verycharismaticand had a ‘brightness’ in his eyes that came out in his work. There’s a ‘whisper ofmischief’, a ''vainof humour' that runs throughhis work and he was known as‘a wit’ and was also anotoriouswomaniser.His poetry can be quitesaucyand he didn’tshy awayfrom indecentorvulgar subjects and language. He often played on people’sconventionalexpectations and wasself-mocking.He also had a sensitivity to nature and liked writing about the beauty of Scotland. He was known as ‘the people’s poet’ as he was a farmer’s son and wrote in the Scottish dialect.