Robert Burns (1759-1796) / Роберт Бернс (1759-1796)

Robert Burns was born in a clay-built cottage near the River Doon in Alloway, Ayrshire. His father William was the gardener on a small estate nearby. There was no one who better understood men, their manners and their ways—Burns wrote about his father. So it was probably from him that the poet inherited his great understanding of people. From his mother, too, Robert learned something which was to be of value to him. As she worked in the kitchen and dairy, she often sang the old songs and ballads of the countryside. In the evenings, if she was not too tired, she used to tell the children one of the popular folk-tales. Later, Burns remembered and used in his works the songs and stories he had heard in his little cottage home. Although he was poor, William Burns' greatest wish was to give his children the best education in his power, and while they were still young, he began to teach them to read and write. When Robert was six, he and his brother Gilbert went to school at Alloway Mill. In order to get there, the boys had to walk a mile, but despite this they were happy. It made them sad when, after only a few months, the teacher left and the school was closed. Their father was upset, too, and he persuaded two or three neighbors to join him in engaging another teacher. This man was called John Murdoch. Although he was only 18, he was a very clever teacher. He lived with each family in turn and taught the children. Robert interested him more than his other pupils. Soon Robert's father decided to try his hand at farming, and the family moved to the Mount Oliphant farm. John Murdoch went to stay with the family at Mount Oliphant and continued teaching the boys for two years more. On the other hand, Robert's teachers were the folksongs and ballads of his country, he knew a great number of them by heart. These years Robert read any book he could get. When Robert was 13, he had to take over most of the work of the farm from his father, who was growing old. Those were hard times. Robert often suffered from illnesses because of the hard work and little food. Soon, however, there came even harder times. The owner of the farm died, leaving his affairs in the hands of his steward, a cruel man whom the tenants disliked and feared. Burns' family lived very poorly indeed. But despite the hard times, the fifteen-year-old Robert began to write. Burns wrote many poems in English, but the kind of English verse which was fashionable at that time did not suit him, and his best verses are written in the dialect of his own country, Ayrshire. In this Scottish dialect he wrote all kinds of poems—beautiful and tender songs in which he showed sympathy for the poor; angry verses in which he showed his dislike for the rich and made fun of the Church. With tenderness, understanding and simplicity, he depicts the life he knew, and his poems touch the heart and soul of every reader. Before his poems were published, they had been passed round among his friends and acquaintances in Ayrshire. Burns wrote about the feelings of ordinary poor people, and these people read and loved Burns' poems. One writer of that time tells how servants and plough-boys gave all their hard-earned wages, which they needed to buy clothes, for a book of Burns' poems. Burns traveled much throughout Scotland collecting folk-tales and ballads. When he was offered money for this work, he refused to take any though he was always short of money. His work was inspired by pure patriotism and love for his people and their poetry. After his father's death Burns had to take care of his brothers and sisters, whom he helped all his life even though he never had much money. Burns died when he was only 37 years of age. His early death was due to the fact that all his life he lived in poverty; all his life the lack of money made him work physically beyond his strength. A few years after his death, the greatest English authors began to appreciate Burns' poetry. Byron, for example, said that Burns was the very first of the poets. Both Marx and Engels thought very highly of Burns' poetry. Now Robert Burns is considered the national poet of Scotland, and January 25—the date of his birth—is always celebrated by Scotchmen. Burns is very dear to all of us. Soviet people understand his humor., his tender lyricism, his love of freedom and his faith in the triumph of peace and friendship among people. 'Each epoch,' said S. Marshak, the most talented translator of Burns' poems, 'selects from the poetical heritage of the world what is closest to it in spirit. It is natural that a poet who came from the people and never left them, a man who knew what hard physical labor is and who was at the same time a great poet must be understood in our Soviet epoch.'