Robert Burns

As befits an entry in a contest of this kind, the poem rings with a celebratory and worshipful tone. It portrays Burns as a peasant-king and poet-martyr whose verse speaks across borders to the entire...

The volume declared itself as juvenilia by noting at the outset that the poems had been composed between the ages of eight and thirteen, and appending to some of them the ages at which they...

JL tells Burns she is somewhat in love with the Muses, and warmly celebrates his achievements in verse.

But most poems in this volume are occasional, more or less public. MWD wrote about buildings: the fake-medieval Hockley Abbey near Birmingham and the genuine medieval Kenilworth Castle. She wrote about Scotland: ballads...

AG 's Introductory Verses, addressed to dead and living friends, begin: Go, artless records of a life obscure, and liken herself to the nightingale singing with a thorn in her breast. The poems...

Her range of literary reference and comment is wide: as well as Richardson (whose Clarissa she unequivocally praises), it encompasses Blair , Sterne and Smollett as travel-writers, and Homer . Grant charges Samuel Johnson

The poems include epistles, translations from Gaelic, and occasional poetry including a piece on the death of Burns . Apart from calling herself the rural muse, Grant also emphasises her Scottish identity: her characteristic...

In this poem HC celebrates Burns 's native genius, gay, unique, and strong, and contrasts his independence and inborn merit with rank and riches.

Their move back to England was facilitated by a legacy of £5,000 from Anne's father. They bought the estate the previous year for £13,000 (including standing timber worth £3,280). AM sold the house, estate...