Citations & Articles

Robert Burns was born in 1759, in Alloway, Scotland, to William and Agnes Brown Burnes. Like his father, Burns was a tenant farmer. However, toward the end of his life he became an excise collector in Dumfries, where he died in 1796; throughout his life he was also a practicing poet. His poetry recorded and celebrated aspects of farm life, …

Tam O'Shanter is a rip-roaring tale of witches and alcohol, but it has hidden depths. On Burns Night this Sunday – and 235 years after Tam O'Shanter was published in 1791 – Scots everywhere may well be treated to a masterwork with a unique, universal appeal.

- "O, Wonderfull when devil sell the truth" - "The world has become so bad that now little wrens have settled where eagles used to roost. Since every peasant has been made into a nobleman, many noblemen have been dragged down to the level of peasants". 1. Wrens → Small, ordinary, unremarkable birds 2. Roost → A place where birds …

The Poem's Central Theme: The Pathetic Fallacy Surrey masterfully uses the pathetic fallacy—attributing human emotions to nature. The entire poem contrasts the external world ("Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale") with the speaker's internal, unchanging winter of emotional pain. Nature: Moves from winter to spring; hills "rejoice," birds sing. The Lover: Remains stuck in a state of frozen …