Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 in the parish of Alloway, near Ayr, in southwestern Scotland, and died in Dumfries on 21 July 1796. In the relatively brief span of thirty-seven years, he became Scotland’s best-loved poet, a major maker and remaker of song, an incisive satirist, and an emblem of democratic fellow feeling. His reputation has sometimes obscured the complicated human being beneath it. Burns was…
“I have ever looked upon the independence of the peasantry of Scotland as one of the most valuable parts of the constitution of the country.”
Neighbourhood:
Folk & Ballad Poets, Poet-Musicians, Political Poets, Scottish Poets
Emotional landscape: Tenderness, Longing, Joy
John Stuart Blackie entered the world on a bright summer day, 28 July 1809, in a modest house on Charlotte Street in Glasgow, Scotland. The eldest son of Alexander Blackie, a Kelso-born banker who would later manage the Commercial Bank in Aberdeen, and his wife Helen Stodart, the boy was born into a family of solid middle-class respectability amid the bustling industrial heart of Scotland. His early years were marked…
“Those who wish to sing, always find a song.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Hymn Writers, Love Poets, Scottish Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Peace, Wonder
