ROBERT BURNS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7018, 11 February 1949, Page 7

ROBERT BURNS

THE IJEOPLE’S POET IMMORTAL MEMORY HONOURED The immortal memory of Robert Burns was fittingly recognised at Morrinsville on Saturday night when, under the auspices of the Morrinsville Caledonian Society, the annual supper was held in the Oddfellows’ Hall. The chief, Mr W. McLean, presided over a good attendance, including Mr A. J. Sincalir, of Te Awamutu, and Mr T. C. Wallace, chief of the Cambridge Society. The principal toast of the evening, “ The Immortal Memory,” was proposed by Mr Sinclair, who said that once in a while there came into one’s life a man about whom one did not reason or debate or labour to extol his virtues or excuse his failings. He might be a great painter, musician, writer, or poet. To Scottish people in every part of the globe such a man was Robert Burns. 'The speaker said he knew of no other poet whose name acted like a magnet on his fellowcountrymen, drawing them together on the anniversary of his birth to honour his memory, revel in his wit and genius, and enjoy his matchless songs.' . Wjhat Manner of Man ? What manner of man was this who caused Professor John Stewart Blackie, of Edinburgh University, to say: “ When Scotland forgets Burns, history will forget Scotland ” ? Bred on the borders of the Burns country, Mr Sinclair believed he knew the answer to that question, and would attempt to explain why it was that, as generation succeeded generation, Robert Burns, whose true life commenced with his death, became more deeply embedded in the affections of S’cots. Burns died just over one hundred and fifty years ago in great poverty and neglect at the early age of 37 years. To his wife his last words of comfort were: “ Dinna worry aboot me, Jean. In anither one hundred years I’ll be mair respected than I am noo.” Scottish people acclaimed Burns as one of the greatest national poets who ever 'lived. Shakespeare, the greatest poet of all time, was not the national poet of England. He never wrote a single line concerning any event which occurred during his lifetime; he ;ranked with 'Homer and Dante as an international poet; he belonged to the world. But Burns was the national poet of Scotland. He was the mirror of his country, reflecting in song its life, character, customs, and those peculiarities wherein it differed from other countries. No poet ever achieved that task for England as Burns achieved it for Scotland. Love and Genius Burns sang the scenery of Scotland as no one else could sing it, with a passionate love and a burning genius. He sang the manners and customs of our Scottish forefathers, saving them from oblivion—the Hansel Mbndays, the kirns, the rockings, the trysts, the Hallowe’ens, the Holy Fairs, the Ordinations, and the family worship in the cottar’s home when—

The sire turns owre wi’ patriarchal care The big Ha’ Bible, aince his father’s pride.

He sang the sins and sorrows of Scotland, with its drunken debauches in the inns of its Nance Tinnochs and its Poosie Nancies, its “ gangrel bodies ” (homeless people), and those unsavoury miscreants whom he termed euphemistically “ The Jolly Beggars,” drunken vagabonds who wandered the countryside terrorising the people. He sang of these things because they formed part of the life of Scotland at that time, with all its religion and surface morality. A mirror reflected blemishes as well as beauties; and, as the mirror of Scotland, Burns was impelled by his genius to depict its ugliness and its sordidness as well as its beauty and charm.

Good and Homely Things But he sang also of the good and homely things, its “ soople scones,” its “ whalesome parritch, chief o’ Scotland’s fuid,” its herrin’ and its haggis, its tipnenny ale, its usquaebae and its aqua vitas—-fascinating names our Scottish forefathers had for their national beverage, sold in Burns’ time at 18d a bottle for the finest Highland blends ! It was not an expensive luxury to acquire that social honour so much coveted in Bums’ day of the highest standing— to be regarded as a three-bottle man, a man who could drink three bottles of whisky without falling under the table ! Was it asking too much that Burns should be judged by the standards of the age in which he lived ? Burns held that mirror before his own eyes and depicted ruthlessly the man he saw there. How much would we know about his weaknesses and failings apart from his own writings ? Some of his great English contemporaries led private lives compared with which the offences. of Robert Burns against the social code were mere peccadillos; but they had honoured ames in English history and literature, and no breath of -criticism was ever directed against them. Burns’ wife explained the reason when she said to him once: “ Rabbie, when ither folk dae anything wrang, they try to hide it; when you dae anything wrang, you* write a poem about it and prent it in a book for a’ the world to read. It’ll be remembered against ye.” Jean had never read Shakespeare, but in her homely way she was merely expressing his thought when he said; “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Fortunately it had not proved so with Burns. Shared Their Griefs

He endeared himself to the people of Scotland because he was one of themselves; he shared their griefs, privations, poverty, and the gashes made Tn their hearts by death and disappointment. But he shared also their loves and affections, their courtships “ beneath the nulk-white\thorn that scents the evening gale,” their marriages and family joys.