THE POET OF SCOTLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16335, 26 January 1921, Page 6

THE POET OF SCOTLAND.

AN APPRECIATION OF BURNS. LECTURE BY MR J. CRAICIE To celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns, who was born on January 25, 1759, members of the Scottish Society gathered last night to hear a very inspiring address by Mr James Craigio, M.P-. of Timaru. His address was listened to with tho deepest interest, . j and a vote of thanks was accorded Mr I Oraigie by acclamation. There was a programme of Scottish songs and other i items, and under t-hte presidency of ; Oh ief Aitken the evening passed very : pleasantly. Mr Craigie first briefly touched on : the poet’s birth and ancestry, and tho | publication of the early editions of his i works. He then went on to deal with j the pregnant, message which Burns brought to the people of the world, more particularly to those occupying lowly stations as distinct from the classes. Ho said that it was now widely acknowledged that Burns was one of nature’s greatest poets. There could be no doubt that with the passing of centuries his reputation would increate, and his message sink deeper into ihe public conscience, inasmuch as he was iiie poet of the common people, the poet of democracy, liberty and freedom, because his sympathies were cosmopolitan. because he was the embodiment of mauiy independence and scorned to act a base part under any conditions. It ; had been said by the great French j writer Taine. that Scotland was a poor country for Burns to have been born in, ! but he (Mr Craigie) held that it was • only such a country' as that north of 1 the Tweed that could have given birth }to Robert Burns. Thomas Carlyle, iecj turing before the intellectuals of the i great city of London, assorted that ! Burns possessed the greatest soul of his time—it truly magnificent tribute from a great, thoroughly honest and rugged authority. The question had frequently been asked : What has Burns ho is hold not only by his own country- , men, but by millions beyond t.ho borders of Caledonia ? His (Mr Craigie’s) task was to answer that question. The writings of Robert Burns had already j influenced the affairs of the world to ; jan extent which it was impossible to calculate; they leavened the thoughts of the people of all countries ; his words were spoken by . millions who knew not: that they were quoting Scotland’s national poet- Burns had the power, in an unexampled degree, of making articulate the thoughts of the common ]>eople, but which had remained unspoken lor centuries for want of a gifted interpreter; he gave voice to the feelings and ambitions and aspirations of the common people, and put their case for right and justice with so much cogency. so forcibly, and so logically that he is to-day rightly revered the world over by tho.se striving for a better condition of things. When Burns was born Scotland had already surrendered her independence nearly fifty years, but I was still a distinct nation. Broad Scotch was still spoken in the palace, the laiv courts, and in the assemblies of the people. But. tho changes wrought by the English had gone far to extinguish the old spirit ; the national dress was proscribed by the authorities, and English speech was rapidly supplanting the Doric. The Scotch were despised by the English, and in this connection Mr Craigie quoted the story of the famous biographer, James Boswell, who. when introduced to Dr Johnston, apologised for being a Scotsman, explaining that this was not his fault ! By this time Scotland in religious matters had drifted from the broad democracy of John Knox to mere superstitious formalism ; the country stood in serious danger of being Anglified. The time Mas ready for a great man to switch her back on to the right track, and to assert tho spirit and traditions of the race. The all necessary man for this work did not come from the palace or ! the scats of the mighty, but was found lin a humble Ayrshire cottage in the j person of Robert Burns, the son of a ! Scotch peasant. [ Burns sprang from the class best I qualified for the great task. His genius flamed early. He interpreted the thoughts of the people in their own ! language, he lirod his countrymen to i a full realisation of their manhood and the nobility of sturdy independence: his stirring songs and poems awakened < them from the lethargic condition into which they had to some extent fallen as a result of association with England. Burns’s great song, Scots, "Wha Hae,” was acknowledged by such ail excellent authority as Thomas Carlyle to be the finest of its class in any language. 111© .Sage of Chelsea declaring that it ought to be sung with the throttle of the whirlwind. To illustrate his point. Mr Craigie repeated the lines of the spirited composition with telling effect. Burns re-establish€*d Scotland’s independence and made her a new nation ; he gave her people a patriotic con- j science, and in the groat war Burns’s songs proved more valuable than legions of the most efficient recruiting officers. Mr Craigio referred to the time, shortly* before the poet’s death, when France, recently erected into a republic, threatened to invade England, and tho action of Burns in coming forward as a volunteer in defence of rh© country. "While Burns showed keen sympathy with the revolutionary party in France, and with the American colonists who had but recently thrown off the British yoke—Burns was a believer in freedom for all peoples under all conditions—when it was announced that his native country was threatened with invasion by a foreign *power, he showed an intense patriotism, a burn ing patriotism, and in. this connection penned the stirring lines beginning: “Does haughty Gaul invasion threat. ” and concluding:— The wretch that wadi a tyrant own. And the- wretch, his i-rue-sworn brother, Who. would set- the mob aboon the throne May the}' be damn'rl together! Wha'will not Bing "God .Save tho King” Shall hang as high as the steeple: But while wo siny " God Save the King ” We'll ne'er forget tho j eople. Burns was a great moraliser and teacher; h© possessed a wondereful insight into human nature, and to elucidate this point Mr Craigio quoted a number of the poet's familiar sayings. The _ lecturer next recited Burns’s , “Epistle to a Young Friend," and said that the advice therein contained was equally as good as that put by Shakespeare into the mouth of Polonius and spoken to his son Laertes. However, i perhaps it was not estimated so highly' as it was written in homely Doric, less widely known than classical English, i Burns, although not well provided with the world’s gear, never stooped to lower i his manhood before rank. He assooi- I a ted with the highest, but he possessed 1 too much self-respect to yield to the ] blandishments showered upon him. Er© * Socialism was dreamed of in its pre- ' sent sense, it found an eloquent ex- ’ ponent in Robert Burns—<a voice that ' pleaded that the individual should have ! fair play. To .Rousseau, whose writings ’ and books on social equality were said * to have instigated the revolution, Burns \ sent a copy of his poeifi, 5 A Man’s a Man for a’ That "-—the finest thing of its sort in any language—and it sent , the great Frenchman into ecstasies, . that great judge declaring that it was { a trumpet call not for a year, not for { a decade, but for eternity. Bums was j an educator of the heart; his syrapa- j thieft were all-embracing, and in proof \ of this Mr Craigie quoted a number $ of the poet’s well known verses. Prior c to the advent of Burns there was t strong belief in Scotland in a personal l devil, hut the poet, by his raillery, i laughed the monster out of the land. 1

As a master of satire Burns stands without an equal In the choice of the subjects for his immortai verses Burns brought the people back to the simple things of everyday life. Mr Craigie quoted Burns’s description of a brook or burn by moonlight, arid said that within the same compass there was not a finer thing .in literature. He had no doubt that Tennyson owed to the Scottish poet not a little of the. inspiration which prompted him to write “The Brook." As a writer of love songs Burns was supreme: his multitudinous compositions are all tender end true and beautiful, and to illustrate this point the lecturer quoted “Of a’ the Airts," li Highland Mary," “ Ye Banks and Braes," and other poems. As a pong writer Burns did more to elevate the taste of his native country than any reformer had done, and that was sa3 T ing a good deal. Mr Craigie quoted Emerson’s declaration that “ not Latimer nor Luther had struck more telling blows against false doctrine and dogmas than the songs of Burns." Throughout the world clubs were being annually founded to perpetuate the memory or the lowly Ayrshire bard and peasant who brought a- great message to the world : monuments were erected in his memory, and much had been done to impress upon the people the immensity of the work accomplished in his all too short life. Was this necessary? Burns was enshrined among the immortals ; the lapse of years would but serve to increase the lustre of his fame, and to imbue the people with a sti.ll greater appreciation of the value of his teachings—the sermons of brotherhood to be found in his writings. It was not possible that such a name could cease to influence public opinion, or fail to win the veneration and appreciation of succeeding generations, and the name of Burns would undoubtedly endure till the end of time, yearly increasing its hold on the human race which it enjoys to-day to an extent that finds no parallel in the history uf literature.