My Heart's in the Highlands

by Robert Burns

book

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1988

About the author

Robert Burns (also known as Robin) was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language. He also wrote in English and a "light" Scots, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism. A cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world, celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature.

As well as making original compositions, Burns collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and Scots Wha Hae has served as an unofficial national anthem. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well-known across the world today, include A Red, Red Rose, A Man's A Man for A' That, To a Louse, To a Mouse, The Battle of Sherramuir, Tam o' Shanter and Ae Fond Kiss.

Reviews

[Anna P (whatIreallyRead) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another bilingual poetry edition I've owned for 15 years. In this case, I was glad it was bilingual and actually need the translation sometimes - for reading XVIII century poetry in Scottish dialect was sometimes hard. Though some poems were written in standard English and I had no trouble with those.

One of my favorites:

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth ;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover'd with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Many poems had a narrative and characters, and had a pronounced element of class, with rich people of dubious character were in opposition to poor and honest folks, often a romantic preference being placed with the poor but good person. I can see why Burns' poetry is still popular today.

Many of the ballads were actually meant to be songs, and didn't lend themselves very well to simple reading, with lots of repetitions and exclamations like "O!" at every turn. So I found myself looking them up on Spotify and Youtube - and many were indeed lovely songs! I liked listening to them more than reading, and some are now permanently on my playlist, like "Green grow the rashes".

Overall a bit too much work for this to be enjoyable, I'd say it's 3.5*. I definitely know I shouldn't buy Burns in the original. But I do have a volume of Ukrainian translations of his which I'll pick up sometime.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a beautiful poem about a man who must leave the land he loves, but vows to keep it near his heart no matter where he goes.

[Bat713 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really My Heart’s in the Highlands, an anthology of verse by Scotland’s Bard Robert Burns. It is a beautiful small paperback published in Norwich as a keepsake. It contains many of Burns poems with photographs of Scotland’s Highlands across from each poem. Very hard to read but there is accompanying translation at the bottom of each page. Not too enjoyable but now I can say I read Burns.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Farewell to the Highlands - My Heart's in the Highlands. Beautiful, heart-wrenching, a poem for every person.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and sweet souvenir compilation of Burns' work accompanied by lovely photos of the Scottish Highlands in the 1983 version that I own, purchased on a trip to Scotland in 1986. Burns was the favorite poet of my grandmother through whom I received my 1/4 Scottish-Welsh ancestry. Re-reading this small volume, especially light-hearted amusements such as "To a Louse," made me feel that I understand my roots and her wit, for which she was famous, a bit more. This volume offers a compact intro to Burns, with helpful footnotes explaining words and phrases in the Scots dialects that Burns strove to capture. Photos of the lush glens and foliage of the Highlands complement Burns' expressions of clear joy in his homeland and love of its lilting language, featured in many of the poems. A pleasure to revisit.