A Night Out with Robert Burns: The Greatest Poems

by Robert Burns, Andrew O'Hagen (Compiler)

The Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns has been idolized and eulogized. He has been sainted, painted, sculpted, tormented, and toasted. Best known for his poem “Auld Lang Syne,” Burns is regarded as the patron saint of the heartsore and the hungover. But beneath his cult following and the patriotic yawps, there is the writing itself, which is among the purest of any age. In A Night Out with Robert Burns novelist and Scottish essayist Andrew O’Hagan joins company with the poet who has mattered most to him throughout his own writing career. Organizing the poems into four overlapping categories, O’Hagan offers fragments and distilled commentary of his own, forming an ongoing dialogue between O’Hagan and the bard himself. The effect is explosive, giving us Robert Burns at his very best—a political Burns, a satirical Burns, a poet who can name hypocrisy and intolerance while always aiming directly at the human heart.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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

[D Dyer]

This is a solid introduction to the poetry of Robert Burns. It’s got a good selection, though honestly I didn’t find the pros had notes terribly useful, but they were occasionally interesting but not really necessary. I really appreciated the glossary in the back, I didn’t need it terribly frequently but when I did need it it was wonderful to have on hand.
The POETRY it’s self is beautiful, very lyrical and while all of the most frequently offered poems are present there are also a few new discoveries for anyone who is acquainted with but not necessarily an expert in Burns’s work.

[McLean]

The poetry’s great, of course, but there are better collections out there. The selling point for this particular collection over others is meant to be the commentary included with each poem. But the commentary was rarely enlightening or particularly interesting. This feels a missed opportunity.

[Michael]

I couldn't finish this. I can appreciate the lively spirit in the writing but the archaic language was a barrier for me. Even with glossaries and explanations I couldn't understand much. I know it's great but I just couldn't penetrate it

[Sparky Shelton]

The lasses? Bonnie. The braes? Bonnie. The glossary at the back of this book? Woefully insufficient

[Peter Greenfield]

For those of you that can't read Scottish quick this book will take you sometime. Luckily for me the pages jumped out at me and I was able to go through the poems quickly. Top stars as Rab goes through several topics like politics and love. Essential guide to those that are interested.

[Steve Pinder-Banthorpe]

Hard going if you're not familiar with the Scots Leid. The glossary is far from complete so you are left to wonder what certain words mean. Have yourself a Scots dictionary handy unless you already have a good grounding in Scots. A good reference book but not something to read in one go.

[Travis West]

Lovely Collection of Poetry by Robert Burns. Clear to see why he's nationally recognized as a Scottish poet.

My control of the Scots language is that of a child so having a scots-english dictionary handy helped quite a bit.

[David Campton]

An interesting anthology of Burn's works, but whilst I learned a few things from O'Hagan's comments and introduction, these were patchy and somewhat sneering and self-referential at points.

[Katie Cat Books]

Poetry. Scottish. Commentary.

[Catherine]

I know the bits of Burns most people do - Auld Lang Syne, A Red Red Rose, To a Mouse and so on, but there was much here that was new to me. Maybe because I 'did' Tam for 'O' level English Lit, maybe because I'm from Northern Ireland where some dialect words are the same, or maybe because I read for rhythm and sense rather than worrying about every word, I found the glossary at the back useful, but not something I needed to refer to frequently. I therefore enjoyed this selection immensely - enough poems to get the measure of the poet, not so many as to leave one feeling overstuffed, and with thoughtful attachments from Mr O'Hagan.

One thing pulled me up short - four lines in Tam O'Shanter:
Three Lawyer's tongues, turn'd inside out,
Wi' lies seam'd like a beggar's clout;
Three Priest's hearts rotten, black as muck
Lay stinking, vile, in every neuk.-
were, in the version I learnt:
And mair o' horrible an' awfu'
That e'en to name wud be unlawfu'.
Was that a Burns substitution in some edition or other, or a bowlderisation in the anthology (whose name I do not recall) we used?

Anyway new favourites from this collection: Love & Liberty - A Cantata; Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut; Address to the Unco Guid, or the Rigidly Righteous; Death & Doctor Hornbook - A True Story; Holy Willie's Prayer; and being able to read all of A Man's a Man for A' That.

[Edward Rathke]

This is some fun poetry. Ballads to drinking, to scotch, and so on.

Burns certainly has a way with words and a music to the language. Perhaps best read by a Scotsman aloud. The commentary on the poems adds very little, but it takes away nothing, so best to ignore it, I think.

But, yes, this is a great little book of poetry.

[Russell]

I first found out about Robert Burns in school but, to be honest, other than Auld Lang Syne I never really took much interest after then; I figure he was just the school poetry stuff we study and forget after we've wrote the essay, actually I don't even think the class I was in even wrote an essay about him.

[Angélique Moseley]

From its prologue anecdote with Seamus Heaney, to the structured chapters and the concise introductions to each piece, this book brings Burns to you with heart and hair on its chest.

Gave me a fresh appreciation for the elasticity of the Scots language. Hats off to Mr. O'Hagan.

[Tom]

an excellent collection, sympathetically introduced, a splendid place to start for anyone who is wondering "why all the fuss about him?"

[Old-Barbarossa]

A nice wee taster of the bard.
Poetry split by subject matter and brief comments on each, reasonable glossary.

[Calum]

There are so many Burn's Anthologies out there. Arranged around burn's "passions" makes him so easily accessable. A delight to dip into time and time again.

[KM]

The poetry is absolute gold but O'Hagan's writing is dire in places. This book is 5 star if you avoid the introduction and some of the paragraphs introducing the poems- cringeworthy.

[Peter Sumby]

Sleekit!