Robert Burns app created to promote Bard

Published on Tuesday 18 January 2011 17:35

Have you ever struggled to remember a verse from Auld Lang Syne at Hogmanay, or stalled under pressure during a Burns Supper recital? Now there's an app for that.

With Burns Night fast approaching, the Scottish Government has launched a free iPhone app which contains the complete works of the Bard in a searchable database - more than 550 poems and songs in total.

It also features a glossary to help those unfamiliar with the Scots terms, a guide to the haggis supper and biographical information about the 18th-century poet's short but eventful life.

There are other Burns-related apps available on the Apple platform, but this is the first time his complete works have been made available at no cost.

Culture minister Fiona Hyslop called the new app "a great platform" to promote Burns. She said: "Robert Burns is Scotland's greatest cultural icon. His legacy is of incalculable value to Scotland and the country's image abroad. This app uses the very latest technology to bring Burns firmly into the 21st century, with his enduring messages of human equality and international brotherhood now available to iPhone users the world over."