Wha's like us... Robert Burns

Published on Saturday 19 January 2008 18:02

TWO hundred and eleven years after his death, Rabbie Burns remains Scotland's greatest gift to the world. Not just for his poetry and songs, which are rightly revered across the globe and as well-loved in Russia as in America, but for his pioneering of the Romantic movement and his internationalism.

He may have been born the son of a humble Ayrshire farmer but his influence on other writers is arguably matched only by William Shakespeare. Burns inspired the likes of William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to name but three. His own work gave John Steinbeck the title to Of Mice And Men and, after a fashion, gave JD Salinger his Catcher In The Rye.

Burns continues to have a huge impact at home too – his legacy brings in more than 150m in tourism revenue annually. As important, the range of his work and fame gives every Scot good reason to be proud. So, enjoy your haggis, neeps and tatties on Friday. And if you are inclined to raise a glass too, make a toast to the Bard's immortal memory.