From the archive: Lord Wavell on Burns - 26 January, 1950
The motion was carried by 84 votes to 48. Lord Wavell stated that in spite of the eloquence of the mover he would have voted with the minority. Lord Wavell, who held the view that English poetry was suffering from over-education, said Burns was a simple, natural poet, and if he had gone to a university they might have lost a great deal. It was possible they might not. He said he had suspected the younger generation did not read much Burns. “If not, I wonder what they do when they fall in love.” His love songs had hardly ever been equalled in poetry, and he thought they might have lost some of these if he had gone to a university.