Home > UK / Ireland Guide > Other UK / Ireland topics >

Burns Night

Description: An evening to commemorate the memory of Robert 'Rabbie' Burns. Listen to the toasts, sing songs, read poems and receive ... more

Burns Night ... haggis.

Newest Review: ... tartans and highland dress is largely a Victorian invention, long after Burns' death. So tomorrow you'll have a bit of a hangover but will look back on a good time. What have you been celebrating? "Scotland's greatest poet" is the claim. And that begs the question, if he's the greatest what's the competition like? The only others in the frame are Walter Scott and R L Stevenson, ... more

... so you can see the dilemma. More modern pretenders like Hugh McDiarmid are not well enough known. William McGonagall is a joke, and Ossian was a hoax. Scotland has always been a better producer of engineers than literary people, and its literary ...more

Read Reviews for Burns Night

Burns Night: A night to remember (1563 words)
by - written on 25/01/08 (Very useful, 136 readings)
Rating:

Tonight (25 January) is Burns' Night. There are two surprising things about that statement. Firstly, most of you will be aware of it, even though you don't live in Scotland, are not Scottish, and have never read any Burns, because there is probably a shindig going on at a pub or club near you. Secondly, why on earth should a second-ranking 18th century poet, who wrote much of his stuff in near incomprehensible vernacular, have an annual celebration? There is, after all, no Shakespeare Saturday, Wordsworth Week, or Byron Boozer and arguably they all have a greater claim to fame. What is going on? The first part is easier to answer. Although even thirty ... Read the complete review

Read 1 review

Write a review