Biography

Robert Burns was born in Alloway, two miles south of Ayr, on the 25th of January 1759. His parents were tenant farmers but made sure young Robert got a good education. He was very fond of reading and was influenced by writers such as Alexander Pope and Lawrence Sterne. The family farm did not interest him, and he spent more and more time on poetry, drinking, and courting. He also collected songs and sometimes added new words to old tunes, including some Gaelic airs.

Eventually he married Jean Armour, and they had a couple of children. When the relationship broke down, he decided to leave the country with his Highland Mary, Mary Campbell. Mary died suddenly and so Robert never left Scotland, but that was also because his poetry had become popular throughout the country.

Ae Fond Kiss is perhaps his best-known song, and it was made for Agnes McLehose, whom he met in Edinburgh in 1787. Agnes was married but separated from her husband, and between 1787-1788, she and Robert wrote letters to each other, sometimes twice a day. It was in 1792, hearing that Agnes planned to go overseas, that he wrote Ae Fond Kiss.

Robert Burns died on the 21st of July 1796, aged only 37.

List of compositions

Aon Phòg Ghràidh