Sunday 25 January 2009

Scots

For some reason I woke up at 5 this morning, instead of finishing a book (I'll do it one day) I flicked on Radio 5 live and listened to the news. It's amazing the energy the presenters have so early in the morning. Anyway I found out quite a lot about the great Scot, Robert Burns whose 250th anniversary is today. I've vaguely heard of him before but I had no idea how popular his poetry is and the wonderful celebrations Scotland enjoys this weekend. Of course I'm jealous that we don't have anything like it in Wales, there are many poets but as usual we never make a big song and dance about anything (well, apart from rugby).

It was wonderful to hear an expert on Burn's work share his passion. Apparently Lincoln had a high regard for the poet, and similarities can be made with his speeches and Burn's humanity. The highlight was the reciting of the poetry, hearing the Scots dialect (I always thought it was called gaelic but this makes more sense) was so soothing. Luckily the BBC has all his written works including recordings. Check out these two poems:

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