BURNS, ROBERT

born Jan. 25, 1759, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scot. died July 21, 1796, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire national poet of Scotland, who wrote lyrics and songs in the Scottish dialect of English. He was also famous for his amours and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality. Additional reading The standard edition of Burns's letters is J. De Lancey Ferguson (ed.), The Letters of Robert Burns, 2nd ed., edited by G. Ross Roy, 2 vol. (1985).The fullest modern biography is James Mackay, RB: A Biography of Robert Burns (also published as A Biography of Robert Burns, 1992). J. De Lancey Ferguson, Pride and Passion: Robert Burns, 17591796 (1939, reissued 1964), offers an admirable portrait of Burns the man. David Daiches, Robert Burns (1950, reissued as Robert Burns: The Poet, 1994), gives a full account of both the man and the poetry. Thomas Crawford, Burns: A Study of the Poems and Songs (1960, reissued 1994), is a critical and scholarly study. Gavin Sprott, Robert Burns: Pride and Passion (1996), provides a perceptive account of the poet's life and environment. Major Works: Burns's first collection, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), known as the Kilmarnock edition, contains 44 of Burns's best known poems. The Edinburgh edition (1787) adds 22 poems, including Address to the Unco Guid, or the Rigidly Righteous and The Brigs of Ayr. The last version to be supervised by Burns, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1793), adds another 18, including Tam o' Shanter. James Johnson, Robert Burns, and Stephen Clarke, The Scots Musical Museum, 6 vol. (17871803), includes some 200 songs and fragments, with some airs, written, revised, or collected by Burns. More than 70 of Burns's songs are included in the first five vol. of George Thomson (compiler), A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice (17931818).James Kinsley (ed.), The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, 3 vol. (1968), also available in an abridged ed., Poems and Songs (1969, reprinted 1979), is the standard modern scholarly edition. Donald A. Low (ed.), The Songs of Robert Burns (1993), contains the most complete edition of the songs with the music.