If you are not Scottish, you may not be aware of Robert Burns, aside from seeing the notification of ‘Burns’ Night’ appearing on your phone every twenty-fifth of January. And even if you are aware of the Winter celebration, do you really know who you are raising your dram in honour of?

Robert Burns was born in Ayrshire in 1759 and spent much of his childhood watching his father struggle as a farmer, and this is what led Burns to adopt a somewhat rebellious nature. He had an interest in reading the works of many prominent eighteenth-century English authors and learnt some Scottish folk songs and tales orally throughout his childhood. When his father died, Burns inherited the farm and worked there, leading him to have an affair with a girl who worked as a farm servant, called Elizabeth Paton. When she gave birth to Burns’ first child in 1785, he wrote a poem in honour of it.

So, this is where we start to see the development of what Burns is most famous for – his writing. He would write through the mid-1780s, and build up not only a collection of poems, but also a bit of a reputation for being rebellious and including a fair dose of satire and irony at the expense of religious and political beliefs he disagreed with. Over the next few years, he would fall in love with another woman, Jean Armour, who became pregnant and whose father denied her marriage to Burns. Angered by this, Burns went off with Mary Campbell, whose death may be one the only reason Burns returned to Scotland as Armour gave birth to twins, and his poetry was starting to attract attention.