Reminiscences of Growing-up Years in the Land o' Rabbie Burns

By Irene Dendle

A personal memoir by Irene Dendle exploring her years growing up in Scotland.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A H Stockwell
• Release date: Jun 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9780722352243

Book preview

Reminiscences of Growing-up Years in the Land o’ Rabbie Burns

Volume 1

Reminiscences of Growing-Up Years in the Land o’ Rabbie Burns

Part 1: Rabbie Burns – Who Was He?

(Introduction to and Some Authentic Facts about Rabbie Burns)

Robert Burns was born into a farming family on 25 January 1759, his birthplace being a clay cottage built by his father, William, in Alloway, Ayr, Ayrshire. His mother’s name was Agnes. The name Rabbie or Rob is often used among Scots instead of the name Robert.

His early death on 21 July 1796 at the age of thirty-seven was caused through ill health – mainly rheumatic fever contracted the year before.

Burns discovered that farming was hard work. The family were poor and lived a very frugal, physically demanding life.

His parents did all they could to give Robert an education, which he received at first from a teacher engaged by several neighbouring farmers.

He learned to read and write, and with encouragement from his father his reading ranged widely over English literature. His knowledge of Scottish literature was largely acquired from legends, songs and tales which he heard.

As an escape from his circumstances, he started writing love poems at the young age of just fifteen years.

He and the family moved around various farms in Ayrshire, which didn’t prosper.

His father, William, died in February 1784 at Mossgiel.

Burns became tenant of the farm at Mossgiel, and it was while here that he really began to develop as a poet.

After an unhappy romance with Jean Armour, he considered emigrating to Jamaica. To raise funds for his passage, he collected his best poems and some songs. In 1786 they were published in what is now known as the Kilmarnock edition.

His writings were an immediate success, so he gave up his plans to emigrate, and instead went to Edinburgh, where a second volume of poems was published in 1787.

He had a very varied love life, but in 1787 he ‘made an honest woman’ of Jean Armour – he married her. They moved to a farm at Ellisland, Dumfriesshire.

Again, his farming failed. He accepted the post of exciseman, which entailed travelling the countryside, where his fame involved him in an excess of conviviality at private parties, but he was never addicted to drink.

Rabbie Burns, ‘the Scottish Bard’, is now, in this twenty-first century, remembered the world over as the great poet and songwriter that he certainly was. He was a charismatic figure and is one of the best-known and best-loved Scots poets.

‘Auld Lang Syne’, one of his most famous poems, is still sung at the conclusion of ‘Burns suppers’ and concerts, etc. Another example is the beautiful song ‘My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose’. This too is still sung on numerous occasions throughout the world. I make no apologies for quoting the following lines of the aforementioned poem:

O, my Luve’s like a red red rose

That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve’s like the melodie

That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun!

I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ time shall run!

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

And fare-thee-weel, a while!

And I will come again, my luve,

Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!

Among many of his profound sayings are:

‘Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a toon surpasses

For honest men and bonnie lasses.’

‘The best laid schemes o’ mice, an’ men

Gang aft a-gley.’

‘O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us!’

‘Nae man can tether time or tide.’

Rabbie even left a few lines of legacy depicting ‘grace at table’. Here is the very famous ‘Selkirk Grace’, which is often said before eating at annual Burns suppers, or indeed before eating any meal any time or anywhere you care to mention:

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

Of course, we mustn’t forget that at annual Burns suppers the haggis should be ‘piped in’, then Burns’ ‘Address to a Haggis’ given. We know a friend, Dr Jim Proudfoot, who not only is the organiser of Burns suppers in Swansea, along with his wife, Jan, but is also a great authority on Burns and is marvellous at reciting the poem ‘Address to a Haggis’ at every Burns supper. It really does set the scene for the whole evening. Neeps and tatties are traditionally served with the haggis. Please don’t be put off by the ingredients – i.e. sheep’s pluck (heart, liver and lungs) mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet and spices. There are actually loads of brands and varieties of haggis, so it’s your choice of this delicacy!

If your appetite for more information about Rabbie Burns has been stirred, you’re sure to find much more on a website or delve into one of the many books written about his life. I recommend two books in particular: The Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns (Waverley Books) and The Ultimate Guide to Robert Burns (D.C.Thomsonshop.co.uk).

If you’re travelling around, you may even come across his statue placed strategically in various towns and cities to commemorate this great Scottish figure who lived nearly two and a half centuries ago, but sadly left this earthly scene in his prime!

The Robert Burns’ Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire, is very much worth a visit – or ‘virtually’, if preferred, although it’s not the same as actually being there to see the wonderful site containing more than 5,000 Burns artefacts! I’d like to draw your attention to one artefact in the museum – namely, the Gregg violin. This is one of the twenty-five Objects That Shaped Scotland’s History. It was made from pine, maple and sycamore, decorated with a red, green and black floral design. It dates back to 1750 and was the possession of Burns’ dance teacher, William Gregg. It was rediscovered by the committee of the Bachelors’ Club and restored to its former glory in 1995. It has toured the USA and it really is amazing to think that Burns danced to tunes played on this fiddle, which certainly connects the past to the present.

Burns’ cottage, where he grew up, is also very much worth a visit. It has a connecting path through a garden to the museum, along which you’ll see some sculptures at various stages, such as the ‘tim’rous beastie’ – the mouse, inspired by his poem ‘To A Mouse’. There is also a bust of Rabbie himself. The cottage, because of its clay structure and thatched roof, has always needed very much care. In 2019 an urgent fundraising campaign was launched to save it. This work was finally finished when lockdown restrictions owing to the coronavirus were lifted in July 2021. Many people have a