Rabbie Burns - Pt 2 Love and Poetry
In Part 1 of this series of posts about Rabbie Burns, we saw how his formative years were shaped by life in the Alloway cottage and on the farm. His father, William, was also keen to see that his education wasn’t neglected, especially as being the eldest of his seven children, he would be head of the family after he’d gone. Now that William was lying in Alloway Auld Kirk churchyard, it was time for Robbie to step up to the plate and take care of the family. Fortunately, his brother Gilbert, who was only a year younger than him, was also there to help.
The tenancy at Lochlea Farm was passed down to the two boys, but there had been some legal problems before William died, and Robbie and Gilbert made the decision to start afresh and move the family to Mossgiel Farm near Mauchline instead. Life wasn’t any easier at Mossgiel than any of the other farms they had lived at, and for the next four years they had their work cut out to make ends meet.
During this time, Robbie never gave up his passion for literature, especially poetry: He was now twenty five years old with a passion for the lassies as well, and it wasn’t long before he started knocking around with a Mauchline girl by the name of Jean Armour.
Wooing the girls with his romantic words may have had its advantages, but it also had its disadvantages, because at the same time as he was hanging around with Jean, he was sowing seeds of a different kind back on the farm – and in 1785 his mother’s maidservant, Elizabeth Paton, gave birth to his first child – Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Burns.
Whether he would have done the honourable thing and marry her I’m not sure, but it seemed like his poetry still needed some improvement because Elizabeth wasn’t too keen on the idea herself, and it was left to Robbie’s mother to bring up Bess on their behalf – leaving her son free to continue his liaison with Jean.
No pictures have survived of Jean Armour when she first met Robbie Burns and known as the ‘Belle of Mauchline’, but girls, love and poetry went together like haggis, neeps and tatties for the Mauchline farmer, and the years between 1785-1787 were the most prolific in his life, both for his love-life and his poetry.
By the end of 1785, it was Jean’s turn to find herself pregnant, but she kept it quiet until the following March, and you can see why when you find out how her father reacted. It’s said that when he heard the news he fainted: To say he wasn’t happy would be an understatement, and to avoid scandal in the village he packed her off to Paisley to live with her uncle. Matters didn’t improve when he found out that the young couple had entered into an informal marriage agreement, and the best way to deal with it was to get a lawyer to mutilate the certificate. Not a good start you might say.
From where Robbie was standing it appeared that Jean had deserted him in favour of her father’s wishes, and he didn’t waste much time in practicing his poetry on another young lassie by the name of Mary Campbell who was working as a nursemaid for Gavin Hamilton, a lawyer friend of his in Mauchline. She appeared on the scene at a time when Robbie’s life was getting tangled up in all manner of stuff. Not only was he unofficially married to another woman who was carrying his child, he was also considering leaving the farm to take up a job offer in Jamaica.
The offer came from Dr Patrick Douglas, an acquaintance of Robbie’s, who lived at nearby Old Cumnock and owner of a sugar plantation in Port Antonio. His brother Charles, who managed the estate, was looking for a bookkeeper and was offering a three year contract and a salary of £30 per annum.
His life in Ayrshire was going nowhere fast: Working on the farm had always been an uphill struggle, the family that he would have settled down with had been taken away from him, and his literary aspirations had come to nothing, so what did he have to lose? Nothing of course, and so he accepted the job, although I would like to think that he had reservations about working on a farm that obviously used slave labour.
Deep down, it seems to me that he must have also wanted to lead a settled life with a wife and family, because he wanted Mary Campbell to go with him. Highland Mary, as she came to be known because of her heavy Gaelic accent, was won over by his words in this poem he wrote to her. The words are put to music by Jim Reid.
In May (1786), they sat on the banks of the River Ayr somewhere around Coilsfield and exchanged bibles in an unofficial vow of marriage. According to Robbie, the plan was that “she should embark for the West Highlands to arrange matters among her friends for our projected change of life.”, but it was Robbie Burns himself who said in another poem, To a Mouse, “the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.”
Setting his plans in motion, Robbie then transferred his share in Mossgiel Farm to his brother Gilbert, and to help pay for his passage, Gavin Hamilton suggested to Robbie that he should try and publish some of his poems, and that’s exactly what he did. To help convince John Wilson, a printer in Kilmarnock, that he was worth the risk, he compiled a list of names of potential purchasers – and on 31st July, ‘Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’ was published. Selling at three shillings a copy (which was a week’s income for the average worker at the time) they flew off the shelves in no time at all and became an instant success.
This unexpected change of fortune was to throw a spanner in the works. Burns had booked tickets to sail on the brigantine ‘Nancy’, from Greenock to Jamaica, but on the success of the Kilmarnock Edition (as it was to become known) decided to postpone it. Two days later on 3rd September, he learnt that Jean had given birth to twins, and to add to the confusion, a day later, the eminent poet, Thomas Blacklock, wrote a letter to a friend of Burns suggesting that he should compile an enlarged second edition of his poems. The letter was passed to Robbie who later says “I had taken the last farewell of my few friends, my chest was on the road to Greenock; I had composed the last song I should ever measure in Scotland – ‘The gloomy night is gathering fast’ – and instead of heading for the Caribbean, he was sleeping under the roof of his brother’s farm at Mossgiel.
The words are put to music by Daniel Kelly
So where was Highland Mary while all this was going on? It seems as though she left Mauchline and sailed from Greenock down to her parents home in Campbeltown on Kintyre and returned to Greenock with her father to visit her brother who was suffering with typhus. While nursing him she also succumbed to the disease and around 20th/21st October she unexpectedly died at the tender age of 23.
A lot of speculation has been written about Highland Mary. Some even say that she was pregnant when she died, but most experts don’t believe that to be true. Whether she really intended to go to Jamaica with Robbie is another unanswered question, but judging from the words in ‘The Highland Lassie O’, ‘Highland Mary’ and to ‘Mary in Heaven’, it seems that she definitely had a special place in Rabbie’s heart.
Rabbie Burns’s love life may have been in disarray but his literary ambitions were at least starting to pick up, and in Part 3 we’ll see whether that was to be a good thing or not.
POSTED – JULY 2023
Originally posted 2023-07-28 15:08:45.
SO here was me wondering when you’d continue your great post on Burns as I’ve never had any notifications and I just happened to spy in recent posts that you had done several blogs. SO it nice to catch up here on the fact that Rabbie also went oft a’glay. Great post and will catch up with the rest. I have subscribed again, although it still says follow on the tab.But no sweat cos I come by anyway.
And there’s me thinking that you knew more about Rabbie than me and didn’t want to put me straight on one or two things. Anyway, notifications are always going awol, but, like you, I tend to keep a watch on my close WP friends sites to make sure I don’t miss anything. WordPress followers are a bit different to email subscribers in case you weren’t aware. If my memory serves me correctly, I think I both follow you on WordPress Reader, and also subscribe to your site via email.
I’ve done both and yesterday i did the email one again. But it still says Follow on the tab suggesting, for some reason, it ain’t worked.. But no, I was just too busy reading your older posts waiting for the next bit of Burns. as opposed to thinking this is all wrong. It’s really good. I’m away to rad the next bit now.
Never mind. You know where my website is anyway. Thanks for trying though.
I do indeed and I will be back for more tomorrow.
Thank you Shey.
Oooh, indeed a tangled love life! No doubt the affairs would have fed his inspiration, as is often the case, but he was a bit of a one for the ladies, wasn’t he? Interesting to read about his propensity for unofficial marriages, which makes me wonder if this was a means of keeping his options open. Fascinating character anyway. And I hadn’t known that he originated the famous phrase ‘of mice and men’. Great stuff! 🙂
I’m beginning to realise how he became the Bard of Scotland, and like most icons, there’s an underlying complexity to their nature that makes them the person that they are – and Rabbie was no exception 😊
It’s often the way, isn’t it? Creative genius and brilliant talent often comes in the guise of a complex and sometimes self-destructive personality. Look at Mozart – and Amy Winehouse to name just two.
And don’t forget Vincent van Gogh who thought he could do without one of his ears. Good job he was an artist and not a musician.
Oh yes, him too. There are so many of them, artists and musicians, and actors as well. There’s a definite pattern there, don’t you think?
Most of the geniuses are all crackers if you ask me. Just go careful Alli in case you go the same way 😊 It’s too late for me, I’m already crackers. It’s just a shame that I wasn’t a genius 😊
Bless you Malc, I’m no genius but I joined you on the road to Crackerdom a long time ago! In my view it’s the only way to cope with modern life nowadays… 😵💫
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em I say 🙂
Another excellent read, Malcolm! Rabbie certainly led an interesting, but fairly unaccountable life, I would say. Good thing he had poetic talent, as so far, he certainly didn’t seem to have any as a father. Am I wrong? Malcolm, you have your own talent for making any subject interesting when you tell it in your own words!!
Thank you so for your kind words Syl. I’m glad you’re enjoying these posts about Rabbie Burns. I think his role as a father might not look so bad if his love life had been a bit more successful, as you’ll find out in Part 3
Another interesting post Malc. Robbie certainly had a tangled love life but it sounds like Highland Mary may have been just that little bit more special than the others.
Tune in to Pt 3 and see if you’re right 🙂
Very good and a smashing good biography that you are writing about a great poet. And after all, what’s the use of being a poet if you don’t attract the lovely lasses? Wonderful, informative and interesting. Hope you are well and good Malc. The summer in Spain, so far has been HOT!!! They say it has been the hottest July on record. Well, we’ve not reached 40 on the Mediterranean coast, but at 34 with 89% humidity and a heat factor of over 10 degrees, who cares! Living thanks to the A/C and fans! Take good care and all the best!
Looking at the debris Rabbie left in his wake I think it was a good thing that I wasn’t born to be a poet. Sounds like you’re enjoying the good weather down there Francesc, presumably cooling down with the odd beer or two. Thanks for endorsing my attempt at helping people to understand why he is so highly regarded north of the border.
Always a pleasure my friend! And yes, an ice cold pint a little after 12 in the morning is needed in this weather 😀
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Excellent.. I have been a Burns fan for years now and a frequent attendee of Buns’ Nights in a number of Pacific Island locations. From one of my own reviews “After Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus, Robert Burns has more statues (around 160) dedicated to him around the world than any other non-religious figure”. Eight of those are in Australia.. only 2 in England !
Wherever the Scots have emigrated to they’ve put up a statue of him I suppose, but there has to be more Scots in England than anywhere.
Bit like the Irish though they open a pub!
LOL
I always knew, Malc, that any topic you decided to write about will be interesting and presented so well that only one world could do your post a justice – masterpiece. This one is no exception; after watching and listening to Burns’ poems set to music by Jim Reid and Daniel Kelly in two videos, I have to take back any silly remarks, and admit that you have won me over. I now understand fully the greatness of Robert Burns, and will wait with baited breath for more of your tutorial about the Scottish Bard. The poem To Mouse, is the best evidence of his talent.
Thank you, Malc, for reminding me the right version, “The best laid plans of mice and men off go astray.”
Joanna
Thank you, Malc, for being so gracious, and Felicity sends her regards!
Joanna x
Thanks Felicity – and Joanna 🙂
I hope that after the next chapter it will become even more apparent why Rabbie is such a Scottish icon Joanna. Thank you so much for your wonderful comments. You’re always far too generous 🙂
I am only stating the facts! And your are worth it!
Joanna
Ah! Thanks Joanna 🙂
Fascinating. What is it about male poets and silly romantic females? I’m also reading Luisa’s account about an Italian poet. Looking forward to further chapters in this story.
LOL. I’m trying to keep up with Luisa’s posts too.
That’s a good lad!
Congratulations, Malc, for keeping track of all the goings on in Burns eventful life. He was lucky that at the right moment the girls he got pregnant were either leaving or dying. What I find surprising is the odd morality of Burns entourage, as in other parts of the country, the father of the pregnant girl would not faint at the news but grab a shotgun to deal with the matter. Still, he was able to prosper by the events and his poetry was inspired by them.
As always, Malc, your erudite knowledge leaves me bowing in respect as you remember the right poems in their correct form, why I can hear the bell ringing but don’t remember in which church!
Will there be more children or more poems of Robert Burns, that is a question?!
I have to look up and listen to your videos later because Felicity is sleeping by my side and she is allergic to poetry, Burns’ or any other.
Joanna
You probably know more about Rabbie than I do Joanna, and Mr Armour didn’t just leave it there did he? but as you would have guessed, in the next chapter he takes a different view 🙂
There will definitely be more poems, but as to whether there’ll be more children you’ll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out, but I guess you already know the answer. Give Felicity a smooth for me 🙂