Robert burns interesting facts. Robert Burns: biography, personal life, photo. Creative biography of Robert Burns

2. Him favorite word"Excellent! (Excelent)", which he mumbles under his breath in an ominous voice, twiddling his fingers.

3. Burns constantly forgets the name of his worker Homer Simpson, for which he hates him.

4. In the 7th series of the eighth episode, you can see that his phone number is 555-0001.

5. There are heated discussions among the audience about the age of Burns. His birthday is September 15, but the year is unknown. Most often it is mentioned that he is 104 years old.

6. Burns has the same blood type as Bart Simpson.

7. In one of the episodes, Burns accidentally mentioned that he had leprosy.

8. His driver's license expired in 1909, which implies that he may have obtained one around 1889-1890.

9. Burns graduated from Yale University in 1914 (hence he may have been born around 1892).

10. Burns chose the path of a cunning billionaire early. Burns' mother is still alive, although she is already 122 years old (according to Smithers)

11. Burns had a fiancee, Gertrude. But because he's a workaholic, he missed not only their wedding, but also their divorce. “She died of loneliness. Loneliness and diabetes.

12. In the American Story X-cellent series, when Burns is searched, there is a certificate stating that he is in the SS

13. In the 70s of the XX century, he participated in the development of biological weapons. His plans were thwarted by Homer's mother.

14 Fired Homer Simpson Repeatedly

15. Burns increases his fortune at any cost, and does not disdain even simple theft. For example, in The Springfield Connection, he steals $200 from a store counter, and in another episode, he nearly drowned in a fountain for one cent.

16. In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated Burns' net worth at $1.1 billion and ranked him as the 12th richest fictional character.

17. Sometimes the appearance of Burns is accompanied by an Imperial march.

18. There are many Citizen Kane references in Burns' character, such as in the Rosebud episode he drops and breaks a Christmas memento.

19. In several episodes, moments in Burns' life are distinctly reminiscent of the biography of Howard Hughes.

20. In The Seemingly Never-Ending Story, Burns talks about how he once lost an argument to Buck McCole (a cowboy) by not completing the last task: he could not take a picture with a smiling child. The bet was his fortune, which passed to McCole. Burns took a job at Moe's Tavern for $5 an hour and was the top employee of the month. Burns soon reclaimed the nuclear power plant with money taken from the jukebox.

"I am a selfish scoundrel, and I don't want to be anyone else!" (Monty Can't Buy Me Love)
"Excellent!" - great, great, great! Pronouncing this word, tightens the first letter, and emphasizes it (Eeeexelent!)
“The main thing is not money. The main thing is their number
Death and taxes are the two things I avoid.

Burns Robert. Life (1759-1796).Extraordinary person. In other words, "the brilliant poet of Scotland" (Walter Scott). The poor man from the plow, who became an outstanding master of the word.

Robert Burns poems:

  • "Kilmarnock volume" (1786);
  • "Message of Beelzebub";
  • "Songs of Death";
  • "The Tree of Liberty" (1793).

Poet Robert Burns: a short biography

Born in 1759 in the family of a poor farmer. His childhood is hard work on farms with exorbitant rents that are beneficial to landowners. Robert's education was limited to his father's lessons. He was literate by reading books in a tiny library. The young man's movement towards knowledge was seen and revealed by a village teacher, a friend of his father.

The spiritual world of the poet, extraordinary skill - everything is obtained through persistent self-study.

Partly due to perseverance, poetic talent in the biography of Robert Burns woke up in his youth. He wrote his first poem at fifteen. Others followed him. They were loved and remembered by Burns' comrades. In 1786, with the help of admirers, Robert was able to publish a small book of poems called The Kilmarnock Volume, which made the poet's name popular.

He lives in Edinburgh for two years, but nothing changes in his personal life.. He lives in poverty and constant anxiety for his relatives.

World poetry did not become his craft; he works as an official until the end of his life.

The poet was a generous man shared money when he had it. He gave the lion's share of his first fee to the construction of a monument to the poet Ferguson. Another time he bought a cannon and sent it to France to support the insurgent people. The gun was detained, and the poet became famous as unreliable.

The whole life and work of the poet passed in need. Robert Burns dies at 37.

Now his birthday is celebrated in Scotland as a national holiday.

Creative biography of Robert Burns

Folklore was the basis of Robert Burns' poetry., and topics:
  1. Love.
  2. Friendship.
  3. Human.
  4. Nature.

At the same time, Burns began to reflect on the causes of inequality. Therefore, the poet boldly defends the rights of young people, debunks the despotism of religion and state power. The poet declares moral values ​​in his work "Honest Poverty". The poetry of John Barleycorn is permeated with faith in the invincibility of the people. Heroes of Burns simple people with their daily problems. For his short biography, Robert Burns wrote:

  • collection of poems "Edinburgh Volume";
  • "Message of Beelzebub";
  • "Songs of Death";
  • "The Tree of Liberty" (in 1793);
  • poem "Tom O Shenner".

Life story
Robert Burns became widely known for his poetic works and during his lifetime became the national poet of Scotland. Although one of his poetry collections was first published without cuts only in 1965. The collection is called The Merry Muses of Caledonia.
Robert was the eldest child of William and Agnes Burns. There were 7 children in the family. Robert received almost all of his education studying with teacher John Murdoch, who was hired by local farmers to teach classes to their children. It was John who noticed the boy's abilities and advised him to take up literature. At 22, Robert left his father's house and went to the city of Irvin to learn the profession of a flax processor there, but he had to return pretty soon after a fire destroyed the workshop where Robert was supposed to work. Two years later, his father died, and Robert and his brother moved to another farm. His poems were recognized in the district, and then, in 1786, he arranged for his collection of poems to be printed in the city of Kilmarnock. At the end of the same year, Robert recovered to Edinburgh. There he was awarded a fairly large sum for the copyright to his first collection of poetry. There he was showered with praise, calling him a promising young poet and the poetic hope of Scotland.
In the years following this, Burns made several long trips around Scotland. He wrote poetry and poems and also collected Scottish folk songs. He considered it his duty and did it without receiving any payment for his work. By that time he had a wife and several children (including illegitimate ones), and the family farm had fallen into disrepair. In September 1789, he accepted an offer to become tax inspector. He performed very well in his official duties, but there were rumors that he drank heavily, and scandals arose several times over his statements in support of the French Revolution. He continued to write poetry until last days life. Robert Burns died on July 21, 1796 from a rheumatic attack.
Robert Burns was rather tall, slender and well built. A memorable feature of his appearance was his large, deep-set eyes, which gave the face of the "peasant poet" an innocent expression. Robert's sexual exploits are confirmed by his personal correspondence, legal documents with paternity suits, and, of course, his poems and poems. For Burns, love and poetry were inseparable from each other, and many of his works reflect his feelings and tell in detail about his relationships with women, successes, failures and the joys and experiences associated with them. At the age of 15, by his own admission, he fell in love for the first time in his life with Nellie Kirkpatrick, his dancing partner at a traditional holiday. The first poem he wrote in his life was dedicated to her and was called "Beauty Nell". His relationship with her was completely innocent, just like his relationship with Alison Begbie, with whom he fell in love after Nellie. He wrote Alison several romantic letters and even proposed to her, but was rejected.
Sexual mores in rural Scotland at the time were quite open. The wedding was usually played when the bride was already expecting a child. Even the church forgave adultery if the accused paid a small fine and spoke a few words of repentance to the parishioners. And yet, for the first time in his life, Robert dared to have sexual relations with a woman only after the death of his father. The woman was Elizabeth Peyton, his mother's maid. Their relationship was short, passionate and fruitful, and in May 1785 Elizabeth had a daughter. They also named her Elizabeth. Robert dedicated a poem to this event. By the way, Burns had three illegitimate daughters (from three mothers) in his entire life, and all three were named after him. Elizabeth did not demand that Robert become her husband, but after the first collection of his poetry was published, she demanded and received a certain amount of money, after which she disappeared in an unknown direction, leaving Robert a little daughter. The next woman in Burns' life was Jean Armour. She was 6 years younger than Robert and probably the most beautiful woman in his life. In February 1786, she informed him that she was expecting a child, and they signed a document recognizing each other as husband and wife. But Jean's father, a well-known bricklayer throughout the district, was categorically against his daughter marrying a poor poet. The document signed through the efforts of a lawyer hired by Jean's father was annulled, and Jean's parents sent her to relatives. For some time, Berne grieved, feeling hurt at being betrayed and deceived, and then began to make plans to permanently move from Scotland to Jamaica. He was going to do this with a certain Mary Campbell, whom he considered the ideal of innocence and purity. He, in all likelihood, was mistaken, since Mary was obviously the same Mary Campbell who had become famous before that, having managed to become the mistress of several famous and wealthy Scots. Mary was already expecting a child from Burns, but died unexpectedly.
During long trips around Scotland, Burns had many meetings with a wide variety of women. He had a lengthy love correspondence with Frances Dunlop, a widow with 13 children. He confided to her all the details of his meetings with other women. Berne proposed to Margaret Chalmers, but she turned him down and married a banker. Then there was a short meeting in Edinburgh with May Cameron. The result of this meeting was the birth of his second illegitimate daughter, Elizabeth. Robert had an unusual relationship with Agnes Meiklehouse from Edinburgh, whose husband worked abroad. On the day Robert was supposed to meet Agnes, he injured his knee and couldn't make it to the date. They could not meet for a long time and began to correspond. Their correspondence was passionate and romantic. When Burns recovered and was finally able to meet Agnes, she refused to make their relationship more intimate. Then Robert seduced her servant, who after the prescribed number of months bore him a son.
Meanwhile, Burns began dating Jean Armor again. In June 1787, he came to her house and was surprised to learn that her father had changed his mind and agreed to see him as his son-in-law. He even locked Robert and Jean in the bedroom for the night so that they would "celebrate a happy meeting". When Robert visited Jean again the following year, he learned that she was nine months pregnant. On the same day, Jean gave birth to twins, but they soon died. Robert and Jean got married a month later. Over the years of their life together, they had four more children.
Burns' attitude towards family life was very practical and completely unsentimental. He wrote: "To have a woman at hand with whom you can sleep whenever you want, without risking getting this curse, illegitimate children for the rest of your life ... Here's a very solid point of view on marriage."
For my short life Robert Burns, it is true, has repeatedly broken his own rules himself, and quite often has not taken this "solid point of view."

Years of life: from 01/25/1759 to 07/21/1796

British (Scottish) poet, folklorist, author of numerous poems and poems written in the so-called "plain Scottish" and English.

He was born on January 25, 1759 in Alloway (County Ayr) in the family of a gardener and tenant farmer William Burns. Robert and his brother Gilbert went to school for two years. In 1765, his father leased the Mount Oliphant farm, and from the age of 12 Robert worked as an adult worker, malnourished and overworked his heart. He read everything that came to hand, from penny pamphlets to Shakespeare and Milton. At school he only heard English speech, but from his mother and old servants and from the same pamphlets he joined the language of Scottish ballads, songs and fairy tales. In 1777 his father moved to Lochley Farm near Tarbolton, and Robert began to new life. At Tarbolton he found company to his liking, and soon became its leader. In 1780, Burns and his friends organized a cheerful "Bachelor's Club", and in 1781 he joined the Masonic lodge. On February 13, 1784, his father died, and with the money left after him, Robert and Gilbert moved the family to the Mossgil farm near Mohlin. Even earlier, in 1783, Robert began to write down his youthful poems and rather grandiloquent prose in a notebook. The relationship with the maid Betty Peyton led to the birth of his daughter on May 22, 1785. Local clergy took the opportunity and imposed a penance for fornication on Burns, but this did not stop the laity from laughing while reading the Holy Fair and the Prayer of Saint Willy that went on the lists.

At the beginning of 1784, Burns discovered the poetry of R. Fergusson and realized that the Scottish language is by no means a barbaric and dying dialect and is capable of conveying any poetic shade - from salty satire to lyrical delights. He developed the tradition of Fergusson, especially in the genre of aphoristic epigram. By 1785, Burns had already gained some fame as the author of bright friendly messages, dramatic monologues and satires.

In 1785, Burns fell in love with Jean Armor (1765-1854), the daughter of the Mohlin contractor J. Armor. Burns gave her a written "commitment" - a document, according to Scottish law, certifying the actual, albeit illegal marriage. However, Burns' reputation was so bad that Armor broke his "commitment" in April 1786 and refused to take the poet as a son-in-law. Even before this humiliation, Burns had decided to emigrate to Jamaica. It is not true that he published his poems in order to earn money for the trip - the idea of ​​​​this edition came to him later. Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, printed in Kilmarnock went on sale on August 1, 1786. Half of the 600 copies sold by subscription, the rest was sold in a few weeks. Glory came to Burns almost overnight. Noble gentlemen opened the doors of their mansions to him. Armor dropped the lawsuit, and Betty Peyton was paid off with £20. September 3, 1786 Jean gave birth to twins.

The local nobility advised Burns to forget about emigration, go to Edinburgh and announce a nationwide subscription. He arrived in the capital on November 29 and, with the assistance of J. Cunningham and others, concluded an agreement on December 14 with the publisher W. Krich. During the winter season, Burns was in great demand in high society. He was patronized by the "Caledonian Hunters", members of an influential club for the elite; at a meeting of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Scotland, he was proclaimed "The Bard of Caledonia". The Edinburgh edition of the Poems (published April 21, 1787) collected about three thousand subscribers and brought Burns about 500 pounds, including one hundred guineas, for which, on bad advice, he ceded the copyright to Creech. About half of the proceeds went to help Gilbert and his family in Mossgil.

Before leaving Edinburgh in May, Burns met J. Johnson, a semi-literate engraver and fanatical lover of Scottish music, who had recently published the first issue of The Scots Musical Museum. From the autumn of 1787 until the end of his life, Burns was actually the editor of this publication: he collected texts and melodies, supplemented the surviving passages with stanzas of his own composition, and replaced lost or obscene texts with his own. He was so successful in this that, without documented evidence, it is often impossible to determine which are the folk texts and which are the texts of Burns. For the "Museum", and after 1792 for the more refined, but less bright "Selected Original Scottish Melodies" ("Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs", 1793-1805) by J. Thomson, he wrote more than three hundred texts, each on his own motive.

Burns triumphantly returned to Mohlin on July 8, 1787. Half a year of fame did not turn his head, but changed the attitude towards him in the village. The Armors welcomed him and he rekindled his relationship with Jean. But the Edinburgh servant Peggy Cameron, who gave birth to a child from Burns, sued him, and he again went to Edinburgh.

There, on December 4, he met an educated married lady, Agnes Craig M "Lehuz. Three days later, he dislocated his knee and, bedridden, started a love correspondence with "Clarinda", as she called herself. The dislocation had more significant consequences. the doctor was acquainted with the Commissioner for Excise in Scotland R. Graham. Having learned about the desire of the poet to serve in the excise, he turned to Graham, who allowed Burns to undergo proper training. The poet underwent it in the spring of 1788 in Mochlin and Tarbolton and received a diploma on July 14. The prospect of an alternative source of income gave him the courage to sign a contract on March 18 for the lease of Ellisland Farm.

Upon learning that Jean was pregnant again, her parents kicked her out of the house. Burns returned to Mohlin on February 23, 1788 and, apparently, immediately recognized her as his wife, although the announcement took place only in May, and the church court approved their marriage only on August 5. On March 3, Jin gave birth to two girls who died soon after. On June 11, Burns began work on the farm. By the summer of 1789, it became clear that in the near future Ellisland would not bring income, and in October, under patronage, Burns received a position as an exciseman in his rural area. He played it beautifully; in July 1790 he was transferred to Dumfries. In 1791, Burns relinquished his lease on Ellisland, moved to Dumfries and lived on the salary of an exciseman.

The creative work of Burns for three years in Ellisland was reduced mainly to texts for Johnson's "Museum", with one major exception - a story in verse by Tam O "Shanter". In 1789, Burns met the collector of antiquities Fr. Grose, who compiled a two-volume anthology of Scottish antiquities (The Antiquities of Scotland). The poet suggested that he give an engraving depicting the Alloway church in the anthology, and he agreed - on the condition that Burns write a legend about witchcraft in Scotland to accompany the engraving. Thus, one of the best ballads in the history of literature was born.

Meanwhile, passions flared up around the French Revolution, which Burns accepted with enthusiasm. There were investigations into the loyalty of civil servants. By December 1792, so many denunciations had accumulated on Burns that Chief Exciseman William Corbet arrived in Dumfries in order to personally conduct an inquiry. Through the efforts of Corbet and Graham, it all ended with the fact that Burns was obliged not to talk too much. He was still going to be promoted, but in 1795 he began to lose his health: rheumatism affected his heart, which had been weakened in adolescence. Burns died July 21, 1796.

Burns is praised as a romantic poet - in everyday and literary sense this definition. However, Burns' worldview was based on the practical common sense of the peasants among whom he grew up. He had nothing in common with romanticism. On the contrary, his work marked the last flowering of Scottish poetry in mother tongue- lyrical, earthly, satirical, sometimes mischievous poetry, the traditions of which were laid by R. Henryson (c. 1430 - c. 1500) and W. Dunbar (c. 1460 - c. 1530), forgotten during the Reformation era and revived in the 18th century . A. Ramsey and R. Ferguson.

Initially, many of Burns's works were created as songs, were reworked or written to the melody of folk songs. Burns's poetry is simple, rhythmic and musical, and it is no coincidence that in the Russian translation many poems were set to music. D. Shostakovich and G. Sviridov were engaged in the creation of musical works in their time. A. Gradsky's repertoire includes a cycle of compositions based on Burns' poems, for example, "In the fields under snow and rain ..." (S. Marshak's translation of the poem "Oh Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast"). The Belarusian group "Pesnyary" performed a series of works on the words of Burns. The Moldovan group "Zdob Si Zdub" performs the song "You left me" to the words of Burns. The folk group "Melnitsa" set the ballad "Lord Gregory" and the poem "Highlander" to music. Often songs based on the verses of a Scottish poet were used in films. Of the most popular, one can note the romance "Love and Poverty" from the movie "Hello, I'm your aunt!" performed by A. Kalyagin and the song "There is no peace in my soul ..." from the movie "Office Romance". Of the lesser known - "Green Valley", "Gorodok" performed by the ensemble "Ulenspiegel".

You will learn interesting facts from the life and work of the Scottish poet in this article.

Robert Burns interesting facts

Burns was born into a simple peasant family in 1759 in the village of Alloway (Ayrshire). When the boy was 6 years old, his father rented a farm, so the future poet had to work on a par with adults from that age.

Robert Burns has been a member of the Brotherhood of Freemasons since 1781. Freemasonry, as critics note, to a large extent influenced all the work of the poet.

First poems by Burns started writing at the age of 15 but his first book came out in 1786, when Burns was 27. This book was called Poems, Principally in the Scotch Dialect.

Robert Burns is also known as folklorist. This activity he began after moving to Edinburgh in 1787, when he became a member of the elite capital Cities. Here he met the Scottish folklorist James Johnson. Together with him, Burns began to issue a collection of "Scottish Museum of Music". In these books, the poet collected many Scottish folk ballads and his own works.

Robert Burns led pretty loose Lifestyle, and he had three illegitimate daughters from casual and short-lived relationships. In 1787 he married his old sweetheart Jean Armor. In this marriage, he had five children, and the fifth child of Burns was born after his death on the day of the poet's funeral on July 25, 1796.

During his lifetime, poetry and even membership in the Masonic lodge did not bring much income to Burns. He was engaged in creativity in between the main work, for example, at one time he worked as a tax collector and then worked for the Port Inspectorate. Last years the poet generally spent his life in need and almost went to prison for debts just a week before his death.

Researchers of the 19th century believed that the cause of the poet's death, which overtook him very early, at the age of 37, was alcohol abuse, but in the 20th century his biographers overlooked this point of view. It is believed that he died from the consequences of congenital rheumatic heart disease, complicated by heavy physical labor and suffered in 1796 by diphtheria.

The poems of Robert Burns are rhythmic and musical not only in English and Scottish. Many of Burns' poems were first created as songs, which is why they were set to music. Burns' poems are well known to Soviet viewers, because they sounded in some films, in particular, the songs "There is no rest for my soul" from the film "Office Romance" or "Love and Poverty" from the film "Hello, I'm your aunt!".

Robert Burns' birthday is celebrated in Scotland with a traditional festive dinner. At such a dinner, dishes glorified by the poet are necessarily served, the main among which is haggis (stuffed with lamb's heart, liver, lungs, onions and seasonings of lamb's stomach). The dishes are taken out to the music of bagpipes and the corresponding poems of the poet are read out beforehand, in particular, the poem “Ode to Haggis” is dedicated to Haggis.