Russell Wardrop  The poverty of Robert Burns talk
Channel: Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow
Date: 12/02/2020

Robert Burns, Poverty, The bard, Russell Wardrop
Robert Burns was not the “heaven taught ploughman” some claim, nor was he poor. The Bard was well schooled by John Murdoch, under the instruction of his father William. Burns was an educated man. His Kilmarnock Edition and Edinburgh Edition were best sellers that afforded him some fame, and he had a wellpaid job as an exciseman.
This lecture will explore the poverty of the physical environment Burns inhabited, the poverty of the society he lived in and the poverty of his own imagination.
What were the consequences of these three for his life and his work, could it have been different and how might does any of it resonate for us in the early 21st century?
For those interested to read the work of Robert Burns,  his complete works are available free at Project Gutenberg as a webpage or in Kindle ePUB and in plain text formats 

'The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence' https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18500

The BBC has  a short Biography of Robert Burns and his works  at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/  

There is an  extensive and illustrated  page at  Wikipedia about Robert Burns
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18500