The Indianapolis journal., 1899-01-29
CANON ANGER on BURNS.
Why the Poet Has Not Been Read More
Outside His Own Country.


Canon Anger, the eminent London divine
and critic. recently delivered an adress on
Burns, in which he came out as whole
hearted champion Of the poet. The follow
ing report appeared in the Times:
Canon Anger said his real motive in COM
menting upon one of the greatest Scottish
poets and humOriStS was of a missionary
order. He desired to encourage others in
making or improving their acquaintance
with Burns, whose name they all recognized
as one of the greatest in poetry, although
he believed that after 100 years he was still
little more than name to hundreds even
of those who read and enjoyed other poetry
of the highest kind. Robert Burns he ven
tured to think, never had been widely read
and known in England, save in half a dozen
of his poems and q score or so of quota
tions from the rest. One prime reason, no
doubt was that he wrote his best in a dia-
lect, not in itself difficult because of it's
grammar or idiom, but certainly comprising
a large vocabulary strange and repelent to
the ordinary reader. The ordinary reader,
ways intolerant of taking trouble Then
again, when the dialect difficulty was sur
mounted, there was a certain admixture of
free speech both on religious topics and
other recreations in Burns s humorous
poems that easily repelled those particular
in such matters. Many persons never liked
apparently to distinguish between satire on
religious bigotry and hypocrisy and ridicule
OF religion itself, so that there would always
abundance for those whose digestion in mat
ters of literary food was somewhat weak.
All the most memorable and enduring work
of Burns was written in the peasant speech
of his native Ayrshire, but he occasionally
wrote in the English tongue or rather in
the poetic dictiOn of the eighteenth century.
He certainly understood the resources. capa-
bIlues and opportunities of his own ver-
nacular far better than he knew those of our
southern English speech.
The English lover of poetry, however,
when urged by Burns enthusiasts to enter
upon the study of the poet was naturally
Under the strong temptation to tackle him
on his easiest side, and to begin with his
English poems or at least with those in
which fnGfA q Of
English. In such case it was certain that
the reader encountered a Burns writing un-
der disadvantages and therefore a Burns not
at MS best. he could not go so far as certain
critics who would tell them that English
was to Burns foreign tongue; that seemed
10 MIN a serious oVerStatement of the case.
Burns had read and thoroughly mastered a
fair number Of English poets, but his En-
gIlsh style was formed upon poetic school
already in it's decadence. OF the really
great English models, of the great Eliza
bethans and their immediate successors
Burns had not drunk deeply, though he GER
tainly knew and quoted Shakespeare. He did
not quite know the difference between had
and good models of English verse, and ac-
cordingly when he wrote songs in pure En-
gliSh he seldom rose above the common
place. But the best of his songs were
transcendent, unique almost in Hterature
When he introduced English into his narra-
tive and ddactic poems he often did so with
real effect, and when he contrved, as some
times he did, to forget the bad models alto
gether he often wrote both simply and elo-
quently. Moreover, Burns was neither in
discriminate nor inartistic in his use of En-
glish.
"As a general rule. he perceived that as
long as he was dealing with scenes and in
cidents purely Scottish he must retain the
speech of the people as part of the local
color; when he digressed into reflections or
topics abstract and general in their charac-
ter, he perhaps as naturally had recourse
to the language of the larger British world
This bilingual gift of Burns came specially
before them in the memorable first volume
that he published in 1885, commonly known
as the Kilmarnock edition. 1t was the
Ception give to this volume that made him
sure of his ground. The book it was true,
was almost without any examples Of the
song in which Burns was to attain his
greatest height as a poet, but it was an as
tontshing revelation of a new poetic force.
He certainly had no wish, Canon Anger
continued, to fall in with the tendency of
most Burns critics of the day and devote his
efforts to weighing the good and evil in the
poets character. 1t had come of late to be
practice where there was little or no differ
once of opinion among the critics as to
mans poems, to open an entirely new in
quest into his moral character.
zone result of the unquestionable incon-
gruity of Burns'S moral didactic with much
of his practice was that ii had led his critics
to lay stress upon such incOngruity to the
extent of doubling whether the fine and
noble ethical teaching of many of his poems
was actually genuine, not only In regard to
his relations TO women, but in his relation
to religion. But there was dual personality
Jekyll and a Mr.. Hyde-and they alternated
in Burns, often with startling contrasts. 1t
criticism to speak as if the bad half of
Burns was really the true Burns. and as If
the other was concession to the tastes and
prejudices of his more respectable neigh
bors The startling differences presented lay
in the objects on which he alternately
looked and pondered. Burns had known
what religion in the family had meant by
the example Of his own father a devout
Scottish peasant; the other type Of religion
he had come to know through watching it
in certain of the elders of the kirk in the
Presbytery of Ayr
'.FIe was certain that the 'Cotter's Satur-
day Night expressed Burnss heartfelt esti-
mate of the worth and dignity of true re-
Igon, as Holy Willies Prayer expressed
his detestation of the Brummagem Pharisee
Certain influential critics of the day had not
scrupled to bring the charge Of sentimental
ity against Burns; but sentimentality was,
like bad veneer. a thing that did not last
and Burns's true sentiment was as pure and
sweet to-day as il was one hundred years
ago. Unquestionahly there was a sentiment
al side in Burns due to the particular
moment of the history OF literature when
his genius first bore fruit, for a new affec-
tion for nature, and notably a sympathy
with animals and flowers, had sprung up in
mems hearts. Burns stood, as regarded the
old and the new world OF poetry both IN