The Review of English Studies Advance Access originally published online on February 9, 2007
The Review of English Studies 2007 58(233):73-88; doi:10.1093/res/hgm002
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press 2007; all rights reserved
Copia Verborum: The Linguistic Choices of Robert Burns
University of Glasgow
 |
Abstract |
|---|
Much of the ‘Burns myth’ depends on the poet's handling of language. This article re-examines the language of a selection of Burns's writings—letters and poems—from a philological and sociolinguistic perspective. Literary, philosophical, biographical, historical and linguistic issues and materials are brought into articulation. Burns is shown to be much more self-aware about linguistic nuances than the myth—for which he himself was in some part responsible—suggests; and it is also shown that an awareness of these linguistic nuances is highly illuminating for an appreciation of Burns's artistic achievement. The article concludes with a discussion of some significant similarities between Burns and later poets, notably John Keats.
I am grateful to Nigel Leask for discussion and for detailed comments, to Rhona Brown, Gerry Carruthers, Kirsteen McCue and Murray Pittock for some fascinating conversations on matters Burnsian, and to the members of the Greenock Burns Club for valuable input. This paper derives from an address to the Burns Conference, held under the auspices of Strathclyde University at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, in 2005; I am grateful to Ken Simpson for inviting me to address the conference, and for the audience's comments. All errors here are my own.