Top 10 Facts About Robert Burns

Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759 in Ayrshire, Scotland. He is known as the national poet of Scotland and he wrote poems and songs in both Scottish and English language. He was very vocal and rebellious against strict religion.

Both his father and mother were farmers and they lived in the north-east region of Scotland. Robert Burns didn’t enjoy working on the farm and his father was aware of it. He was an avid book reader and enjoyed traditional stories and songs told by his mother. Poetry was something that was always close to his heart at a very young age. He wrote his first song for a girl that he liked during the harvest. He didn’t have much time to sit and write poems so he began writing poems and working together.

Robert Burns is a well-known figure in Scotland but there’s still some secrets that you didn’t know about him. So, below is given the list of top 10 facts about the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.

See Also: The Era When Kilts Were Banned

Facts About Robert Burns

• He was only 37 years old when he died on July 21, 1796. He lived a short life but created many great poetry and songs that are still praised by people around the globe.
• Robert Burns is also very popular in China. His song, “Auld Lang Syne” is played in graduations or other formal events in China. However, the Chinese version is a bit more modified to have the orchestral feel and it sounds a bit better than the original song.
• In 2010, an American/British astronaut took the Robert Burns poetry book to the space with him! He used to read his poetry while looking at Earth.
• Robert Burns used to spell his last name as “Burnes” instead of “Burns”.
• Robert Burns also holds the record of being the only person to ever appear on a Coca-Cola bottle in the UK. Only a limited quantity of such bottles were made and people are actually selling them as collectibles on classified ad sites like Ebay, Craigslist, etc.
• Robert Burns had nine children from his wife but unfortunately only three survived. He had countless affairs with many women. At the time of his oldest child birth, he had an affair with the maid.
• In 2009, he won the greatest ever Scot poll and in the competition there were many famous personalities like Robert the Bruce, Jack Stein, William Wallace, and David Tenant.
• You can find numerous monuments of Robert Burns in the entire globe and they are even higher than Christopher Columbus. These statues are located in all major countries like Scotland, USA, Canada, France, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Robert Burns wrote his first poem at just the age of 15 years.
• He planned on moving to Jamaica but once the sales of his poems skyrocketed, he then settled in Edinburgh.