Robert burns biography ks2 bitesize

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I got married to my girlfriend…

I carried on with my poetry, and wrote songs.And we had a lot of bairns!But I wasn’t well… I died when I was still quite young.But even today, people still love to hear my voice through my poems!

My birthday is celebrated every year – it’s called Burns Night. The farm work was very tiring.

Education and First Poems

Burns had little formal schooling.

In 1774, a young woman named Nelly Kilpatrick inspired his first poem, O, Once I Lov'd A Bonnie Lass. He was responsible for about a third of the 600 songs in the whole set. He is also pictured on the £5 banknote issued by the Clydesdale Bank in Scotland. Burns's famous "Address to a Haggis" is read, and the haggis is cut. Burns shared this passion and helped Johnson with The Scots Musical Museum.

Burns contributed many songs to this collection.

For example, Auld Lang Syne uses the old tune Can Ye Labour Lea. During this time, he wrote some of his best works.

Writing Songs

Burns was asked to write lyrics for The Melodies of Scotland. His song A Man's A Man For A' That was sung when the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999. Life was hard, and he grew up in poverty.

His house in Dumfries is also a museum. Johnson was a music engraver who loved old Scots songs. This changes everything! People have a special dinner, and read out the poem I wrote about a haggis!And every New Years Eve, people join hands and sing Auld Lang Syne – aye, that’s one of mine!People all around the world still know the name of Rabbie Burns, a’right!

Robert Burns facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

Robert Burns

The best-known portrait of Burns,
by Alexander Nasmyth, 1787 (detail)

Born(1759-01-25)25 January 1759
Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland
Died21 July 1796(1796-07-21) (aged 37)
Dumfries, Scotland
Occupation
  • Poet
  • lyricist
  • farmer
  • exciseman
NationalityScottish
CitizenshipBritish
Literary movementRomanticism
Notable works
  • "Auld Lang Syne"
  • "To a Mouse"
  • "A Man's a Man for A' That"
  • "Ae Fond Kiss"
  • "Scots Wha Hae"
  • "Tam O'Shanter"
  • "Halloween"
  • "The Battle of Sherramuir"
Signature

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 1796) was a famous poet from Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland.

He was the oldest of seven children.

robert burns biography ks2 bitesize

Other popular works include A Red, Red Rose, A Man's A Man for A' That, To a Louse, To a Mouse, The Battle of Sherramuir, Tam o' Shanter and Ae Fond Kiss.

Burns wrote much of his work in Scots, which is a version of English. In 1787, the Freemasons in Edinburgh named him the Poet Laureate of their lodge.

He also had a tutor, John Murdoch, who taught him Latin, French, and mathematics.

By age 15, Burns was the main worker on the farm. I wasnae trying to sound like some fancy English poet.

‘The moorcock springs on whirring wings amang the blooming heather’‘

I was proud of who I was, so I wrote in Scots, the way people spoke where I was from!

When I sent my work to a publisher, I didnae think anything would come of it.I really liked my poems – but I didnae think they’d make me any money!