Social Satire in Burns’ Poetry

The period before Romanticism, namely the period of Sentimentalism, was very productive in the sense that many renowned writers and poets lived and created in this period. One of them is certainly Robert Burns. Born on 25th of January 1759 in Allowy, Scotland, Robert Burns is considered one of the best known Scottish poets, as well as one of the best representatives of Sentimentalism in English poetry. He did not have any formal education, but he was not illiterate. He was self-taught and critics of that time used to call him the ‘Heaven-taught ploughman’. He is one of the rare poets who wrote in the Scottish vernacular of his native Ayrshire, which is very important taking in account political scene at the time. In 1707 Scottish Parliament united with English Parliament which marked a further step in the assimilation of Scottish culture with English. However, frustrated with political happenings, Scotsmen turned to their literary heritage. Robert Burns was one of those frustrated common men farmers who wrote poetry for his own amusement. As the product of this amusement “Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” were published in 1786. It contained some of his best known poems such as: “The Twa Dogs”, “Scotch Drink”, “To a Mouse”, “The Holy Fair”, “To a Louse”, etc. Robert Burns died at the age of 37 on 21st July 1796 in Dumfries. What was it that made Burns’ poetry appealing to the people back then and what is it that makes it appealing to the people now? Is it the specific language he uses or is it the manner he wrote the poems? The secret to the success of his poetry lies in the themes he talked about in his poetry. He once said: “I never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet till I got once heartily in love......and then rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart.” The Language of the poetry was his way to express what was on his heart or mind. Themes of his poems vary from love, patriotism, to social problem. For the

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