I admit it. When I was a teenager and going through my "poetry phase," I had something of a crush on Robert Burns.
Didn't matter that he lived in 1700's Scotland, and I lived in 1970's USA. Judging by his portraits, the dude was a hottie.
I'm honestly not crazy about his poetry...who can decipher lines like "For ae blink o' bonie burdies! But wither'd beldams, auld and droll, Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, Louping an' flinging on a crummock, I wonder did na turn thy stomach..."
And I cringe a bit when I read that he fathered 13 children, in AND out of wedlock....eeesh.
But harboring a lifelong fascination with all things Scottish, I enjoyed Georgette Braun's article about Burns and local celebrations of his birthday in today's Rockford Register Star. Burns societies are alive and well, even here in the midwestern United States in 2005...so he must have had something going for him.
Not only that, but a movie about him is in the works, and it's going to star Gerard Butler, the Phantom of The Phantom of the Opera movie. (That bit of casting alone is a selling point as far as I'm concerned.)
Robert Burns, 1759-1796. Happy birthday, Rabbie...you've definitely endured.
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