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Edinburgh Town Guide, Robert Burns, 6K

Edinburgh Town Guide, Robert Burns, 11K

Robert Burns is probably Scotland's most famous writer. His birthday, on the 25th January, is celebrated by Scots all over the world as Burns' Night.

Edinburgh Town Guide, Robert Burns, 1K Burns was born in 1759 in the village of Alloway just south of Ayr. The son of a poor farming family he was destined to be a ploughman. However the local school inspired his love of literature and he soon began writing himself.

Despite being born in Ayr, Burns is intrinsically linked with the city of Edinburgh. He first arrived in the city in 1787 at the age of 28 where he planned to make a living from writing.

However, whilst he was successful at first, it soon became apparent that his writing alone wouldn't support him so he became a customs officer. He died in 1796 of a heart attack aged just 37.

Burns' most famous work is the poem Auld Lang Syne, sung the world over on New Year's Eve. And another well known poem is his Address to a Haggis, now an intrinsic part of Burns' Night celebrations.

Edinburgh Town Guide, Burns Memorial, 1K In Edinburgh there is a Burns Memorial located at the end of Regent Road on Calton Hill. Designed by Thomas Hamilton in the style of a Greek temple, it was built in the 1830s nearly 50 years after his death.

The Writer's Museum in Lady Stair's House on the Lawnmarket stretch of the Royal Mile tells the story of Burns' life and works, along with those of other great Edinburgh writers Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.





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