Selected Poems (Penguin Classics)

Burns, Robert; Mcguirk, Carol

ISBN 10: 0140423826 / ISBN 13: 9780140423822

Published by Penguin Classics (edition First Edition), 1994

About this Item

The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way.

Seller Inventory # 0140423826-7-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics)
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (edition First Edition)
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140423826
• ISBN 13: 9780140423822
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fair

About this title

Synopsis

This selection gives equal weight to the two aspects of Robert Burns's reputation, as a lyricist and as a much-loved Scottish poet. Placing works in probable order of composition, it includes lyrics to his most well known songs, such as the nostalgic Auld Lang Syne, the romantic A Red, Red Rose, and the patriotic Scots What Hae. As a poet, Burns wrote with deceptive simplicity and imaginative sympathy, and demonstrated enormous range - from comic dramatic monologues such as Holy Willie's Prayer, which mocks hypocrisy, to narratives including the celebrated Tam O' Shanter, about the ghostly visions of a drunk.

About the Author

Robert Burns was born in 1759, the son of a struggling tenant farmer in Ayrshire. Lucky enough to be educated, Burns immersed himself in the literature of Milton and Sterne, discovering the possibilities of contemporary literature in Scots during his twenties. He died in 1796.


Carol McGuirk is a Professor of English at Florida Atlantic University. Her publications include Robert Burns and the Sentimental Era and essays on eighteenth-century poetry.