Sunday 24 January 2021

Researching the Bard's Background : First Degree Burns?

This year, as Burns’ Day approaches, I got to thinking what his work means to me. It covers a wide range of topics and I put some beloved pieces into groupings that made sense to me.

First of all, he was a romantic. Some of his love songs/poems are the most poignant of all. ‘My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose’ is very well known. Here in Greece it was even incorporated into a whisky advert.

                                              

For me some of the sweetest lines he penned are in Ae Fond Kiss:

Had we never lou’d sae kindly

Had we never lou’d sae blindly

Never lou’d nor never parted

We had ne’er been broken hearted.

Being a country lad, he makes frequent references to nature. In To A Mouse he addresses a wee field mouse, having accidentally ploughed up its nest. He rues this unplanned action and its consequences. His memorable words,

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men  

Gang aft agley

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain

For promised joy!

are resonant to us since John Steinbeck used them as the title of his novel Of Mice and Men.                                             

Burns was very well-read and was greatly affected by writers and thinkers of his age, in the latter part of the Scottish Renaissance, characterized by great intellectual and scientific accomplishments. Two people who inspired him, and whom he described as ‘two sage philosophers’, were Adam Smith and Thomas Reid. Smith, known for his work The Wealth of Nations on politics and economics, was also a moral philosopher. Smith believed we could fully exercise moral judgment on our own actions only by ‘endeavouring to view them with the eyes of other people.’

Always one to poke fun at the airs and graces adopted by the ‘upper crust’, the bard  has fun in To A Louse describing the cheek of the wee insect climbing among the ribbons, ‘On seeing a louse on a lady’s bonnet in church’. In this stanza the notion expressed is redolent of Smith’s moral stance:

O wad some Power the giftie gie us,

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a  blunder free us,

An’ foolish notion;

What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us

An’ ev’n devotion!

Burns was aware of John Locke’s liberal ideas as he spoke out for intellectual liberty and tolerance. We can also see the influence of Thomas Reid, philosopher and founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, for Burns’ spoke the language of the common man. He spoke, too, on behalf of his fellow-man, sometimes in a climate of potential danger.

Burns was clearly putting himself at risk when he wrote the following poem, a clear call to arms against England. In 1792 Thomas Muir, a Glasgow lawyer, was charged with inciting the Scottish people to oppose the government. He was sentenced to be transported to Botany Bay colony in Australia for a 14-year stay.

Despite that, in 1793 Burns wrote Scots Wa Hae, inspired by Robert the Bruce who, at Bannockburn in 1314, fought and maintained Scottish sovereignty from England.

Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,

Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,

Welcome tae yer gory bed,

Or tae victorie.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lay the proud usurpers low,

Tyrants fall in every foe,

Liberty's in every blow! –

Let us do or dee.

 

To this day, this song speaks to the Scottish soul and has been adopted as anthem of the Scottish National Party.

 Perhaps it’s at social gatherings that the memory of Burns is held most dear. At Burns’ Suppers, held globally in his honour, the Selkirk Grace is said before the traditional haggis dish is sampled. Its words of simplicity, and humanity never fail to move me.                                         

And now for the most universal acknowledgement made to him – though sometimes  people are unaware that he was its creator.  Burns sometimes collected traditional songs, regularized their metre and set them to music. This was the case with "Auld Lang Syne", a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song. A different melodic version is well known in many countries. Traditionally sung at Hogmanay, it is also sung at funerals, graduations, and as a farewell or ending to other occasions. It praises the value of friendship – something our current  climate has made us very aware of.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

 

For auld lang syne, my dear    (Chorus)
For auld lang syne
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For days of auld lang syne

 

And there's a hand, my trusty friend
And gie's a hand o' thine
And we'll tak a right gude-willy waught
For auld lang syne

                                      

Burns has always been dear  to my heart.  But while researching who influenced and inspired him, the context in which he wrote, I feel I have more insight into the man and his work. I do hope you have enjoyed this trip as much as I have!

 Happy Burns’ Day to one and all.

Thursday 14 January 2021

In With The New.

 A Happy New Year to one and all. Saw this recently on Facebook and got done - the arrow does not operate.  It took me two taps before its implication dawned on me!                                               



                                                 
Well, we know what went before but what lies ahead?  It doesn’t take real predictive powers to say lockdown will still be part of our everyday life.  How long for will depend on how efficiently vaccination programs can be fully rolled out – and how many idiots will refuse that protection and will continue to flout the measures already in place. 

What is for sure is that in Greece we will be celebrating 200 years after the revolution. The commemoration of the uprising against Ottoman rule will begin on March 25th, national day, and related events will continue throughout the year and throughout the country. The Greece 2021 Committee is tasked to organize the program to mark the Bicentennial of the Greek War of Independence and is headed by Gianna Angelopoulou who led the Greek Olympics organising dream team. Certainly the celebrations will now have to be drastically scaled down because of covid-19 protective restrictions but we are expecting great things. Below you see the committee logo which makes reference to both the year and the national flag colours.

 That will certainly be one in the eye for our refractory neighbor, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who continues to play silly buggers both on the international stage and at our borders. It seems that his deflective strategies are becoming more pronounced as the Turkish economy looks as if it could go into freefall.                                   

On the weather front, Spain and Italy have had significant snowfalls while we have been having unseasonably mild weather. They say this has been the mildest winter in fifty years with folks in Attica sunbathing and swimming last week-end! This means that many of our plants are still green while supporting a great crop of caterpillars. Our rocket has never been so luxuriant but we have to wage war with these wee beasties to pick our salad leaves.

             The lovely narcissus has appeared and just one stalk fills the house with fragrance. 

                                                                               

 Ordinarily, I would have pruned back our rose bushes but, since they are still budding and sporting blooms, we enjoy their beauty instead.

 

 

It can be tricky to clip and trim the yuccas plants, with their sharp leaves. I’m always afraid our cats could lose an eye as they love scratching themselves against these blades. However, I love the shapes they make and they cope well with our extreme climate. And when they produce their creamy bells in January – what’s not to like?                                     


Winter jasmine has a sunny face, but lacks its summer cousin’s aroma. 

 


 Apparently our winter is arriving as of tomorrow. :o Yesterday we moved sm all pot plants to the enclosed balcony upstairs and covered the larger heavy pots. We’ve taken delivery of heating oil, done a large shop for supplies, I made a big pot of soup, Z has replenished the wine-cellar. We’re good to go with whatever our winter throws at us- hopefully!

  As we all take that leap into 2021, may we do it with courage, optimism, health, support.                      

Happy landings!