柏恩斯(1759～1796年)

Burns, Robert

苏格兰民族诗人。穷苦农民的儿子，幼时即熟悉口头流传的苏格兰民歌和民间故事。父亲经营农场失败，他自己开的农场很快也濒於破产。柏恩斯英俊开朗，桃花不断，有些女人还跟他生了几个私生儿女，他在诗歌里赞美他的情人。诗集《主要用苏格兰方言写的诗集》（1786）虽博得好评，但未带来经济上的保障，最後谋得一项税务官的工作。後来他开始替约翰逊的《苏格兰音乐总汇》（1787～1803）和汤姆森的《原始的苏格兰歌曲选集》（1793～1818）收集并编辑了数百首传统歌曲；实际上这些歌曲里的许多首是他写作的，但他并不要求所有权，也不向他们索取报酬。最着名的歌曲有〈很久以前〉、〈芳草萋萋〉、〈约翰.安德生，我的心肝〉、〈一朵红红的玫瑰〉和〈美丽的山河畔〉。他自由地宣扬自己的激进观点、对普通百姓的同情，以及反叛正统的宗教和道义。三十七岁时死於心内膜炎。

English version：

1759～1796年

Burns, Robert

National poet of Scotland. Son of a poor farmer, he became familiar early with orally transmitted folk song and tales. His father's farm failed, and a farm he started himself quickly went bankrupt. Handsome and high-spirited, he engaged in a series of love affairs, some of which produced illegitimate children, and celebrated his lovers in his poems. His Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) brought acclaim but no financial security, and he eventually took a job as an exciseman. He later began collecting and editing hundreds of traditional airs for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1787-1803) and George Thomson's Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs (1793-1818); he substantially wrote many of these songs, though he did not claim them or receive payment for them. Among his best-known songs are “Auld Lang Syne,” “Green Grow the Rashes, O,” “John Anderson My Jo,” “A Red, Red Rose,” and “Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon.” He freely proclaimed his radical opinions, his sympathies with the common people, and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality. His death at 37 resulted from endocarditis.