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Book/Printed Material Letter, 1794, May to Collector Syme.

About this Item

Title

  • Letter, 1794, May to Collector Syme.

Summary

  • Robert Burns (1759-96) is best known for his poems and songs that reflect Scotland's cultural heritage. He was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland, the first of seven children belonging to William Burnes, a tenant farmer, and his wife Agnes Broun. Burns had little formal education, but he read English literature and absorbed the traditional, largely oral Scots-language folk songs and tales of his rural environment. He began to compose songs in 1774, and published his first book, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in 1786. The work was a critical success, and its poems in both Scots and English, on a range of topics, established Burns's broad appeal. While building his literary reputation, Burns worked as a farmer, and in 1788 he was appointed an excise officer in Ellisland. He spent the final 12 years of his life collecting and editing traditional Scottish folk songs for collections including The Scots Musical Museum and A Select Collection of Original Scotish [sic] Airs for the Voice. Burns contributed hundreds of Scottish songs to these anthologies, sometimes rewriting traditional lyrics and setting them to new or revised music. This document contains a poem addressed to John Syme, with a contemporary endorsement in another hand, dated May 1794. This extempore verse was included by James Currie in his Works of Robert Burns(1800), but without Syme's name in the title or in line 4 of the poem. Syme first met Robert Burns in Dumfries, 1791, when Burns lived in the floor above his office of Distributor of Stamps. Burns respected his critique on literary matters, and the two became traveling companions for a tour of Galloway in 1793. After Burns's death, Syme assisted his friend's family and encouraged the publication of his later works, which were edited and published by Currie.

Names

  • Burns, Robert, 1759-1796 Author.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1794-05.

Headings

  • -  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland--Scotland
  • -  1794
  • -  Burns, Robert, 1759-1796
  • -  Correspondence
  • -  Dialect Poetry, Scottish
  • -  Letters
  • -  Syme, John

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 2 leaves (2 sides) ; 20 x 16.5 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: University of South Carolina.
  • -  Content in English and Scots.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • Robert Burns Collection

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021667629

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Burns, Robert, Author. Letter, May to Collector Syme. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -05, 1794] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667629/.

APA citation style:

Burns, R. (1794) Letter, May to Collector Syme. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -05] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667629/.

MLA citation style:

Burns, Robert, Author. Letter, May to Collector Syme. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, -05, 1794] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021667629/>.