Chapter I: Front Matter

ROBERT BURNS

HOW TO KNOW HIM

By
WILLIAM ALLAN NEILSON
Professor of English, Harvard University

Author of
Essentials of Poetry, etc.

WITH PORTRAIT

INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1917
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY

PRESS OF
BRAUNWORTH & CO.
BOOK MANUFACTURERS
BROOKLYN, N.Y.

TO
MY BROTHER

LIST OF POEMS

Address to the Deil 282
Address to the Unco Guid 176
Ae Fond Kiss 56
Afton Water 116
Auld Farmer's New-Year Morning Salutation, The 278
Auld Lang Syne 100
Auld Rob Morris 121
Bannocks o' Barley 165
Bard's Epitaph, A 308
Bessy and Her Spinnin'-Wheel 145
Blue-Eyed Lassie, The 117
Bonnie Lad that's Far Awa, The 139
Bonnie Lesley 118
Braw Braw Lads 140
Ca' the Yowes 115
Charlie He's My Darling 168
Clarinda 58
Come Boat Me o'er to Charlie 163
Comin' through the Rye 154
Contented wi' Little 126
Cotter's Saturday Night, The 8
Death and Doctor Hornbook 287
Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie, The 23
De'il's Awa wi' th' Exciseman, The 154
Deuk's Dang o'er My Daddie, The 155
Duncan Davison 153
Duncan Gray 152
Elegy on Capt. Matthew Henderson 298
Epistle to a Young Friend 200
Epistle to Davie 193
For the Sake o' Somebody 136
Gloomy Night, The 40
Go Fetch to Me a Pint o' Wine 88
Green Grow the Rashes 123
Had I the Wyte? 148
Halloween 209
Handsome Nell 20
Highland Balou, The 151
Highland Laddie, The 164
Highland Mary 113
Holy Fair, The 228
Holy Willie's Prayer 173
How Lang and Dreary 138
I Hae a Wife 59
I Hae Been at Crookieden 167
I'm Owre Young to Marry Yet 143
It Was a' for Our Rightfu' King 162
John Anderson, My Jo 146
Jolly Beggars, The 241
Kenmure's On and Awa 165
Lassie wi' the Lint-White Locks 119
Last May a Braw Wooer 135
Lea-Rig, The 120
MacPherson's Farewell 150
Man's a Man for a' that, A 158
Mary Morison 28
Montgomerie's Peggy 120
My Father Was a Farmer 126
My Heart's in the Highlands 140
My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose 102
My Love She's but a Lassie Yet 144
My Nannie O 29
My Nannie's Awa 57
My Wife's a Winsome Wee Thing 108
O for Ane an' Twenty, Tam! 129
O Merry Hae I Been 148
O This Is No My Ain Lassie 107
O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast 123
Of a' the Airts 106
On a Scotch Bard, Gone to the West Indies 42
On John Dove, Innkeeper 205
Open the Door to Me, O! 137
Poet's Welcome to His Love-Begotten Daughter, The 33
Poor Mailie's Elegy 26
Poortith Cauld 107
Prayer in the Prospect of Death, A 32
Rantin' Dog the Daddie o't, The 134
Rigs o' Barley, The 30
Scotch Drink 301
Scots, Wha Hae 160
Simmer's a Pleasant Time 131
Tam Glen 133
Tam o' Shanter 257
Tam Samson's Elegy 294
There Was a Lad 125
There'll Never Be Peace till Jamie Comes Hame 166
To a Haggis 306
To a Louse 274
To a Mountain Daisy 276
To a Mouse 272
To Daunton Me 142
To Mary in Heaven 114
To the Rev. John McMath 181
Twa Dogs, The 219
Wandering Willie 138
Weary Pund o' Tow, The 147
Wha Is that at My Bower Door? 156
What Can a Young Lassie 142
Whistle, and I'll Come to Ye, My Lad 132
Will Ye Go to the Indies, My Mary? 40
Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut 238
Willie's Wife 156
Ye Banks and Braes (two versions) 130
Yestreen I Had a Pint o' Wine 104

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I BIOGRAPHY 1
1. Alloway, Mount Oliphant, and Lochlea 3
2. Mossgiel 31
3. Edinburgh 44
4. Ellisland 58
5. Dumfries 62

II INHERITANCE: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 69

III BURNS AND SCOTTISH SONG 90

IV SATIRES AND EPISTLES 171

V DESCRIPTIVE AND NARRATIVE POETRY 206

VI CONCLUSION 310

INDEX 325

ROBERT BURNS

BURNS