The Canongate Burns

The most comprehensive and challenging edition of the poems and songs of Robert Burns ever to be published Along with Walter Scott, Robert Burns is probably the best known Scottish writer in the world. His life story is often represented as one of sexual and alcoholic excess. Drawing on extensive scholarship and the poet's own inimitable letters, this defining work offers a wealth of information on Burn's life and times, the hardship of his early days, his political beliefs, his hatred of injustice, and his fate as a writer too often sentimentalized by biographers, critics, and well-meaning enthusiasts. The poems are presented in the order of their first appearance, giving further insights into the reception of Burns's work and the guarded relationship he had both with his readers and his own fame. Burns is shown as being a radical figure in a British as well as a Scottish context?as well as the peer of Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Byron in the revolutionary and repressive world of the 1790s.

The Scottish poet Robert Burns has been idolised and eulogised. He has been sainted, painted, tarted-up and toasted. He is famous as the author of 'Auld Lang Syne', and he has long been the patron saint of the heartsore and the hungover. But what about the poems? Beneath the cult of Burns Nights and patriotic yawps, there is the work itself, among the purest and most truthful created in any age. This is a Burns collection like no other, introduced, arranged and contextualised by the award-winning novelist and essayist Andrew O'Hagan. Above all, it is an accessible edition made for the pleasure of reading that brings Burns' timeless work to full, riotous, colourful life.

Drawing on extensive scholarship & the poet's own letters, this definitive edition offers a wealth of info. on Burns's life & times, the hardship of his early days, his political beliefs, his hatred of injustice & his fate as a writer. The poems are presented in the order of their first appearance, giving insights into the reception of Burns's work & the relationship he had with his readers & his own fame. We see Burns as a radical figure in a British as well as a Scottish context, the peer of Black, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats & Byron in the revolutionary world of the 1790s. With its inclusion of recently attributed poems, this volume offers fresh insights into the irreverent spirit & the democratic convictions which illuminated the work of Scotland's most famous poet.

The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad. Through the eyes of one broken family--two drug-addicted adults and their smart, vulnerable 15-year-old son, DeAndre McCollough, Simon and Burns examine the sinister realities of inner cities across the country and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades, and the welfare system have accomplished so little. This extraordinary book is a crucial look at the price of the drug culture and the poignant scenes of hope, caring, and love that astonishingly rise in the midst of a place America has abandoned.

This huge novel, closer in scope to a Russian epic than to any English counterpart, opens at the turn of the century in the extreme poverty of the Rhinns of Galloway, an agricultural backwater of the southern-most part of Scotland. With a loving regard for the land and its people, Barke traces the lives of David and Jean Ramsay who, full of hope, painstakingly uproot themselves and their family in the search for prosperity. Their efforts to retain respect and a decent way of life are thwarted by unemployment in increasingly hostile circumstances, and a harsh environment inevitably leaves its mark. But a new generation emerges to question the authority of an uncaring society and, even as Fascism rages through Europe, a new hope is born. ‘Barke’s characters are both intelligent and spirited.’ Times Literary Supplement ‘An elegy for the old way of life.’ New Statesman

Today Robert Burns is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and people all over the world annually celebrate Burns Night on 25 January. Famous now for Auld Lang Syne, Scots Wha Hae, and A Man's A Man for A' That, Rabbie inspires Scots to be proud of Scotland. When he arrived in Edinburgh in November 1786 Burns was unknown, but within days the 'Ploughman Poet' was the talk of the capital, mixing in a circle of wealthy and important new friends. Edinburgh was changing quickly and it was the time of the Scottish Enlightenment, a period of great intellectual and scientific achievement. Burns' experiences during his stay in Edinburgh, including love affairs and fathering illegitimate children, were to influence much of his work to come. His friendship with Agnes 'Nancy' McLehose led to the poem, Ae Fond Kiss, among others. To capture the events of these vital months, three Burns enthusiasts from Glasgow - Jerry Brannigan, John McShane and David Alexander - have newly researched this period in Burns' life for this book. Gain a sense of this fascinating man, city and time by dipping into this book as you stroll through the capital, or by reading it at your leisure. Book jacket.