EVENT IN MEMORY OF ROBERT BURNS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN JAN. 30

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 15:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An event dedicated to famous Scottish poet Robert
Burns will be held in Yerevan on January 30. On the same day, the
12th Charity Burns Supper will be given by the Committee of Burns
and the British Embassy of Armenia. Traditionally, the attendees
will be served Haggis, a Scottish national dish, prepared by a cook,
who arrived from the UK.

A day earlier, "Youth Center of Burns" will open in Zatik orphanage.

In the new center, which was established with the funds raised during
last year’s Supper, the orphans will be taught English and computer
science.

A part of the funds raised was spent on purchase of medical equipment
for several maternity hospitals in Armenian regions.

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie
Burns, Scotland’s favorite son, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of
Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard) was a Scottish poet and
a lyricist. Born in Alloway, Scotland, Robert Burns was the first of
William and Agnes Burnes’ seven children. At the age of fifteen, he
fell in love and shortly thereafter he wrote his first poem. As a young
man, Burns pursued both love and poetry with uncommon zeal. In 1785, he
fathered the first of his fourteen children. His biographer, DeLancey
Ferguson, had said, "it was not so much that he was conspicuously
sinful as that he sinned conspicuously." He is widely regarded as the
national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best
known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although
much of his writing is also in English and a "light" Scots dialect,
accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard
English, and in these pieces, his political or civil commentary is
often at its most blunt. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic
movement and after his death became a great source of inspiration
to the founders of both liberalism and socialism. A cultural icon in
Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world, celebration
of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during
the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on
Scottish literature. In 2009 he was voted by the Scottish public as
being the Greatest Scot, through a vote run by Scottish television
channel STV. As well as making original compositions, Burns also
collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting
them. His poem (and song) Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay
(the last day of the year), and Scots Wha Hae served for a long time
as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and
songs of Burns that remain well-known across the world today include
A Red, Red Rose; A Man’s A Man for A’ That; To a Louse; To a Mouse;
The Battle of Sherramuir; Tam o’ Shanter and Ae Fond Kiss.