their awareness o f social problems and the love o f nature that
became typical of English romanticism.
For example, Thomas Gray described the unfulfilled lives of
common people in his famous “Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard” (1751). It abounds with images which find a mirror
in every mind and with sentiments to which every bosom must
return an echo. William Cowper wrote o f the beauties of nature
and his dislike o f cities in “The Task” (1785) where he moved
freely amid rural scenes and described them in a manner not very
heavy and pretentious. But the most outstanding pre-romanticists
in English literature were Robert Burns and William Blake.
Robert Burns
(1759 - 1796)
Robert Bums was the most famous Scottish poet o f the 18lh
century. He wrote poetry' in English and Scottish dialect. His
birthday is celebrated in Scotland as a national holiday His verses
inspired many British and foreign poets.
Robert Bums was born on January 25, 1759 in Ayrshire,
Scotland. His father, William Bums, was a poor farmer, but he
tried to give his son the best education. Later, the poet wrote
about it in his verses ‘“My Father W'as a Farmer”:
My father was a farmer upon the Carrie border, O,
And carefully hebbred me in decency and order, O.
He bade me act a manly part, though I had ne’er a fathing, O,
For without an honest, manly heart no man was worth
regarding, O.
Robert was sent to school at the age o f six, but as his father
could not pay for the two sons, Robert and his brother Gilbert
attended school in turn. Thus William had to pay for only one
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