Robert Burns

[macwilkin]

Todd, that's not what I am saying at all. I am sorry if it has come across that way, it was never my intention. I am glad you responded, as it gives me a chance to expand my original thought. I think that you hit the nail on the head with the 'nice kilt' comment. For the majority of us, any comment we could make would fall into that category.

Burns is too important to be lightly dismissed, but by the same token is, in general, too difficult to be properly understood by most of us. In the main, he wrote in Scots (a foreign language) or in English with a Scottish dialect (as good as a foreign language). It would do him no service, nor the reader, to misunderstand his meaning. What is required is either a primer or someone to lead the reader gently to understanding.

Besides yourself, there are a few Burns scholars within the membership. Working as a team, or as the nominated spokesperson, what I envision would be an essay or treatise on one of Burns' works. A translation to start and then an explanation as to what he meant - with historical context.

Once we have the work in an easily digestible form, then we can comment. Hopefully the comments would be pertinent and insightful. Without proper tuition and guidance, we would be lost in a hopeless morass of ignorance.

Unless some undiscovered letters come to light, what is known about the man is known. I cannot see that having a forum of random unstructured postings would benefit anyone. After all it is not as if anyone is going to say "When I met Rabbie last week, he told me that..."

One the one hand it could be a great benefit to understanding the evolution of the kilt and it's historical context, on the other, it could be a great mess.

Regards

Chas

Chas,

Many thanks for the explanation, and my apologies for not understanding your meaning behind your post. I see what you mean now. I am hardly a Burns scholar, but I thank you for the compliment.

T.