Ae fond kiss…and all the rest: Robert Burns, women and poetry

Ae fond kiss…and all the rest: Robert Burns, women and poetry

Robert Burns and his wife Jean Armour. Jean bore Robert nine children, only five in wedlock.

DIANE MACLEAN LOVE and poetry go together like kissing couples and surely nowhere is this intense relationship better illustrated than in the life and works of Robert Burns. This prolific writer lived his life buffeted between desire and genius. By his own admission love fuelled his poetry and it is through these poems that we can eavesdrop on his romances and revisit the places they took place.He first discovered girls at the age of 15 – appropriately for a farmer's son in the fields where his father farmed at Mount Oliphant. There he picked thistles from the proffered palm of Nellie Kilpatrick, his "Handsome Nell". This "bonie, sweet, sonsie lass" brought him out of his state of boyhood to a "delicious passion." Reflecting later Burns concluded: "Thus with me began Love and Poesy" – a relationship that would inspire him throughout his life. Next to catch his eye was Margaret Thompson, who distracted him from his mathematics at his Kirkoswald School. Peggy, whom Burns described as "a charming Fillette" lived next door and quickly "set me off in a Tangent from the sphere of my studies." These first romances, so achingly described, can be regarded as nothing more than a young boy's crushes. It wasn't until he met Alison (sometimes Ellison) Begbie that he fell seriously in love. She remains a sketchy figure, believed to be the daughter of a Galston farmer, she was working as a servant when they met. Begbie is thought to be the "lass of Cessnock Banks". Burns proposed in a letter, but his offer of marriage was refused. Miss Miler is fine,Miss Markland divine,Miss Smith, she has witAnd Miss Betty is braw,There's beauty and fortuneTo get with Miss Morton,But Armour's the jewel for me o them a' When Burns' father died in 1784 the family moved from Lochlea, where they had been living, to nearby Mossgiel farm. This move, coupled with the death of his father, seems to have led to more adult encounters for the burgeoning poet. On 22 May 1785 his first illegitimate child was born. "Dear-bought Bess" – whose mother Elizabeth Paton worked at the farm - was celebrated in verse in "A Poet's Welcome to his Love-Begotten Daughter". Despite pressure from his mother, Burns never intended marrying Paton. His wandering eye had settled on Jean Armour, regarded by some as the love of his life and the woman he eventually married. He first proposed when she fell pregnant with twins late in 1786 and although he and Jean signed a 'marriage' document her father, not unreasonably appalled at her choice of husband, ripped it up. Burns now confessed himself a "proven fornicator of woman" and angered at Jean's desertion he considered himself once more a bachelor. He quickly fell in love in the arms of his "Highland Mary". Mary Campbell from Argyllshire met Burns whilst working as a nursemaid in Mauchline. By now, despondent at the reaction of Jean's father and short of money, Burns had decided to emigrate to Jamaica. Highland Mary is remembered best in a poem which asks: "Will you go to the Indies my Mary,And leave auld Scotia's shore?" We will never know if Mary would have left with Burns, as she died in 1786 – some say during childbirth. By 1786 Burns had been taken up by patrons keen to see his poems in print. Consequently he borrowed a pony and rode the 60 miles to Edinburgh where he quickly became the darling of the salon set. Less than a month into his visit he met Agnes McLehose – or Nancy - at her house in Potterow.Agnes was a young wife and mother, whose husband was living in the West Indies. The attraction between her and this handsome poet was intense and they soon started to exchange passionate letters. He christened her "Clarinda" and called himself "Sylvander". Yet his passions, as ever, were never exclusive. On a short trip to Stirlingshire in 1787 he fell in love with Margaret Chalmers. He wrote lyrically of "My Peggy's Face, my Peggy's Form" but despite such poetic outpouring, Margaret refused an offer of marriage. Burns returned to Edinburgh and took up with Agnes once more. Throughout Burns's life his love affairs were divided between women of position, with whom he enjoyed tender, chaste relationships and those with whom he could release his pent up physical needs. For whilst he and his Clarinda may never have consummated their affair, during his time in Edinburgh two servants Jenny Clow and May Cameron bore him children. Jean Armour too gave birth to another set of twins by Burns. This second pregnancy for Jean and the happy elevation of his position meant her father no longer considered there to be any barrier between marriage. So Burns and Agnes parted, leading to what is perhaps one of his most quoted love poems "Ae fond kiss and then we sever."Back in Ayrshire the married couple settled first in Ellisland farm. This proved too arduous for Burns and the family moved in 1791 to Dumfries, where he began work as an excise man. He was soon up to mischief and, in March of that year Anna Park, the niece of the owner of the Globe Inn, gave birth to his daughter. Just nine days later his wife Jean presented Burns with a son. Burns' last infatuation was with Jean Lorimer who, in 1794, became a frequent visitor to the household. Burns rechristened her Chloris and she inspired more love songs than any other woman. The ever faithful Jean had more children, giving birth to nine in total and, understandably, commented that "Oor Rab should hae had twa wives". The officially recognised tally of Burns' offspring is 13, most born out of wedlock. Yet easy though it is to criticise this rogue, we should never forget that it was this ready and boundless love of women that inspired his writing: "For my part," he wrote, "I never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet until I got heartily in love and then rhyme and song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart." If you enjoyed reading this, you may want to read: A harrowing voyage to Canada for early Scots Related topic Robert Burns http://heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=162

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