Burns Poetry

"Robert Burns was born in a thunderstorm and lived his brief life by flashes of lightning". So says John Cairney in his introduction. In those flashes his genius revealed itself.

This collection is not another 'complete works' but a personal selection from 'The Man Who Played Robert Burns'. This is very much John's book. His favourites are reproduced here and he talks about them with an obvious love of the man and his work. His depth of knowledge and understanding has been garnered over forty years of study, writing and performance.
The collection includes sixty poems, songs and other works; and an essay that explores Burns' life and influences, his triumphs and tragedies. This informed introduction provides the reader with an insight into Burns's world.

Burns's work has drama, passion, pathos and humour. His careful workmanship is concealed by the spontaneity of his verse. He was always a forward thinking man and remains a writer for the future.

A Compilation of Toasts To the Immortal Memory of ROBERT BURNS as delivered at Burns Suppers around the world together with other orations, verses and addresses 1801 - 2001.

The annual Burns Supper, held on or around his birthday, January 25, has become something of a cult in virtually every country in the world where ‘Scottish’ is spoken - and even where it is not. This is an occasion when people gather around a dinner table to give tribute to a Scottish poet who died more than two hundred years ago. It really is an extraordinary phenomenon.

Thus begins John Cairney's latest work focusing on Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns. To be asked to deliver the ‘Immortal Memory’, the chief toast and centrepiece of the traditional Burns Supper, is recognised as a privilege cherished by Burns enthusiasts the world over. Immortal Memories is an extensive collection of these toasts, spanning two hundred years from the first Burns Supper in Alloway in 1801 to the Millennium Burns Suppers of 2001.