Sunday 17 June 2012

Robert Burns was here

Las week we went for a little pilgrimage to Alloway, the birthplace of the most famous Scottish poet - Robert Burns, otherwise known simply as The Bard. I wold say he could be something like our Mickiewicz and Slowacki combined with a bit of more sense of humour thrown in and a good does of haggis to bite into while you looking for some more inspirtaion in the glass of whisky. Famous not only for his poetry (written in Scots dialect) but also love of women outside Scotalnd he is nowadays mainly known in ...Russia! He died just 37 and left 12 children and some excellent poetry behind (some of my favourites are a wedding hymn A_Red,_Red_Rose , To_a_Mouse which was an inspiration for John Steinbeck and a ballad of Tam_o'_Shanter which invites people to visit a famous bridge and Kirk with Burn's father tomb until nowadays, just like we did).

I am much better with images than with words so here are some pictures from my iPhone that were not included in my Instagram feed from that day:










^ The installation above is by Su Blackwell, one of my favourite artists who specialises in installations made out of old books and paper. It was great to see that for once Creative Scotland spent their money wisely because Burn's cottage installation was  a modern, very visually pleasant and moving experience, well introducing the mood of Burn's poetry and family background.