The Twa Bards: Robert Burns and William Shakespeare
Document Type
Article
Abstract
After reviewing recent commentary on the parallels between Burns and Shakespeare as National Bards, between the development of Alloway and Sttratford as places of literary pilgrimage, and even between the Mauchline ware souvenirs sold to Victorian visitors, the article examines Burns's reading of and response to Shakespeare's plays, in letters, poems, and songs, discussing Burns's continuing allusons to the Shakespearean speeches he had read as a boy in Arthur Masson's Collection of English Prose and Verse (1767). The article originated in a small exhibit on the same topic for Shakespeare's 400th anniversary in April 2016, for the University of South Carolina's Irvin Department of Rare Books. The illustrations, from items that were on display from the G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns, include Burns's penciled annotation identifying a Shakespeare quotation in Richard Cumberland's Observer. Revised version of essay published online in Robert Burns Lives! ed. Frank R. Shaw, no. 242 (August 8 2016): http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/frank/burns_lives242.htm.
Publication Info
Patrick Scott, "The Twa Bards: Robert Burns and William Shakespeare," Robert Burns Lives!, ed. Frank R. Shaw, no. 242 (August, 2016).