Abstract
Discusses Robert Burns's sources and manuscripts for his expansion of the song "Ay waukin, O," first published as song 213 in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, III (1790); highlights an often neglected and misdated printed item, William Tytler’s Dissertation, as Burns's source for two of the four stanzas; considers the two full-length manuscripts, identifying one as being an Antique Smith forgery, and detailing the provenance and purpose, of the other, now at the Birthplace Museum; examines and reproduces the Roy manuscript and its pencilled additions; and so clarifies the relationship among the three genuine manuscripts to argue that the Roy manuscript represents a particularly significant composition stage.
Recommended Citation
Scott, Patrick G.
(2017)
"Robert Burns's Hand in 'Ay Waukin, O': The Roy Manuscript and William Tytler's Dissertation (1779),"
Studies in Scottish Literature:
Vol. 43:
Iss.
1, 137–151.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol43/iss1/13