Consummate wordsmith: BYU exhibit honors Robert Burns' 250th birthday

Two-and-a-half centuries ago, a wee laddie was born near Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland. His parents named him Robert.

Growing up in poverty and hardship as the son of a self-educated tenant farmer, with hardly any chance for formal education, the boy had little to suggest that he would one day become one of the most famous and revered literary figures in the world.

But there are few people today who have not heard of Robert Burns. Poems such as "A Red, Red Rose," "To a Louse," "A Man's a Man for a' That," "To a Mouse" and "My Heart's in the Highlands" are not only still widely read, but phrases from them, such has "best laid plans of mice and men" and "to see ourselves as others see us" have become embedded in the language.

And who has not sung "Auld Lang Syne" to welcome in a New Year?

Burns became known as the National Poet of Scotland almost from the time he began writing; clearly, he has become a poet of the ages, says Matthew Wickman, associate professor of English at Brigham Young University and co-curator of an exhibit at the Harold B. Lee Library that honors Burns and his legacy.

"Burns has been popular with diverse audiences over the past two centuries," Wickman says, "from Victorian proponents of family values in the 19th century to socialists in the 20th century. The qualities of his poetry enabled people to see in him an image of themselves."

Burns' birthday, Jan. 25, has long been celebrated in Scotland and abroad, particularly in the United States, with Burns suppers that include lots of piping, Burns' "Address to a Haggis" and much merriment.

But this year, the birthday has kicked off a yearlong celebration in honor of the 250th anniversary.

Scotland has declared 2009 to be the Year of Homecoming, hoping to attract visitors with Scottish roots from around the world. Some 300 events have been planned, including a huge gathering of the clans in Edinburgh in July.

England's Prince Charles has made headlines at home and on the Internet with recitations of two Burns poems as part of a BBC project that includes other distinguished readers, as well.

So far, more than 175 of Burns' works have been recorded, and the Web site, www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns, has received thousands of hits.

A couple of new biographies have been written, including one called "The Bard: Robert Burns, a Biography," by Scotland's Robert Crawford, which, Wickman says, is getting a lot of buzz in the academic community and "which could well be the definitive Burns biography."