Robert Burns

Robert Burns, born in Ayrshire in 1759, began writing while very young. In 1786, the success of his first volume of poetry led him to move to Edinburgh, where he received enormous acclaim. Two years later, he married and moved with his wife to a farm in Dumfries. In 1789 he took work as an exciseman, and continued working on the collection of Scots songs that eventually consolidated his reputation. He died in 1796, aged thirty-six.