Famous people of Great Britain.

                Great Britain, and Scotland in particular, is the birthplace of many men of literature and science. Alexander Fleming invented penicillin. Walter Scott was a great master of historical novels like Rob Roy and  Ivanhoe. Robert Louis Stevenson is known for his stories and books of adventure. His books The Black Arrow, Treasure Island, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are famous all over the world.

                I would like to speak about a famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Robert Burns was born in 1759 and was the eldest of 7 children, growing up in a life of poverty and hard farm work. His father made sure that his sons were well educated and hired a private tutor to teach them English, French, Latin, and even Philosophy.

              When Robert was not having lessons he would help his father on the farm. In his spare time he started to write poetry. In 1784 Robert’s father died and Robert had to support the family. The farm was a failure as the crops wouldn’t grow. To make matters worse, Robert fell in love with Jean Arma. They wanted to marry but Jean’s father disapproved. Burns was a poor farmer with little money and not good enough for his daughter.

             Burns was fed up and planned to emigrate to Jamaica. He decided to print some of his poems in order to make money for the voyage. When Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect were

 Published, Burns became famous overnight .

             Burns didn’t just write poems, he was Scotland’s first collector of folk songs. In 1787 he set off on a journey around Scotland, writing down fragments of old songs like Auld Lang Syne, often rewriting them into the versions we know today.

             In 1788 Burns and Jean Arma married and went to live at Ellisland Farm. There he wrote his famous Tam O’Shanter – a tale of a farmer who, after a night of drinking, stumbles across some dancing witches on his way home.

            Burns and his family left Ellisland and moved to Dumfreys in 1793. My Love is Like a Red Red Rose was written soon after.

          By 1796 Burns had become dangerously ill and on the 21-st of July he died at the age of 37. Scotland lost one of its best loved poets and a national hero. Burns wanted to be the poet of Scotland and his dream came true. Today his poems are loved by millions all over the world.