Research Catalog

Robert Burns, the tinder heart

Title
Robert Burns, the tinder heart / Hugh Douglas.
Author
Douglas, Hugh, 1928-2003.
Publication
[Wolfeboro Falls, NH] : A. Sutton Pub., [1996], ©1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextRequest in advance PR4332 .D68 1996Off-site

Details

Description
xviii, 299 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
  • Robert Burns' attitude to love has been the subject of controversy for two centuries. Though the catalyst for much of his poetry, his sex life has often been denied, glossed over, even bowdlerized out of recognition.
  • In this new study, Hugh Douglas has sought out the truth about Burns to show, behind the usual portrayal, a man who was much less secure than his actions suggest, one for whom sex was an act of rebellion as well as of love. His peasant background was a shaping force in his attitude to women. Though amorous love was the impulse which drove his to verse, his love for his children usually transcended that for their mothers.
  • Burns called himself an 'extravagant prodigal of affection', and Hugh Douglas here looks anew at that extravagance which shaped Burns' life and poetry. He traces his relationship with women from a loving apprenticeship at his mother's knee to Jean Armour, his loyal, supportive wife.
  • He also examines Burns' many amorous adventures: Nelly Kilpatrick, his harvest-field partner, who first inspired him to write; Highland Mary Campbell; the enigma of 'E'; Peggy Chalmers, who rejected him; Clarinda, who always held back; and Maria Riddell, who came nearest to being his intellectual equal.
Subjects
Note
  • "First published in United Kingdom in 1996 Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd."--T.p. verso.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-288) and indexes.
Contents
Chronology - the Life of Robert Burns - 1759-96 -- 1. Auld Sang - New Song -- 2. Apprentice to Love -- 3. Silk Purses and Sows' Lugs -- 4. Sex and Sensibility -- 5. The Mauchline Lady -- 6. St Mary of Argyll -- 7. The Most Valued Friend' -- 8. From Greenland to Rapture -- 9. The Passionate Pilgrim -- 10. Clarinda, Mistress of my Soul -- 11. Farthing Taper ... Meridian Sun -- 12. A Wife o' My Ain -- 13. Whittling Cherry-Stones -- 14. My Spirits Fled! -- 15. The Rights of Woman.
ISBN
0750912138 (hc : alk. paper)
LCCN
96042553
OCLC
  • 503410235
  • ocn503410235
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries