HE was a ploughman and a poet. But also a keen observer of the natural world.
Today, Burns’s creative and practical engagement with the environment as a writer and farmer, and his profound connection to the land, offers a unique lens through which to view modern environmental challenges.
Now the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies (CRBS) will delve deeper into the bard’s environmental consciousness through an innovative three-year PhD research studentship.
Centre director Dr Pauline Mackay said: “Robert Burns painted vivid portraits of a landscape he knew intimately as both a poet and a farmer; its topography, flora, fauna and wildlife. From ‘To a Mouse’ to the powerful natural imagery of ‘Ae Fond Kiss’, Burns’s poetry and song was inspired by nature, but he also shaped his environment in very practical ways.
“In recent months the Centre has hosted research workshops and conference panels with academics, industry, artists and cultural heritage partners to contemplate Burns’s engagement with and impact on his natural surroundings, and the ways in which this should be reflected in present day commemorations and celebrations of Burns, as part of a sustainable approach to Burnsian heritage.”
Associate director Dr Ronnie Young added: “As our society grapples with pressing environmental challenges, Burns’s writings offer a valuable perspective on sustainable relationships between humans and nature. His verse not only frequently celebrates local ecosystems and biodiversity but also raises questions about our role as stewards of the environment and issues that remain startlingly relevant more than two centuries later.
“The new PhD position will help us to further explore Burns’s ecological outlook, his reflections on ‘man’s dominion’ and ‘nature’s social union’, and indeed his impact on later environmental thought.”
