The Homeward Tide

My Heart’s in the Highlands: An Anthology of Verse (1979) – Robert Burns
Jarrold Colour Publications | ISBN: 0853066752
Condition: Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

Scotland. A magnificent country of sweeping glens, rugged mountains, romantic lochs, unpredictable weather and a population possessing an extraordinary ability to become sentimental about landscapes that would send an ordinary English tourist rushing indoors for a hot drink. And nobody captured its character, humour, passions and peculiarities quite like Robert Burns.

Welcome to My Heart’s in the Highlands, a charming anthology of verse celebrating the poetic genius of Scotland’s most beloved literary export, a man whose words have survived centuries of changing fashions, political upheavals and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to understand what everybody is singing on New Year’s Eve.

Born in Ayrshire in 1759, Robert Burns became one of the defining voices of Scottish literature, transforming the experiences of ordinary people, rural life, romance and national identity into poetry of remarkable warmth and vitality.

His subjects ranged from love and longing to friendship, hardship, social pretension and the splendid absurdities of human behaviour. He could celebrate the beauty of the countryside one moment and expose the foolishness of respectable society the next, frequently with the uncomfortable accuracy of somebody who had encountered rather too much of both.

The anthology takes its title from Burns’s famous expression of longing for the Scottish Highlands, capturing that powerful attachment to place which has inspired generations of Scots to gaze wistfully towards the mountains, even when the weather there is doing its utmost to discourage visitors.

Burns possessed an extraordinary gift for making familiar experiences feel universal. Love becomes both glorious and troublesome, human pride appears magnificently ridiculous, and the natural world acquires emotional significance far beyond its practical usefulness.

His command of Scots and English gives his writing a distinctive musical quality, although modern readers occasionally discover that understanding eighteenth-century Scottish vocabulary requires a little patience and possibly a dictionary.

Fortunately, the reward is considerable.

There is something particularly appealing about Burns’s refusal to regard poetry as the exclusive property of aristocrats and academics. His writing gives voice to farmers, labourers, lovers and ordinary individuals whose experiences might otherwise have been overlooked by more fashionable literary society.

And while his reputation is often surrounded by tartan, whisky and solemn ceremonial recitations, Burns himself was far too lively, passionate and irreverent to be confined comfortably within such respectable traditions.

Published in 1979 by Jarrold Colour Publications, this anthology offers an attractive introduction to the enduring charm of Burns’s verse and the landscape and cultural identity with which his poetry remains inseparably associated.

This 1979 edition, offered in Good condition by Crappy Old Books, is a delightful acquisition for admirers of Scottish literature, poetry collectors, Burns enthusiasts and anyone whose affection for Scotland extends beyond shortbread tins and bagpipe recordings.

A charming celebration of romance, nature, humour and national feeling from a poet whose words remain remarkably alive more than two centuries after his death.

Because Scotland has produced philosophers, engineers, inventors and some of the world’s finest whisky.

But Robert Burns achieved something even more extraordinary.

He persuaded generations of people to become emotional about poetry.

And occasionally to attempt singing it.

Usually after consuming enough whisky to make the pronunciation considerably less important.

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