Essay on Burns

Essay on Burns is by Thomas Carlyle, and its introduction says it was first printed in the Edinburgh Review for December, 1828. The introduction adds that, though in form a review of the Life of Robert Burns by John Gibson Lockhart, the essay is really an entirely independent work. The introduction quotes a diary line, “Finished a paper on Burns September 16, 1828, at this Devil's Den, Craigenputtock.”

The introduction says Carlyle was drawn to his subject by every bond of race, language, and association, and that his birthplace, Annandale, is only ten miles from Dumfries, Burns's last home. The essay says it inclines to think that Burns's influence may have been considerable, as exerted specially on the Literature of his country, at least on the Literature of Scotland. The essay says that, strictly speaking, perhaps no British man has so deeply affected the thoughts and feelings of so many men as a solitary and altogether private individual with means apparently the humblest.