Robert Burns: a man ' s a man for a ' that

On Burns ' Night it seems appropriate to write about Robert Burns, Scotland ' s national poet, or one of them anyway!  Today, 25th January, is the anniversary of his birth.Some of his poems, includingAddress to a Haggis, will be read all over Scotland and beyond (even in my house), tonight at Burns ' Suppers.   As well as that light hearted verse, he wrote in Scots a wide variety of styles and on a wide variety of subjects - tryA red, red rose, The wren ' s nest andA man ' s a man for a ' that.   He took part in a grand project to, effectively, collect Scottish folk songs (perhaps the first of those is one he collected).  There are links to many of his poems at the bottom of the Scottish Poetry Library ' s biography.  There are also lots linked from anarchived BBC page.TheScottish Poetry Library ' s biography says a little about his health (he died aged only 37), so this health librarian has been to see what there is in the literature (as we do).   That biography records he had heart trouble, allied with a rheumatic condition, and had tried immersion in the sea as a treatment, which might have contributed to his demise.There are 16 items in PubMed found by burns r[ps].  One is definitely another R. Burns.   Of the ones that are the poet, there are some that discuss his poetry (Death and Dr Hornbook, and Address to the Toothache).Then there are some discussing if he had melancholia, and some t...
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