SOURCE: "Love and the Lassies," in The Songs of Robert Burns: A Study of the Unity of Poetry and Music, Uppsala, 1977, pp. 31–53.

In this essay, Ericson-Roos analyzes the women of Burns's love poetry, asserting that "Burns shows an extraordinary psychological insight into the feminine mind."

The majority of Burns's songs deal with love, love seen from the poet's point of view or love seen through the eyes of one of the lovers. There are conventional pieces, droll and humorous scenes, young love, mature love, and erotic love. There are love-songs where the emphasis lies on sentiment, others where it lies on character or on action. Among all these songs we find Burns's most interesting and exciting characters. These are his young girls in love and particularly those who speak for themselves in the songs. Here Burns shows an extraordinary psychological insight into the feminine mind and as Christina...