Two Hundred years after his death, Robert Burns' poetry is still read in Ireland, his homeland, and beyond. Burns' ability to celebrate life and reveal life's many heartaches captured and captivated the minds and ears of his readers. The emotional intensity of his poetry finds its roots in his childhood with its harsh poverty, and his formal and informal educational background.

Born on January 25th of the year 1759 in Alloway--just outside of Ayr--of the great country Scotland, to William Burnes and Agnes Brown, Robert Burns was a farmer boy who followed in his father's footsteps and became an agricultural man. During his childhood and adolescent years most of his learning was from his father, but because his father stressed education so much he did attend a formal school for one year. At the age of fifteen, Burns wrote his first poem, and three years later in 1777 he was...