Bibliograph

Dirt & deity, a life of Robert Burns, Ian McIntyre

Type

Label

Dirt & deity, a life of Robert Burns, Ian McIntyre

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

resource.biographical

individual biography

Illustrations

platesmapsillustrationsportraits

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Dirt & deity

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

33919098

Responsibility statement

Ian McIntyre

Sub title

a life of Robert Burns

Summary

Ian McIntyre's biography, published to mark the bicentenary of Burns's death, strips away myth and legend and explores what lies beneath. It is based meticulously on documentary and archival sources, and uses only the first-hand testimony of those who knew the man. It sets Burns in his historical context, and paints both his emotional life and his political views in vivid colours. On public matters he had no difficulty in holding simultaneously two views that were contradictoryIn his private life he could be effortlessly in love with several women at the same time, appallingly cruel one moment, wonderfully tender the nextMcIntyre offers a more extensive evaluation of Burns's songs and poetry than most previous biographers. He stresses the importance and quality of the satirical verse, as well as the haunting love poems for which Scotland's 'bard' is best known. In an illuminating final chapter, he examines the extraordinary ramifications assumed after the death of the poet by the Burns legend, a fantastical 'afterlife' bearing little resemblance to biographical reality

resource.variantTitle

Dirt and deityLife of Robert Burns

Classification

Creator