International Journal Of Literature And Languages
177
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijll
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue05 2025
PAGE NO.
177-179
10.37547/ijll/Volume05Issue05-41
Robert Burns and The Interpretation of Folk Motifs and
Love in His Lyrics
Saidova Dildora Farhod qizi
PhD student of the Faculty of Foreign Philology, National University of Uzbekistan
Received:
31 March 2025;
Accepted:
29 April 2025;
Published:
31 May 2025
Abstract:
This article explores the life and work of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns, providing insight into his
entry into the world of literature. Particular attention is given to the themes of folk spirit, patriotism, love for his
beloved and homeland, as well as the reflection of national values in his poetry.
Keywords:
Poetry, dialect, folk motifs, love, inspiration.
Introduction:
Robert Burns, widely regarded as the
national poet of Scotland, was not only a literary figure
of the Romantic era but also a cultural preserver of
Scottish folk tradition. His lyrics are deeply infused with
folk motifs
—
traditional themes, symbols, and
structures drawn from oral literature, music, and rural
life. These elements do more than provide local color;
they serve as the emotional and aesthetic backbone of
his work, connecting his poetry to the collective
consciousness of the Scottish people. In his works, he
skillfully covered the themes of folk life, the beauty of
nature, love and humanity. Burns' poetry is dominated
by folk tones, humor and sincerity, and his work has
become an integral part of the cultural heritage of
Scotland.
Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759 in the
village of Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland. Born into a
farming family, he had to work hard from childhood.
His father, William Burns, wanted his children to
receive an education and taught them to read and
write. Robert was interested in literature from his
young age and began to write poetry in English and
Scottish.
Burns' first love was a girl named Nellie Kirkpatrick, to
whom he dedicated one of his first poems [5, 1971: 81].
However, the poet's life was not always smooth - he
faced financial difficulties and complications in his
personal life.
After the family moved to another farm in 1777, Burns
tried farming, but did not achieve much success in this
endeavor. As a result, he paid more serious attention
to literature and published his first collection of poetry.
The changes in his life and various difficulties began to
be reflected in R. Burns's work.
His lyrical work occupies a special place in the literary
heritage not only of Scotland, but also of the whole
world. In his works, the poet reflects the spiritual
experiences, feelings, lifestyle and cultural values of the
Scottish people with high skill and folklorist. His lyrical
output, especially his contributions to song collections
such as The Scots Musical Museum and A Select
Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice, reveals
a profound engagement with folk motifs
—
traditional
themes, symbols, and narrative structures drawn from
Scotland’s rich oral heritage.[9.1968,22] These motifs
are not employed merely for their aesthetic appeal;
rather, they serve as cultural signifiers that ground
Burns’s poetry in the lived experience of the Scottish
people, particularly the rural working class. In addition,
in his works, the feeling of homeland, natural
landscapes and the image of a lover who is overcome
by the pain of his beloved are described in sincere
language. He reflected the subtleties of folk poetry in
his artistic style, introducing aesthetic elevation into
the lives of ordinary people.
Folk motifs are very strongly manifested in the lyrics of
Robert Burns. In his works, he reflects the national
customs, traditions and lifestyle of the Scottish people
in simple language. In order to reflect the spirit of the
people, Burns created poems inspired by Scottish folk
songs, legends and oral traditions. This makes his
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178
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International Journal Of Literature And Languages (ISSN: 2771-2834)
poetry more sincere and quickly takes root in the hearts
of readers. Burns’s role as both collector and adapter
of folk materials is critical to understanding his literary
legacy. Rather than treating traditional songs as static
artifacts, he actively reshaped and refined them, fusing
folk idioms with his own poetic sensibility. His stated
intention to “preserve the ancient melodies of my
country” speaks to a conscious effort to med
iate
between the oral and the literary, the communal and
the individual. [6.2000;23]
Folk motifs permeate his lyrics in various forms,
including natural imagery, archetypal figures, seasonal
references, and the evocation of rustic life. These
elements not only locate his work within a specific
cultural and geographical milieu but also function as
conduits for expressing universal human emotions such
as love, grief, and joy.
Burns's famous poem "Auld Lang Syne" (The Good Old
Days) is distinguished by its richness in folk motifs. This
poem is based on the Scottish national song and covers
topics such as friendship and the value of the past. The
folk dialect and feelings in it can be seen in the
following examples:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?[2. 1786; 42]
These lines glorify the remembrance of the past, not
forgetting, the appreciation of old friends and the
sincerity of human relationships. Folk motifs are visible
in the general content of the poem and its
performance. It can be seen that the words in the poem
are created from verses which are close to the hearts
of their people. The fact that the poem does not depict
a big social theme, but simple human feelings is one of
the main features of the poetry.
In addition, love is one of the main themes in the work
of R. Burns. He raises the theme of love not only in
romantic, but also in all manifestations of human
relationships. Among the most persistent motifs in
Burns’s lyrics is romantic love, often articulated
through the conventions of traditional balladry. Songs
such as “A Red, Red Rose”, “Ae Fond Kiss”, and “Green
Grow the Rashes, O” exhibit a marked influence of oral
tradition, particularly in their use of refrains, simple
diction, and symbolic imagery. [9. 2001;47] Burns
situates romantic narratives within communal
settings
—
dances, harvest gatherings, and rural
festivals
—
thus reinforcing the social function of
courtship and affection in folk culture. [13 2010;78] His
frequent use of the Scots vernacular further
authenticates these experiences, aligning them with
the linguistic identity of his audience. [4.1985;142]
In the poem “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose”, love is
described as boundless and loyal. The feeling of love in
his poems is unique in its sincerity and imagery.
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody,
That’s sweetly played in tune.
The red rose, a recurring motif, serves as a culturally
resonant symbol of beauty and passion, while the
hyperbolic expressions of enduring love echo the
stylized emotional excess typical of folk verse. The
central theme of the poem is the permanence and
idealization of romantic love. The speaker compares his
love to
a “red, red rose” and a “melody. That’s sweetly
played in tune,” invoking both natural and artistic
imagery. These similes emphasize beauty, harmony,
and the emotional freshness of the beloved. [3.
2009;43] As the poem progresses, love is portrayed as
transcending physical and temporal boundaries,
evident in the hyperbolic lines:
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
“Till a’ the seas gang dry” and “the rocks
melt wi’ the
sun.”
Such exaggerated expressions serve not to deceive but
to intensify the depth of the speaker's emotional
commitment. These metaphors reflect a core Romantic
belief
—
that genuine emotion can surpass the
constraints of the material world.
Burns’s use of Scots dialect (e.g., “luve,” “gang,” “wi’”)
adds both a regional identity and emotional
authenticity to the poem. [1.1973;67] The dialect
grounds the lofty subject of eternal love in the familiar,
everyday speech of the Scottish people. This
juxtaposition between the universality of love and the
intimacy of personal expression enables the poem to
function on both folk and literary levels.
R. Burns is one of those poets who does not seek
inspiration from far away. Inspiration for him is
embodied in the beloved next to him, in the smile of his
beloved, in the rye field, in the valleys, rivers and
mountains of his country, in the history of his
homeland, in the suffering of national heroes. Due to
his strong love for his homeland, he prefers to write
most of his poems in the Scottish dialect.
Natural imagery plays a central role in the poem’s
emotional appeal. The rose, newly sprung in June,
International Journal Of Literature And Languages
179
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International Journal Of Literature And Languages (ISSN: 2771-2834)
symbolizes freshness, youth, and beauty. Likewise, the
metaphor of the melody suggests emotional harmony
and depth. The speaker’s use of hyperbole —
including
claims of love enduring until “the seas gang dry” and
beyond “ten thousand mile” —
reflects the Romantic
era’s
fascination
with
infinite
emotion
and
transcendental
experience.[7.1988;73]
These
rhetorical flourishes are not merely ornamental; they
signal the speaker’s desire to communicate love in its
most intense and enduring form, asserting its capacity
to overcome even the laws of nature and geography.
Nature occupies a central place in folk literature, often
serving as both setting and symbol. Burns’s lyrics reflect
this tradition through their vivid descriptions of flora,
fauna, and landscape. In “Now Westlin Winds”, for
example, the poet integrates natural and emotional
rhythms, drawing a parallel between the changing
seasons and the vicissitudes of love. [4.1985;142] Such
alignments are characteristic of folk sensibility, which
often views the natural world not as a passive backdrop
but as a dynamic participant in human affairs.
This ecological consciousness is also evident in Burns’s
pastoral songs, where the land is portrayed not only as
a source of livelihood but as a repository of cultural
memory and identity. His attention to the specificities
of place
—
names of rivers, hills, and valleys
—
functions
as a form of ethnographic documentation, preserving
local knowledge within poetic form.
Robert Burns, despite his short life, is one of the
creators who lived his life meaningfully. His lyrical work
occupies a special place in the literary heritage of not
only Scotland, but also the whole world. In his works,
the poet reflects the spiritual experiences, emotions,
lifestyle and cultural values of the Scottish people with
high skill and folklorist. In addition, in his work, the
feeling of the homeland, natural landscapes and the
image of a lover who is lost in the pain of his beloved
are described in sincere language. He reflected the
subtleties of folk poetry in his artistic style, introducing
aesthetic elevation into the lives of ordinary people. By
incorporating traditional themes, symbols, and
linguistic forms, Burns not only preserved a vanishing
cultural tradition but also reconstituted it within the
framework of literary artistry. His work exemplifies the
permeability of boundaries between oral and written
cultures and underscores the capacity of folk motifs to
convey complex human experiences. In Burns, the lyric
becomes a site of cultural continuity, where the voices
of the past are not merely echoed but reimagined for
posterity Robert Burns is one of the poets who were
able to reflect the life experiences of the people
through poetry and make them an integral part of the
national culture of Scotland.
REFERENCES
Bold, Alan. Robert Burns: A Biography. Vision Press,
1973.
Burns, Robert. Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.
Kilmarnock: John Wilson, 1786.
Crawford, Robert. The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography.
London: Pimlico, 2009
Carol McGuirk, Robert Burns and the Sentimental Era
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985), 103
–
142.
Daiches, David. Robert Burns and His World. London:
Thames and Hudson, 1971.
Fiona Stafford, Starting Lines in Scottish, English, and
Irish Poetry: From Burns to Heaney (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2000), 22
–
23.
Ferguson, James. Burns: The Man and His Work.
HarperCollins, 1988
Gifford, Douglas. “Romanticism and Sentiment in
Burns.” Burns and Cultural Authority, ed. Robert
Crawford, Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
Kenneth Simpson, Robert Burns (London: Northcote
House, 2001), 47
Kinsley, The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, vol. 2,
584
–
589.
Leask, Robert Burns and Pastoral, 65.
Murray Pittock, Robert Burns in Global Culture
(Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2011), 34
Nigel Leask, Robert Burns and Pastoral: Poetry and
Improvement in Late Eighteenth-Century Scotland
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 78.
