SOURCE: "The Background of Burns: Eighteenth-Century Scotland," in The Russet Coat: A Critical Study of Burns's Poetry and of Its Background, Robert Hale & Company, 1956, pp. 7-27.
In the following excerpt Keith describes Scotland's Golden Age, a time of nationalism and rich intellectual life; Edinburgh's reception of and influence on Burns; and why Burns's limited reading and self-education caused him to focus on satire and song.
This is a free excerpt of 66 words. There are 8,146 words (approx.
27 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Robert Burns 1759–1796: Critical Essay by Christina Keith Access Pass.
