SOURCE: "Words, Music, and Emotion in the Love Songs of Robert Burns," in Eighteenth-Century Life, Vol. 15, Nos. 1 & 2, February & May, 1991, pp. 225-42.

Here, Ashmead and Davison explore several features of Burns's love songs, noting the connection he establishes between music and emotion.

Robert Burns' greatest songs rank with the finest in Europe, such as the best German lieder. Perhaps a fifth of Burns' 350 songs, including some of his best, were love songs written about particular women. Considering that so many of his songs originated in affairs of the heart, it is not surprising that in August 1783 Burns wrote in his commonplace book: 'There is certainly some connection between Love, and Music & Poetry'. This essay will analyse five love songs in order to sample the artistry of Burns and gain insight into his remarkable fusion of words, music and personal emotion.

Our first love song shows how the double tonic...