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Robert Burns and the Democratic Spirit Author(s): Philip Butcher Source: Phylon (1940-1956), Vol. 10, No. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1949), pp. 265-272 Published by: Clark Atlanta University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/272397 Accessed: 12/10/2008 15:58
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By PHILIP BUTCHER

Robert Burns and the Democratic Spirit

ROBERT
BURNS

is revered as the national poet of Scotland and, a greater

honor, as a lyrical genius of the highest order. His life, long frowned
upon by moralists, is now understood to have been a courageous effort to face the difficult economic and social problems of his day and a sincere attempt - intermittent and unsuccessful though it was - to overcome the faults of his own character. His love for his country, his sympathy for the common man of whatever race or nation and his regard for freedom for all are known and respected. But too often it is supposed that the latter was motivated merely by the love of license and the hatred of restraint common to many poets. In these times, however, it is important to recognize that Burns had a view of life which was political and not simply poetic, that he adhered to this philosophy in his life and writings with commendable courage and consistency, and that the concept he espoused was democracy. Had it not been for his genius, Burns' life would have been little different from that of any other poor Scottish farmer. His father had been poor and throughout the poet's boyhood the family was in financial distress. As a man, "Always forced to pay unduly high rentals for only moderately productive soil, he had the same experience as countless other tenant farmers of the time: to pay the landlord meant to starve the family; to fed the the family meant to run in debt to the landlord."' And despite his genius, Burns remained a poor man. Up to the time of his death he supported his large family on an income which never exceeded ? 100 a year. It is not surprising, then, that class consciousness and the spirit of social protest is evident in his poetry. But there is nothing narrow about Burns; a broad humanity overcomes his sense of identity with his class. Nor is there any feeling of class inferiority in a man who sees through superficial distinctions and says, "A Man's a Man for A' That." Burns' differences with the austere Scottish church are well known, since he was probably the most vigorous critic of orthodox Presbyterianism produced by Scotland during his lifetime. In the endless disputes between the Auld Lichts and the New, he continually supported the liberals. His religious views cannot be attributed solely to natural animosity toward an institution which had publicly censured him. Burns 265

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believed in religious tolerance as much as he believed in freedom. "Burns perceived that religion is not a thing of doctrine and formulas, rites and ceremonies, but a message of mercy, out of the fulness of love, to fallen man, an invitation to reconciliation,- it is without price, it is offered . "2 And his difficulties with the church arose not alone from to all; his failure to conform to strict standards of morality. Often the trouble lay in Burns' refusal to bite his tongue: "He knew the priest was no saint, and he did not scruple to say that he knew."3 He was not an irreligious man--he read his Bible and considered it the ideal guide to ethical conduct- but he refused to adhere to dogma. "The first concern of democracy is human beings. The human heart is the end of all social planning."4Burns' love for his fellow man, a trait which characterized his convivial, friendly personality and makes for the universal appeal of his poetry, is another proof of his democratic spirit. But "To say that Burn's primary concern was with men and women is more accurate than to say he was interested in Man. He could not possibly have written an 'Essay on Man.' He knew his friends and neighbors, however, rather better than they knew themselves; he was interested in their manifold affairs; it was of them, and of people like them all over the world, that he delighted to sing."5 Throughout his life the poet formed and continued friendships with people of widely different classes and varied intellectual capacities and political viewpoints. Among his friends were certain of the nobility, men of letters, the liberal clergy, doctors, lawyers, tradesmen and teachers. But his sense of class identity restricted his affections to "'a few Great Folk whom I respect and a few Little Folk whom I love.' "6 Strong as was Burns' sense of independence, he cannot be accused of shirking his responsibilities to those who were dependent on him for support. Half the profits of the Edinburgh edition of his poems went to Gilbert for the work of the farm and the support of Burns' mother and his daughter, Elizabeth Paton. The poet did all he could to aid William's futile efforts to take a start in life, and he frequently offered asylum to other unfortunate relatives. Nor did he shrink from the consequences of his illicit love affairs. What has been called his "genius for paternity" made him the father of at least fourteen children - of whom only five were certainly born in wedlock -but poor as he always was, Burns admitted them all to the family circle, did what he could to educate them, and otherwise provided for them as well as his meager income would allow. He loved all his children without distinction as to their exact legal status and their claims upon him. Burns shouldered his proper burden as a citizen, too. His connection with the Monkland Friendly Society, of which he was treasurer, librarian, and censor, was an instance of public-spirited concern with the immedi-

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ate welfare of his social unit. The chief object of the society was the establishment of a circulating library and the procedure followed, as well as the idea itself, was decidedly democratic. Burns explained that the decisions of the body were determined by the will of the majority. Members had their choice of books in rotation; he whose name stood at the head of the list on meeting night had the choice of all the books in the collection for that month. The poet's political liberalism, inspired by his intense Scotch patriotism and a broad view of the rights of all men, was stimulated by the conditions under which he lived. In the England of his day there were over one hundred and fifty crimes for which a man might be put to death. "The laws under which he lived, and which gave stability to an economic system that had sent his father into a bankrupt's grave, were framed by men in whose selection he had no voice; . . . "7 The European political system maintained a large and oppressive aristocracy. And in 1792 England's fear of the spread of revolutionary doctrines from France went so far as to result in the suppression of liberal clubs, the abrogation of the rights of free speech, and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Yet Burns was seldom reticent about expressing radical political views, no matter how inconvenient such expressions might be in the light of his financial insecurity or, during the Excise years, in view of the fact that he was criticizing the very government from which he derived his scanty living. In a cautious statement of his political opinions written just after an Excise Board inquiry had cleared him of the charge that he was unPRINCIPLES, I look upon the British patriotic, he said, "'As to REFORM Constitution, as settled at the Revolution, to be the most glorious Constitution on earth, or that perhaps the wit of man can frame; at the same time I think . . that we have a good deal deviated from the original principles of that Constitution; particularly, that an alarming System of Corruption has pervaded the connection between the Executive Power and the House of Commons. "8 Such circumspection was not customary with the poet and this letter does not represent a complete statement of his views. Burns read the works of Burke and Tom Paine with enthusiasm and he was deeply interested in both the American Revolution and the French Revolution. "In general the attitude in Britain towards these world shaking events was one of great hostility. In the case of the American Revolution, the feelings of all 'patriotic' Britishers were highly inflamed against the Arch-rebel Washington and his fellow colonists and a majority of the prints of the time had no language strong enough to denounce them and all their works. The same was true later of the French Revolution. In the midst of this flood of passion Burns stood calm and unmoved, weighing

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dispassionately the claims of both sides, and, at considerable risk to himself, declared unhesitatingly for the Americans and the French against his own countrymen."9 He wrote poems in support of the American cause and at a public meeting when the health of Pitt, the prime minister, was being drunk, Burns attempted to substitute as a toast "'To the health
of a much better man - George Washington.' "10

He was equally outspoken in regard to the French Revolution. In a letter written in 1794 justifying the execution of the royal family, Burns called Louis XVI "'a perjured Blockhead'" and Marie Antoinette "'an unprincipled Prostitute.' "1 Although he never lost faith in the fundamental principles of the revolution, he did not approve of France of the guillotine or of the reactionary government whose armies menaced Britain's shores in 1793, and he demonstrated this aversion by joining the Dumfries Volunteers and writing "Does Haughty Gaul Invasion Thr-at?" He wrote Commissioner Graham, "'As to France, I was her enthusiastic votary in the beginning of the business.- When she came to show her old avidity for conquest, in annexing Savoy, &c. to her dominions &in invading the rights of Holland, I altered my sentiments.' "12 Burns' famous letter to the Morning Chronicle sums up his political views. He wrote, "'I am a Briton; and must be interested in the cause of Liberty; I am a man; and the rights of human nature cannot be indifferent to me.' "13 That he was not indifferent is abundantly demonstrated in his poems and songs. Burns' poetry reflects the democratic spirit in subject matter, theme, and style. He wrote most often "about people whom he knew intimately, whose lives he had shared, whose weaknesses and virtues he knew almost as well as he knew his own."14 He dealt with simple Scotch manners and customs, with traditions and historical events with which each man was familiar. The man humbly working the soil for a precarious living and his brother seeking freedom from religious or political tyranny are recurrent themes. The directness and simplicity of Burn's language, his use of dialect - the speech of the common man - and his preference for songs are ample evidence that he wrote for, as well as of, the masses. And it is this, as much as anything else, which is responsible for the appeal of his poetry. "Where one person comprehends and enjoys Shelley's elaborately allegorical criticism of the world as he knew it, a hundred understand and delight in 'A Man's a Man for A' That.' "15 There are too many poems and songs which are conscious or unconscious heralds of some aspect of the democratic spirit to permit more than a discussion of representative examples here. They may be roughly classified in three groups. In what might be termed the poems of protest, Burns berates inequalities of rank and fortune. Another group of poems praises Scotch virtues and democratic principles and leaders. A

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third group consists of satires on religious orthodoxy and hypocrisy and political tyranny, and exhortations in support of liberty. Burns' critical view of his social order is well expressed in "Man Was Made to Mourn." He protests "Man's inhumanity to man," and reasons: "If I'm design'd yon lordling's slave,By Nature's law design'd,Why was an independent wish E'er planted in my mind? If not, why am I subject to His cruelty, or scorn? Or why has man the will and pow'r To make his fellow mourn?" Similar sentiments are evident in "The Brigs of Ayr," a satirical discussion of social inequalities, and "Address to Beelzebub," closely related to Scotch politics. Protest is to be found, too, in "To Dr. Blacklock" and "Epistle to Davie, A Brother Poet." In the latter Burns says: It's hardly in a body's pow'r, To keep, at times, frae being sour,
To see how things are shar'd; ...

In "I Hae a Wife," he adds a note of independence to his protest: I am naebody's lord, I'll be slave to naebody; I hae a guid braid sword, I'll tak dunts frae naebody. Sometimes Burns advances the banal rationalization that wealth and rank bring no true happiness. Something of this attitude, as well as equalitarianism, is evident in "A Man's a Man for A' That": Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, What struts, and stares, and a' that; Tho' hundreds worship at his word, He's but a coof for a' that: For a' that, and a' that, His riband, star, and a' that: The man of independent mind He looks and laughs at a' that. A prince can mak a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man's aboon his might, Guid faith, he maunna fa' that! For a' that, and a' that, Their dignities, and a' that; The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, Are higher rank than a' that.

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The poet's efforts to glorify rural customs and the Scotch peasant need no elaboration here. But it should be noted that both the subject matter and theme of the poems of this group indicate Burns' democratic philosophy, for he not only shows his interest in the common man but consistently points out the essential equality of all men. In "No Churchman Am I" he says: The peer I don't envy, I give him his bow; I scorn not the peasant, tho' ever so low;... And again, in "My Father Was a Farmer": Had you the wealth Potosi boasts, or nations to adore you, 0, A cheerful, honest-hearted clown I will prefer before you, 0. In the second epistle to John Lapraik he enlarges on this idea: "The social, friendly, honest man, Whate'er he be, 'Tis he fulfills great Nature's plan, And none but he." The same sentiment is repeated in "The Cotter's Saturday Night": "An honest man's the noblest work of God;" And certes, in fair virtue's heavenly road, The cottage leaves the palace far behind; What is a lordling's pomp? a cumbrous load, Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refin'd! "The Twa Dogs" is a vicious satirical treatment of the inherent vices of the aristocracy, while "Lines on an Interview With Lord Daer" is more just, admitting that aristocrats, too, may have their share of human virtues: Then from his Lordship I shall learn Henceforth to meet with unconcern One rank as weel's another; Nae honest, worthy man need care To meet with noble youthful Daer, For he but meets a brother. Burns' advocacy of theological liberalism, another democratic aspect of his poetry, is widely known. Generally he resorts to satire as the best medium for the expression of this theme. "The Twa Herds," "Holy Willie's Prayer," "Epitaph on Holy Willie," "The Holy Fair," and "The Kirk's Alarm" are among the most effective of the poems of this type. But it is upon Burns' political poems that proof of his democratic concepts must rest. These poems, largely overlooked in the consideration

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of Burns the poet, throw a deal of light on Burns the man and add stature to the figure. They are about equally divided between poems concerned with national politics, sometimes symbolic in treatment, and poems dealing with world events and abstract political ideology, and show Burns to have been more nearly a radical for his time than a liberal. In "On Glenriddel's Fox Breaking His Chain" he says, "Thou, Liberty, thou art my theme." The poem deals allegorically with the age-old fight for freedom, but it is concrete enough to remark, boldly:
...

Unlucky boy! with wicked wit, Has gagg'd old Britain, drained her coffer, As butchers bind and bleed a heifer. "Address to Beelzebub," already mentioned, is a satire "approving" the efforts of the Earl of Breadalbane to prevent the emigration of five hundred Highlanders to Canada in their search for liberty. It alludes to George Washington with admiration. Even when the poet speaks as a patriotic Englishman, he does not desert his basic political beliefs. In the closing stanza of "Does Haughty Gaul Invasion Threat?" he says: Who will not sing God save the King! Shall hang as high's the steeple; But while we sing God save the King! We'll not forget the people! Among the other significant poems on national politics are "Awa' Whigs, Awa'," "Lament of Mary Queen of Scots," "Ye Jacobites by Name," and 'The Heron Ballads." References to national political events and Scottish figures are scattered throughout Burns' poetry. His earliest treatment of the revolutionary spirit sweeping the world in which he lived is the sprightly "Ballad on the American War," which praises the American cause. Later he wrote the more serious "Libertie A Vision," comparing Washington with Wallace, the hero of Scotland. Burns denounces the British, saying:
England in thunder calls"The tyrant's cause is mine!"

Billy Pitt

The Cantata, "The Jolly Beggars," closes with an excellent synthesis of Burns' views, showing the extremes to which they sometimes went:
A fig for those by law protected! Liberty's a glorious feast! Courts for cowards were erected, Churches built to please the priest.

"The Slave's Lament" is an inept but direct condemnation of Negro that timeslavery. Other statements of political radicalism-for

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appear in "Address to General Dumourier" and "Inscription for an Alter to Independence." The last is short enough to permit quoting in its entirety: Thou of an independent mind, With soul resolv'd, with soul resign'd; Prepar'd Power's proudest frown to brave, Who wilt not be, nor have a slave; Virtue alone thou dost revere; Thy own reproach alone dost fear,Approach this shrine, and worship here. The passages cited by no means include all the evidences of the democratic spirit in Robert Burns' poetry, but they should be sufficient to establish the presence of that spirit and indicate its character and extent. Exactly how extreme his views were cannot now be determined, since he wrote considerable poetry which he recognized was too radical for publication. He circulated these poems among his friends, but it is believed that his family destroyed them after his death. What poems remain amply demonstrate that Burns was a man of the people and that his poetry is a direct correlary of Paine's The Rights of Man. In "Lines Written Extempore in a Lady's Pocket-Book" Burns makes a plea as eloquent and pertinent today as when he wrote it in 1793: Grant me, indulgent Heav'n, that I may live, To see the miscreants feel the pain they give; Deal Freedom's sacred treasures free as air, Till slave and despot be but things which were. No other wish would have been in accord with the political concept he championed; no other would have been worthy of the broad humanity of his poetry. References
1 Franklyn Bliss Snyder, The Life of Robert Burns (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1932), p. 454. 2 Burns: An Essay for the Working-Classes of Scotland, Part I, His Influence as a Moral Teacher and Social Reformer, by a member of the Literary Institute (Edinburgh: MacLachlan and Stewart, 1872), p. 3. 3 Ibid. 4 Robert MacGowan, Robert Burns: His Contribution to Democracy (New York: Arts and Letters Publications, 1938), p. 11. 5 Snyder, op. cit., p. 462. 6 Ibid., p. 409. From a letter to Creech in 1793. 7 Ibid., p. 463. 8 Ibid., p. 339. ([n. p.], Vancouver Burns Statue 9 James Taylor, Robert Burns: Patriot and Internationalist Fund, 1926), p. 4. 10 Ibid., p. 5. 11 Snyder, op. cit., p. 333. 12 Ibid., p. 339. 13 Taylor, op. cit., p. 4. 14 Snyder, op. cit., p. 253. 15 Ibid., p. 423.