Robert Burns

The first supper was held in memoriam at Burns Cottage by Burns's friends on 21 July 1801, the fifth anniversary of his death; it has been a regular occurrence ever since. The first still extant Burns Club was founded in Greenock in 1801 by merchants born in Ayrshire, some of whom had known Burns. They held the first Burns supper on what they thought was his birthday, 29 January 1802, but in 1803, they discovered the Ayr parish records that noted his date of birth was 25 January 1759. Since then, suppers have been held on or about 25 January.

Celebrate Burns's poetry with a special Scottish dinner, or these writing prompts inspired by Burns's style.

Burns's writing style is spontaneous, direct, and sincere, marked with gentle intensity with slight touches of humor and satire.

He used popular themes of love, gender roles, sexuality, poverty, radicalism, and republicanism in his poems. His poems also reflect emotional ups and downs.

Cheers to Robert Burns!

1. Write a poem that includes the theme of emotional ups and downs. Every time your main subject has something that excites them, immediately after, they will have something disappoint them. Continue this throughout your poem.

1. Write a poem about receiving a gift from a loved one that they are very excited to give to you. When you open it, you're confused about why they gave you this.