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Tam o' Shanter - A Tale

Key details

Archive number
NTS/02/25/BRN/02/12
Alt. number
3.6108
Date
1790
On display
Yes
Creator
Burns, Robert (Author)

Description

Tam o' Shanter - A Tale. 3 double sheets. Fragment, not full poem.

Robert Burns handwrote several copies of Tam o’ Shanter to send to his friends. This version of the poem is unusual because it includes four lines that speak harshly about lawyers and priests. He was advised to remove these lines before publication.

In 1790 Burns wrote this dramatic poem Tam o’ Shanter. It drew upon the traditional stories he had heard growing up in Ayrshire. The poem follows Tam, who has spent the evening in a pub getting drunk with friends. On his way home on horseback, he encounters the devil and a crowd of witches cavorting inside the Auld Kirk of Alloway. Careless with drink, Tam disturbs the witches and flees toward the nearby Brig o’Doon--with the witches in hot pursuit. The poem appeared in Grose’s second volume of The Antiquities of Scotland.

Archive information


Hierarchy

  1. Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs ( )