0:00:02 > 0:00:04Don't roll yet. I'm practising, right?
0:00:04 > 0:00:06Bad Scots accent or American accent?
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Robert Burns, the great Scottish bard,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14never travelled to America,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17but his poems and songs certainly did.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Burns was the 19th-century Elvis, that's how popular he was.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Burns' poems were pirated in the States
0:00:25 > 0:00:29by several canny Scots who printed thousands of copies.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32He's all over America in the early 19th century.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34I mean, everybody's reading Robert Burns.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38The poet's stories really hit home in this emerging nation
0:00:38 > 0:00:42and some of the greatest cultural and political minds of the day
0:00:42 > 0:00:43were influenced by Burns' work
0:00:43 > 0:00:46during America's most troubled years.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49He is of the people by the people for the people.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52He's an American poet.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55In his own lifetime, Burns was big in America.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59After his death, he became an absolute icon.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01This is the story of a new nation
0:01:01 > 0:01:04that took a poet from the old country to its heart
0:01:04 > 0:01:07and of the legacy that his words left behind.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17All right, here we go.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19The whole thing?
0:01:19 > 0:01:20How do you say this?
0:01:20 > 0:01:22"We've..." Oh, wait.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Wee, sleekit, cow...
0:01:24 > 0:01:26- Is it "slick-it"?- Sleekit.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29"Cow'rin".
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Wee, sleekit, cow'rin tim'rous beastie
0:01:31 > 0:01:34O, what a panic in thy breastie!
0:01:34 > 0:01:36Thou need na start awa sae hasty
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Wi' bickering brattle!
0:01:39 > 0:01:42I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Wi' murdering pattle!
0:01:45 > 0:01:47I can do that over, if you want.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59It may not be obvious when travelling through America,
0:01:59 > 0:02:01but if you know where to look,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04the evidence of Burns is there to be seen.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08And in the wooded suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10there's a curious relic.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15It's a unique Burns club that has been meeting for over 100 years
0:02:15 > 0:02:19in this living, breathing replica of the cottage in Ayrshire
0:02:19 > 0:02:20where Burns was born.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Rebuilding Burns' cottage, an exact replica,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I suppose is the biggest homage to Burns
0:02:29 > 0:02:31in the United States of America.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37It is very much a sign that Burns is successfully, not artificially,
0:02:37 > 0:02:42transplanted into the United States of America in enduring fashion.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50And it's Atlanta pharmacist Joseph Jacobs,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53the man that served the very first glass of Coca-Cola,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57that the members have to thank for their cottage.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02A lawyer, Piromis Bell, and Dr Joseph Jacobs had a meeting.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Piromis Bell spied a copy of Burns on his shelf
0:03:05 > 0:03:07and read several poems.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Jacobs was so blown away that he decided,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13"We must do something about this."
0:03:16 > 0:03:18In 1907,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21the club made plans for their very own Burns cottage
0:03:21 > 0:03:24on land bought by Dr Jacobs.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27It's an almost exact replica
0:03:27 > 0:03:29but it doesn't have a thatched roof.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Some of our archives indicate that the field mice
0:03:34 > 0:03:37found it a little bit too attractive.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:03:40 > 0:03:42LAUGHTER
0:03:42 > 0:03:44The Burns Club of Atlanta
0:03:44 > 0:03:46may not look exactly like the cottage in Ayrshire,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49but it does embody the spirit of Burns.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55The whole notion of good company, good eating, good drinking,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58good toasting, good jesting,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02all of these things which have a kind of licence in Burns' own work
0:04:02 > 0:04:06are to be found in the Atlanta Burns Club.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Like most Burns Clubs, this one celebrates the life,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12works and philosophy of Robert Burns.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Glad to be here with my wife now of six months.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17CHEERING
0:04:17 > 0:04:20I want to thank Robert Burns for helping this to happen.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24I read Red, Red Rose to her before I asked the question.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Burns, a man that liked company, drinking and talking politics.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Those of you who don't know, I have an English son-in-law who said,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36"Do you really need to wear this T-shirt,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38"especially in the political system that we've got now?"
0:04:38 > 0:04:43It says "Make America Great Britain again!"
0:04:43 > 0:04:45CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:04:47 > 0:04:53Burns cottage, you know, was built on the outskirts of town on purpose,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58so they could have a place to sing and drink their whisky
0:04:58 > 0:05:03and then walk up the hill and catch the trolley back into town.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06I was in "Edinboro" a few years ago and I was...
0:05:06 > 0:05:08I was drinking.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10SHOUTING
0:05:10 > 0:05:14We've had five governors, we've had senators.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17We've had judges.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20We had a guy who...
0:05:20 > 0:05:21took care of goats.
0:05:21 > 0:05:22BANGING
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Gentleman and guests,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27at this time in accordance with the normal routine of the programme,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31we'll be reading from the bard by Frank Shaw.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32Yes, Frank!
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Thank you very much.
0:05:37 > 0:05:43These verses were suggested by the actual event of Burns ploughing.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45It goes something like this. It says...
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast...
0:05:49 > 0:05:53It's not just the poetry that caused this enduring American fascination
0:05:53 > 0:05:54in Robert Burns.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57It's the history of the man and the things he stood for.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Burns' life had been a combination of hard labour as a farmer,
0:06:13 > 0:06:19but also as a young man who enjoyed fashion, who enjoyed dancing,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22who enjoyed music, who enjoyed poetry.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25He was part of a cultural set in Ayrshire.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28And if you look at the guys who get together
0:06:28 > 0:06:30to subscribe to his first book,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34it's very often lawyers, schoolteachers, merchants.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37These are the guys that Burns is mixing with
0:06:37 > 0:06:39in that Ayrshire Enlightenment.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The poems were an instant hit,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and the Ploughman Poet was soon entertaining
0:06:46 > 0:06:47the literati of Edinburgh.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54With his second edition of his poems, with a much bigger print run,
0:06:54 > 0:06:58some began to refer to Burns as "Caledonia's bard".
0:06:58 > 0:07:03We're talking about 612 copies of the Kilmarnock edition.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07We're then talking about 3,000 copies of the Edinburgh edition,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and Burns begins to accrue money
0:07:10 > 0:07:13that represents a tidy sum in today's terms.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16It's the kind of sales, it's the kind of money,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18that a modern poet would kill for.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Evidence of the high regard that Americans have for Burns
0:07:26 > 0:07:30can be seen by the number of people that collect his works.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Frank Shaw's collection is one of the most extensive.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37I've got books that cost in the hundreds of dollars
0:07:37 > 0:07:39and I've got...
0:07:39 > 0:07:42a few books that cost in the thousands of dollars.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43Erm...
0:07:43 > 0:07:49The most treasured possession I have is a Kilmarnock,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52poems chiefly in the Scottish dialect.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04This book is extremely special.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10It's the first book written by Robert Burns.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12The book meant a lot to Burns.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16It gave him the money to pay off some debts,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20it paved the way for him to receive the recognition
0:08:20 > 0:08:25that he actually thought that he deserved and, erm...
0:08:25 > 0:08:28it's the most treasured item that I have in my life.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Other than my wife!
0:08:31 > 0:08:34It's very expensive.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38I know there's about 82-84 books left like this.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44There's one for sale right now on eBay for 85,000.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47But it's not the Kilmarnock or Edinburgh editions
0:08:47 > 0:08:50that propelled the work of Robert Burns onto the American stage.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53That's chiefly down to two printers from Scotland
0:08:53 > 0:08:56looking to make a tidy sum in Philadelphia.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I still find it quite remarkable
0:09:17 > 0:09:19that it just takes a matter of months
0:09:19 > 0:09:24after the 1787 Edinburgh edition is first sold
0:09:24 > 0:09:28before it's being reprinted even in both Philadelphia and New York.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34In places like Philadelphia,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Burns begins to have a presence in the local newspapers,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41partly due to the expatriate Scottish community,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43but not exclusively.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47It's quickly realised by editors this guy is enjoyed as a poet,
0:09:47 > 0:09:48as a songwriter.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53And before long, some bright spark in Philadelphia has the idea,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56"Let's pirate an edition of Burns,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00"let's just take the Kilmarnock and the Edinburgh poems
0:10:00 > 0:10:02"and let's print it here."
0:10:04 > 0:10:06It' thought to be in the rooms above this bar
0:10:06 > 0:10:10in the centre of Philadelphia where those Scottish bright sparks,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Peter Stewart and George Hyde, pirated the poetry of Burns.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Philadelphia and New York were the main commercial hubs
0:10:21 > 0:10:23of America during the period.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Printing presses are very, very heavy
0:10:25 > 0:10:27and when they would've come from overseas,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29they would've come in through a port city, and Philadelphia
0:10:29 > 0:10:31was kind of the original port city
0:10:31 > 0:10:33before New York kind of surpassed it.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37The absence of any copyright laws
0:10:37 > 0:10:42created a culture of reprinting in New York and Philadelphia,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45and naturally, because of the shared language,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49popular British books became commonplace,
0:10:49 > 0:10:54and if you think about it from an entrepreneurial
0:10:54 > 0:10:56or marketing point of view,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59it makes sense in that you don't have to pay any royalties,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03but you can reprint work and make money from selling these books.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Putting a book of poetry together gives you some specific challenges
0:11:12 > 0:11:14really in typesetting.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16With poetry you have to be very, very careful,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18because where lines break,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21where they're indented, all of that matters in poetry.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24So it would've been, you know, not only a fair amount of work,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28but it would've been a fair amount, you know, kind of skilled work.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31The high cost of producing a substantial book of poetry
0:11:31 > 0:11:34meant that Stewart and Hyde had to be confident
0:11:34 > 0:11:36that Burns' poems would sell well.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40But the popularity of the poet meant the venture was unlikely to fail.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Printers wanted to make money and I think if they found something
0:11:44 > 0:11:48that they believed would sell, a book of poetry that, you know,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51had a kind of history of doing well,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53I could see why that would be, you know,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57very enticing to an American printer, erm...
0:11:57 > 0:11:59copyright aside possibly!
0:12:01 > 0:12:03The same year, two more Scots,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06John and Archibald McLean from Glasgow,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08published an edition in New York.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Little did Burns know,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13but his bootlegged books were flooding the American market.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17We've got no direct evidence that Burns knows this is happening.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21He is reading about America in the periodical press.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Almost certainly he's seeing advertisements for his own work.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Burns gets a lot of fame but no royalties at all from that venture.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39The chearfu' Supper done, wi' serious face
0:12:39 > 0:12:42They, round the ingle, form a circle wide
0:12:42 > 0:12:45The Sire turns o'er, with patriarchal grace
0:12:45 > 0:12:47The big ha'-Bible...
0:12:47 > 0:12:49- The big ha'-Bible...- Ha'Bible...
0:12:49 > 0:12:51The big ha'Bible, ance his Father's pride
0:12:51 > 0:12:54His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside
0:12:54 > 0:12:57His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide
0:13:01 > 0:13:04He wales a portion with judicious care
0:13:04 > 0:13:07And let us worship God! he says with solemn air.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12It's really pretty. It's a little hard to pronounce some of the words.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It's like "ha'-Bible," I don't even...
0:13:14 > 0:13:16I don't know what that means.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23In 19th-century America, there was a ready audience for homely tales
0:13:23 > 0:13:26of country folk, listening to words from the Bible in the hall,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28or ha'-Bible.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31It was a country of recent immigrants,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35keen for reading matter that related to their rural lives,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38especially those whose roots were from Scotland.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12This is the St Andrew's Society of Central Illinois,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15enjoying their annual barbecue and membership drive.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Undoubted fans of all things Scottish,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28they're proud of their bagpipes and their love of Burns.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36If you're an immigrant and you're moving somewhere
0:14:36 > 0:14:39for a very long time and you're probably not going to return,
0:14:39 > 0:14:41you're going to take some reading material
0:14:41 > 0:14:45and you're going to sing the same songs that you sang back home,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49and you might even sing them a bit louder in a new, foreign land.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01When you transplant culture, in some ways it becomes more self-conscious,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05even more traditional, and tradition begets tradition.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08That's not to say there isn't a genuine love going on,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12but Burns clearly abroad as well as at home
0:15:12 > 0:15:14becomes somewhat fetishistic.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Burns and his works were definitely used to
0:15:18 > 0:15:22uphold a sense of Scottish identity in America.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24But when Burns did become popular,
0:15:24 > 0:15:29it didn't take long for his work and even the symbolism of the man
0:15:29 > 0:15:35to become incorporated into these societies and to become a symbol,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38a patriotic symbol of Scotland and Scottishness.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42BAGPIPES PLAY
0:15:44 > 0:15:49THEY SHOUT CLAN NAMES
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Clan McFarlane!
0:15:51 > 0:15:54CHEERING
0:15:54 > 0:15:55Up!
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Clans, light the fire!
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Scotland forever.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10APPLAUSE
0:16:10 > 0:16:14We have to teach our youth about the history.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18We can't let it be forgotten because it happened.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21As Burns would say, we don't want it to gang agley,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23or go away.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25MUSIC: Ae Fond Kiss played on flute
0:16:40 > 0:16:42I remember when I was eight years old
0:16:42 > 0:16:46and my parents gave me a book of his poetry and I read it
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and read, er, Scots Wha Hae.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53And it's... He's always been there.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58At my dad's funeral, I recited My Heart's In The Highlands,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01which is still one of my favourite Burns poems.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05And it was tough to do but I did it for my dad,
0:17:05 > 0:17:06and he would've loved it, so...
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Robert Burns' final years were marked with money worries
0:17:14 > 0:17:16and increasingly bad health.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19But his death at the age of 37
0:17:19 > 0:17:22didn't bring about a drift into obscurity.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Burns' reputation and fame grew,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and in the States, his work would go on to influence some of
0:17:28 > 0:17:31the most important thinkers of the 19th century.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Copy of Time Out magazine!
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Free copy of Time Out magazine.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55- All right. - Free copy, free copy.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Then let us pray that come it may
0:17:57 > 0:17:59As come it will for a' that,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
0:18:02 > 0:18:04Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09For a' that, an' a' that, It's coming yet for a' that
0:18:09 > 0:18:12That Man to Man, the world o'er
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Shall brothers be for a' that.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19We're all men, I think we're all women, we're all people.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20'It's probably about that.'
0:18:20 > 0:18:23That was great, that was great.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25This is a great poem.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28The man should be for a' that.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30With his brothers. We're all that.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33You know?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Free copy of Time Out magazine. Free copy, it's all that.
0:18:37 > 0:18:38And that.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49When Robert Burns was a young man,
0:18:49 > 0:18:51he was fascinated by the emerging nation
0:18:51 > 0:18:53that was to become the United States of America.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59The British crown was in conflict with its upstart colonies in America
0:18:59 > 0:19:02for all of Burns' teenage years.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05And his most radical views were heavily influenced
0:19:05 > 0:19:07by what he learned of the revolutionary war.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Burns wrote a handful of poems,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16songs and letters that mention America.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19The common theme is an association with liberty.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23However, by the time of Burns' death,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25it was becoming clear that the ideals behind
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the American Declaration of Independence had not come to pass.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37The enslavement of black people was endemic in the States.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39But in the fight to end it,
0:19:39 > 0:19:44two people would draw in different ways on the work of Robert Burns.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49They were the most influential African-American of the 19th century,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and the man who was probably America's greatest president.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Although Abraham Lincoln had little formal education,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00he was a voracious reader by the time he arrived
0:20:00 > 0:20:03in New Salem, Illinois at 21 years of age.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07But books were hard to come by in small frontier townships.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Fortunately, this one had the next best thing to a library -
0:20:13 > 0:20:16the 27 books of neighbour Jack Kelso.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Well, with a name like Jack Kelso, or Jock Kelso,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25it's no surprise that this is a Scotsman,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28and he is certainly one of Lincoln's mentors.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Lincoln may well have read the books of Robert Burns
0:20:31 > 0:20:34before he came to New Salem,
0:20:34 > 0:20:38but Kelso seemed to give the words new weight and meaning.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42He heard Kelso recite the works of Robert Burns
0:20:42 > 0:20:48complete in that Scottish dialect, acting out those poems.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Lincoln picks up that habit.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54What I think is going on is that Lincoln,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57like many new world politicians,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00many new world cultural figures of intellectuals,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04is looking for something that in a sense isn't British,
0:21:04 > 0:21:05isn't English.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08And Burns, to some extent, I think,
0:21:08 > 0:21:12plays into that alternative culture that America's looking for.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19Burns' stories of the common man and his themes of egalitarianism
0:21:19 > 0:21:22were attractive to those struggling to uphold the founding principles
0:21:22 > 0:21:25of the new American republic.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31The same year that Lincoln leaves New Salem for a law career,
0:21:31 > 0:21:36another young man is planning a much more dramatic change of life.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Frederick Douglass started out as an enslaved person
0:21:39 > 0:21:42on the plantation of Talbot County, Maryland.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46He would escape at the age of 20 in 1838 at the help of his first wife,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Miss Anna Murray-Douglass,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and he started making those strong and vehement forceful arguments
0:21:51 > 0:21:54as an abolitionist against slavery.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59We're looking at his last and final home, which was Cedar Hill,
0:21:59 > 0:22:01where he would often say that he's actually able
0:22:01 > 0:22:03to keep an eye on Congress.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08The home of Frederick Douglass is now a museum,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10containing his most precious possessions.
0:22:10 > 0:22:16One of the first books that Douglass got after his escape from slavery
0:22:16 > 0:22:18was a copy of Burns' poems
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and he treasured this throughout most of his life.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Mr Douglass had a tremendous man crush on Robert Burns,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29and the significance is these are the books
0:22:29 > 0:22:32that Douglass connected with.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36We have the Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40We know this was actually a transformative book for Mr Douglass
0:22:40 > 0:22:43because all of Douglass' books that had his name
0:22:43 > 0:22:47with the signature in it are the ones that he really cherished.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49He describes Burns as someone who
0:22:49 > 0:22:54"broke through the moorings which society threw around him."
0:22:54 > 0:22:59He enlists Burns into his own discourse on slavery and abolition.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03The two main themes that really connected with Douglass
0:23:03 > 0:23:08in terms of Burns' works is the notion of the egalitarian,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11the common folks, as well as this idea of liberalism
0:23:11 > 0:23:16that was really coming to fruition all throughout Europe at the time.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Fearing that by raising his profile he might be recaptured
0:23:19 > 0:23:21and returned to slavery,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Douglass left for a 19-month tour of the British Isles,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28a place where the anti-slavery movement was beginning to flourish.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32After he frees himself from captivity,
0:23:32 > 0:23:37Frederick Douglass self-consciously, but entirely sincerely,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39presents himself as a man of culture,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44and that's important in the clothes he wears, in the poetry he reads
0:23:44 > 0:23:49as he goes round advocating the abolition of slavery.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Because people have to see an educated black man.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Even though he hasn't been to university,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57even though he hasn't had a huge amount of schooling,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00one of the things that gives him the confidence to appear educated
0:24:00 > 0:24:03is the exemplar of Robert Burns
0:24:03 > 0:24:07who had a similar kind of formative experience.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12Non-university, self-taught, but as cultured as anybody else.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17In Scotland,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Douglass not only argued the case for black emancipation,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24but he also lobbied the free Church about how it raised funds
0:24:24 > 0:24:27from slave owning states.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30He also took a detour to see the birthplace of his poetic mentor,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Robert Burns, and meet his elderly sister, Isabella,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36and two of the poet's nieces.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41He wrote extensively about his trip in a letter
0:24:41 > 0:24:44later published in the New York Tribune.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49"I am now in the town of Ayr.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52"It is famous for being the birthplace of Robert Burns,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57"the poet by whose brilliant genius every stream, hill, glen
0:24:57 > 0:25:01"and valley in the neighbourhood have been made classic.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08"For as you are aware, painfully perhaps,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11"I am an enthusiastic admirer of Robert Burns."
0:25:14 > 0:25:17The trip to Britain was a great success.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Douglass had furthered the cause of egalitarianism
0:25:21 > 0:25:23and his supporters had raised enough money to purchase him
0:25:23 > 0:25:25from his slave owner in the States.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31In 1847, Douglass returned to the United States
0:25:31 > 0:25:33a commanding and influential speaker,
0:25:33 > 0:25:34and a free man.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Well, here we have the Lincoln-Herndon Law Office
0:25:46 > 0:25:50behind us here, and this is where Lincoln would practice his law trade
0:25:50 > 0:25:52for a number of years.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55By the time Frederick Douglass was back in the States,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Lincoln had spent ten years honing his oratory skills
0:25:58 > 0:26:00in the courtrooms of Springfield.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03The Capitol here is actually one of the most historic buildings
0:26:03 > 0:26:04in our nation's history.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07This is where Lincoln served in the legislature,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10argued court cases. By the time that he had become
0:26:10 > 0:26:12an Illinois House of Representative here,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Lincoln has actually gained a reputation
0:26:15 > 0:26:20as the finest lawyer in the entire state of Illinois.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Now there's a thriving tourist industry in Springfield,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25centred around the house Lincoln lived in
0:26:25 > 0:26:29and the reputation of the man that owed some of his oratory power
0:26:29 > 0:26:31to the writing of Robert Burns.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Lincoln had only one year total of formal schooling.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39It makes all the sense in the world that Shakespeare and Burns
0:26:39 > 0:26:41and the Bible and many others he read
0:26:41 > 0:26:44were influential in his writing style.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48In his speeches, his very emotive style owes something
0:26:48 > 0:26:52to the high sentimental style that he's reading in Robert Burns.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56In terms of satire, Burns is one of the best.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Abraham Lincoln picks up that characteristic as well.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02He writes brilliant satirical pieces
0:27:02 > 0:27:05that are reminiscent of many of the pieces of Burns.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13During the 1850s, Lincoln's ability to argue his case
0:27:13 > 0:27:16is progressively tested as tensions grow
0:27:16 > 0:27:19over the increasingly divisive issue of slavery.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25A power struggle was developing between the North
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and the slave-owning Southern states, and in 1860,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Illinois' finest lawyer stands for president on an anti-slavery ticket.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Lincoln wins the election,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39but his victory instigates the worst crisis in the history
0:27:39 > 0:27:41of the United States.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Seven states secede from the union,
0:27:45 > 0:27:50Southern militias are taking over federal property.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53It's a very ominous situation in American history.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57When he's coming into Washington, DC,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01he's almost coming into enemy territory.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03DC was a very Southern city at the time,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07and the sentiments were very much with the South.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16As neither side would budge, war became inevitable.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Lincoln knew this Civil War would decide the future direction
0:28:21 > 0:28:24of America. It would either continue
0:28:24 > 0:28:27as the largest slave-owning country in the world
0:28:27 > 0:28:30or it would become one in which the idea that all men are created
0:28:30 > 0:28:34with an equal right to liberty would finally come true.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41The first big battle was to take place around the banks of a creek
0:28:41 > 0:28:43called Bull Run in Virginia,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47around 30 miles west of the federal capital of Washington, DC.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52Over an eight-mile front, troops waited for orders.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Some wrote letters home, some took the time to read.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02His songs and poetry were used by various political groups,
0:29:02 > 0:29:04often on opposing sides.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08You have Northern abolitionists who were quoting Burns,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12but you also have Southern Confederate groups,
0:29:12 > 0:29:18who are proven to be fans of his poetry and songs.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Burns isn't really a war poet,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24he's more a poet of the home front
0:29:24 > 0:29:26so that people are reading the poetry,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29the songs like Green Grow the Rushes, O
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and thinking of their girl back home.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34So he does write sometimes about war,
0:29:34 > 0:29:40but what he's writing much more about is love and hearth and home.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46When the Southern Confederates beat Lincoln's unionists at the battle,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48both sides could see that the war would be
0:29:48 > 0:29:50a long, drawn-out and bloody affair.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54Frederick Douglass saw something else,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57that among these rebels were black troops.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00He suggested that these troops had been pressed into service
0:30:00 > 0:30:02by their tyrant masters,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06and Douglass used this to force home the argument to Abraham Lincoln
0:30:06 > 0:30:09that all slavery should be abolished now
0:30:09 > 0:30:13and that former black slaves should be armed as a military strategy.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Lincoln believed very much in the founding documents
0:30:17 > 0:30:21of the United States, that talk about all men being created equal,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24and that's something that you see in the poetry of Robert Burns as well,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and so this idea of natural rights
0:30:27 > 0:30:30is something that Lincoln really latched onto.
0:30:30 > 0:30:35And very much why the Emancipation Proclamation is the culmination
0:30:35 > 0:30:38of his personal beliefs and what he felt he could do
0:30:38 > 0:30:41according to his official duties as President of the United States
0:30:41 > 0:30:43and Commander in Chief.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation
0:30:47 > 0:30:51made the freeing of slaves an explicit goal of the war.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54After it came into effect in 1863,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57any slaves that escaped to the North became free
0:30:57 > 0:31:01and they could fight for the union, just as Douglass wanted.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Douglass was a hugely gifted orator and a very charismatic individual.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07During the Civil War era,
0:31:07 > 0:31:12Douglass quite frequently alluded to Burns' songs and poems,
0:31:12 > 0:31:14particularly when trying to encourage men of colour
0:31:14 > 0:31:16to enlist in the union army.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19He would tout the line that, "A man's a man for a' that,"
0:31:19 > 0:31:20regardless of colour.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23Lincoln's fight for the moral right
0:31:23 > 0:31:26would claim well over half a million American lives
0:31:26 > 0:31:29and take over two more years to conclude.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33For over a quarter of his presidency,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37Abraham Lincoln moved his family out here to a cottage
0:31:37 > 0:31:39on what was known as the Soldiers' Home grounds.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42It's considered a healthier climate,
0:31:42 > 0:31:46it's removed from the downtown, swampy part of Washington, DC,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49but in many ways it brings him closer to the war.
0:32:01 > 0:32:02While living at the cottage,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06he's 200 yards away from the first National Cemetery.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10So thousands of soldiers are being buried in plain view
0:32:10 > 0:32:12of Lincoln's front door.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31The final record of Abraham Lincoln's affection for Burns
0:32:31 > 0:32:34comes from his secretary, John Hay.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36He describes the President's mood as
0:32:36 > 0:32:38they travelled down the Potomac River.
0:32:38 > 0:32:44John Hay recollects that in April of 1865, the war has come to an end,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47that Lincoln himself recites extensively
0:32:47 > 0:32:50from Robert Burns without notes, this is all from memory.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55One of the poems that came into Lincoln's mind that day
0:32:55 > 0:32:57is one of Burns' saddest.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03The wind blew hollow frae the hills
0:33:03 > 0:33:06By fits the sun's departing beam
0:33:06 > 0:33:08Look'd on the fading yellow woods
0:33:08 > 0:33:11That wav'd o'er Lugar's winding stream
0:33:11 > 0:33:14Beneath a craigy steep, a Bard
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Laden with years and meikle pain
0:33:17 > 0:33:19In loud lament bewail'd his lord
0:33:21 > 0:33:23Whom Death had all untimely ta'en.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27The bridegroom may forget the bride
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Was made his wedded wife yestreen
0:33:30 > 0:33:32The monarch may forget the crown
0:33:32 > 0:33:35That on his head an hour has been
0:33:36 > 0:33:38The mother may forget the child
0:33:38 > 0:33:41That smiles sae sweetly on her knee
0:33:41 > 0:33:43But I'll remember thee, Glencairn,
0:33:43 > 0:33:45And a' that thou hast done for me!
0:33:47 > 0:33:50- It's a great poem. - It definitely shows the heartbreak
0:33:50 > 0:33:53that he's going through, you know? It's...
0:33:53 > 0:33:54It's rough.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56It's a long poem.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00Less than a week later,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Lincoln was assassinated at a theatre in Washington.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08The war, however, was effectively over.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11The fight to end slavery throughout the union had been won.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15And the nation's founding argument of liberty for all had been upheld.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36There was a Scottish Presbyterian minister,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38one of many who objected to Burns,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40because of his drinking and his womanising,
0:34:40 > 0:34:45and he felt that anyone who idolised Burns
0:34:45 > 0:34:48had a disease he called Burnsomania.
0:34:50 > 0:34:56A century later, the disease of Burnsomania had still found no cure.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00In America, the greatest sufferer of all was a Scot
0:35:00 > 0:35:02and a wealthy one at that.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05Andrew Carnegie probably was a Burnsomaniac.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10I do think the connection Carnegie had to Burns was personal
0:35:10 > 0:35:13and was close because of his own upbringing.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Born and brought up in a cottage in Fife,
0:35:17 > 0:35:2012-year-old Andrew Carnegie moved to Pennsylvania
0:35:20 > 0:35:23with his family in 1848.
0:35:23 > 0:35:2550 years later,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Carnegie had become the world's richest man
0:35:28 > 0:35:30and one of its biggest philanthropists.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36I think there's no doubt that his eventual decision to divest himself
0:35:36 > 0:35:38of much of his wealth
0:35:38 > 0:35:41and to establish all kinds of charitable funds,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43half to do with a good nature,
0:35:43 > 0:35:47but part of it actually is a Scottish self-conception.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52It's the Burnsian myth that you don't need lots of money
0:35:52 > 0:35:55and that money isn't the most important thing.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Carnegie gave away around 90% of his fortune.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07Just some of that went into funding 1,679 new libraries
0:36:07 > 0:36:08in America alone.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15The whole Carnegie philanthropic project was about egalitarianism.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18It was about everybody being afforded the same resources
0:36:18 > 0:36:22and the same opportunities to grow
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and to transform themselves.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29The philosophy of Robert Burns really spoke to him in that way
0:36:29 > 0:36:32and really influenced his trajectory.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37From the age of eight, when he first read Burns,
0:36:37 > 0:36:39to his death 75 years later,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42Carnegie's enthusiasm for the poet never waned.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49For many years, he was one of the most sought-after speakers
0:36:49 > 0:36:53of the Burns clubs and the Burns societies around the country.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57And he went to many statue unveilings and gave many talks.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Just how much Carnegie revered the Bard can be seen
0:37:03 > 0:37:05in his personal notes for a speech he gave
0:37:05 > 0:37:08at an unveiling of a statue of Burns in 1899.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15"Burns occupies and will permanently hold his unique position
0:37:15 > 0:37:17"in other lands than his own.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22"For supreme genius rules over the highest natures of all lands.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25"Its touch makes the whole world kin."
0:37:27 > 0:37:31As Andrew Carnegie began redistributing his wealth,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34other American entrepreneurs began using Burns' fame
0:37:34 > 0:37:36for their own commercial gain.
0:37:39 > 0:37:45The main reason that Burns becomes a commercial figure is quite simply,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48to begin with, that he's so recognisable.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54Burns began to be commercialised in America along with other writers
0:37:54 > 0:38:00on cigar boxes, starting in 1880s and well into the 20th century.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04And unlike most of the poets and authors,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Robert Burns cigars are still produced and sold in America.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Thomas Keith is a bit of a Burnsomaniac himself.
0:38:11 > 0:38:17I've been collecting Burns-related bric-a-brac for about 20 years.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22I would say this handbill from 1830 is my favourite object,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25and the reason is that what it's proof of is that somebody
0:38:25 > 0:38:28walking down the street in lower Manhattan
0:38:28 > 0:38:32who's handed this handbill knows exactly who Tam O'Shanter is
0:38:32 > 0:38:34in literature and who Burns is.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36They don't have to be told.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41This is a tin from Robert Burns Segars,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43S-E-G-A-R-S,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47which was manufactured during the Civil War.
0:38:47 > 0:38:52And from about 50 years later,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55here's a tin of Little Bobbie cigars,
0:38:55 > 0:38:57the small Robert Burns cigar.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01There was also Tam O'Shanter tobacco,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Auld Lang Syne tobacco,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06eventually, Sweet Afton cigarettes.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09There was also Tam O'Shanter beer and ale
0:39:09 > 0:39:11sold out of Rochester, New York.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15Here's a Bobby Burns pop bottle or soda bottle from the 1950s
0:39:15 > 0:39:20and the only thing that remotely identifies it to a Scotsman as Burns
0:39:20 > 0:39:24would be the Glengarrian pipes that he's carrying.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28And I know it's long been the sorrow of many a Scot
0:39:28 > 0:39:32that Americans' diminutive for Burns is Bobby,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35but it's been that way for a long, long time
0:39:35 > 0:39:40and it's a natural evolution from Robert to Rab to Rabbie
0:39:40 > 0:39:41to Robbie to Bobby.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45Sorry.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49All kinds of products, from ornaments to drinks
0:39:49 > 0:39:52are marketed on the back of Robert Burns
0:39:52 > 0:39:58because he is such a convenient, portable, readily available icon.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00People were no longer just collecting books,
0:40:00 > 0:40:01but they were collecting...
0:40:01 > 0:40:06Whether it be snuff boxes, jewellery, erm...
0:40:06 > 0:40:08lots of material culture
0:40:08 > 0:40:13that collectors used to not only preserve the memory of Burns,
0:40:13 > 0:40:17but I think, reify their connection with the poet.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19The Nasmyth portrait of Burns,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23the classic portrait, shows a very handsome young man,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25and that's very helpful.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30Robert Burns, that romantic, slightly tragic, enigmatic figure,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34has a beautiful portrait to go with him.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36And you put those two things together,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40and it's a killer combination for iconicity,
0:40:40 > 0:40:42and also for advertising.
0:40:42 > 0:40:43In America...
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Burns was the 19th-century Elvis.
0:40:48 > 0:40:49That's how popular he was.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51- ELVIS:- # Lord Almighty
0:40:51 > 0:40:53# I feel my temperature rising
0:40:55 > 0:40:57# Higher, higher... #
0:40:57 > 0:41:00Burns' image was not only ingrained on the products
0:41:00 > 0:41:02Americans found in their homes,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05he was also becoming a focal point in America's biggest cities.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10If the popularity of cultural icons in America were measured
0:41:10 > 0:41:13by the number of statues erected in their honour,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Burns would be number one.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18# Your kisses lift me higher
0:41:18 > 0:41:20# Like the sweet song of a choir... #
0:41:20 > 0:41:22There are four statues of Stephen Foster,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26five each of Washington Irving and Beethoven,
0:41:26 > 0:41:30six each of Daniel Webster, Shakespeare and Mozart,
0:41:30 > 0:41:34seven of Goethe, eight of Dante,
0:41:34 > 0:41:3512 of Schiller
0:41:35 > 0:41:37and 15 of Robert Burns.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41# A hunk, a hunk of burning love
0:41:41 > 0:41:43# I'm a hunk, a hunk of burning love... #
0:41:43 > 0:41:47And that's how important Burns was and is to Americans.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50# I'm a hunk, a hunk of burning love
0:41:50 > 0:41:53# I'm just a hunk, a hunk of burning love
0:41:53 > 0:41:57# I'm a hunk, a hunk of burning love. #
0:41:59 > 0:42:00Ready?
0:42:00 > 0:42:03But Mousie, thou are no thy lane
0:42:03 > 0:42:05In proving foresight may be vain
0:42:05 > 0:42:08The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
0:42:08 > 0:42:09Gang aft agley
0:42:09 > 0:42:12An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain
0:42:12 > 0:42:13For promis'd joy!
0:42:16 > 0:42:18FIDDLE PLAYS
0:42:25 > 0:42:29The mark that Robert Burns left in the States after his death in 1796
0:42:29 > 0:42:32extends way beyond Burns clubs,
0:42:32 > 0:42:33Burns suppers,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36and the effect he may have had on politicians and philanthropists.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43It's in the music and the writing of those that read his work.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48If we think of places along the way
0:42:48 > 0:42:50where Robert Burns sat down,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53he's all over America in the early 19th century.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56I mean, everybody's reading Robert Burns,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59he is probably the most popular poet in the country.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Walt Whitman was very much affected by Burns,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Mark Twain reads Burns and then, from there on,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08it's a pretty straight shot, via Woody Guthrie,
0:43:08 > 0:43:10to Bob Dylan.
0:43:10 > 0:43:11# Johnny's in the basement
0:43:11 > 0:43:13# Mixing up the medicine
0:43:13 > 0:43:14# I'm on the pavement
0:43:14 > 0:43:16# Thinking about the government. #
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Bob Dylan's recent award of a Nobel Prize for literature
0:43:19 > 0:43:22not only raised his status as a writer,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25but it focused attention on the post-Civil War lyric poets
0:43:25 > 0:43:26that came before him.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30When asked for his greatest influence
0:43:30 > 0:43:33in a recent poster campaign, the singer surprised many
0:43:33 > 0:43:37by citing the Burns poem My Luve Is Like A Red, Red Rose.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a surprise.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44Dylan is merely the latest of a long line of Americans
0:43:44 > 0:43:47that have looked to the past, and to Burns in particular,
0:43:47 > 0:43:49for inspiration.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55The American Civil War scars the psyche,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57and the idea is... All our industry,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01all our technology, all our rationality has brought us what?
0:44:01 > 0:44:03This big war.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06And after that, American poets like Emerson,
0:44:06 > 0:44:08like Walt Whitman were saying,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11is there something purer that we can get back to?
0:44:18 > 0:44:21As the post-war nation is drawn back to simpler ideals...
0:44:23 > 0:44:27..new poets like Walt Whitman, an early fan of the Bard,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29helped fill the gap that Burns left behind.
0:44:31 > 0:44:32In a way,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35as Burns is to Scotland,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38so Whitman is in the United States.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41He's the father of poetry here.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45Walt was the guy who spoke in the American grain.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50What you see in Whitman is the Everyman.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53You know, he included in his poetry
0:44:53 > 0:44:55the poor, the working class,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58the middle class, the slaves...
0:44:58 > 0:45:02As did Burns.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09Born only 23 years after the early death of the Bard,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Whitman's New York was full of Celtic music
0:45:11 > 0:45:14and the poetry and songs of Burns.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19There's an essay that Walt wrote
0:45:19 > 0:45:23about Robert Burns as poet and person,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26and, in it, he says,
0:45:26 > 0:45:30"Without the race of which he is a distinct specimen,"
0:45:30 > 0:45:34which would be Burns in Scotland, that was Scottish race,
0:45:34 > 0:45:35"and perhaps his poems,
0:45:35 > 0:45:41"America and her powerful democracy could not exist today.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44And I think that's one of the first similarities you see,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47is that both of these poets
0:45:47 > 0:45:51absolutely had faith in the common folk,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53in the population at large.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55They were totally democratic
0:45:55 > 0:45:58in the way they approached government,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01and the power to the people.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05"Dear Rob," he says in the middle, which is the way you want to see
0:46:05 > 0:46:08these two fellows talking to each other, isn't it?
0:46:08 > 0:46:12"Dear Rob! Manly, witty, fond, friendly,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15"full of weak spots as well as strong ones."
0:46:15 > 0:46:20You know, Whitman just couldn't let it go that this was a great poet.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24He loved Burns for the comradeship, for the feeling of,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27as he would put it, adhesiveness.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30It was hard to be an American writer, in fact, let alone...
0:46:30 > 0:46:33Well, it was hard to be an American, let alone an American writer,
0:46:33 > 0:46:35and not in some way have had some contact with Robert Burns.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38In the 20th century,
0:46:38 > 0:46:40it's American writers of modern classic novels
0:46:40 > 0:46:42that are influenced by the work of Burns.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48American writers are referencing Burns poems
0:46:48 > 0:46:53in terms of the words that the Americans have consumed
0:46:53 > 0:46:56and, indeed, reused in their own works.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01John Steinbeck's 1937 novella
0:47:01 > 0:47:04tells a tragic story of two migrant ranch workers
0:47:04 > 0:47:07who plan their future as they move from place to place
0:47:07 > 0:47:09during America's Great Depression.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Originally entitled Something That Happened,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17Steinbeck changed the title to Of Mice And Men
0:47:17 > 0:47:20after reading Robert Burns' poem, To A Mouse.
0:47:24 > 0:47:2714 years later, JD Salinger went further,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30incorporating the Burns song Comin' Thro The Rye
0:47:30 > 0:47:34into the plot of his 1951 novel of teenage angst.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36# Comin' thro the rye... #
0:47:36 > 0:47:39Salinger creates a fantasy at the heart of the book
0:47:39 > 0:47:42in which its protagonist, Holden Caulfield,
0:47:42 > 0:47:43misrepresents the song,
0:47:43 > 0:47:47seeing himself as the "catcher in the rye" instead.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50So it's a very, very deep influence.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53The most important thing about that
0:47:53 > 0:47:57is that America has Burns' poetry and songs in its blood,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59in its common language.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03And that's what these writers are riffing on.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05By the mid-20th century,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08the riffing on Burns had extended beyond books to music.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11- BOB DYLAN: - # Come gather round people
0:48:11 > 0:48:13# Wherever you roam... #
0:48:13 > 0:48:16In New York, those who wanted their music to make a statement
0:48:16 > 0:48:19were drawn to the neighbourhood of Greenwich Village.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24In the early 1960s, the Village was very much the centre
0:48:24 > 0:48:26for, not only literary experimentation
0:48:26 > 0:48:28and playwrights and all the rest of it,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31but for jazz, and particularly for the folk revival.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35# Oh, the times they are a-changin'... #
0:48:35 > 0:48:39The mid-20th century saw another bid for a simpler, more peaceful life.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Only 20 years after it had ended World War II
0:48:46 > 0:48:49with a nuclear mushroom cloud in Japan,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52America was deeply involved in another bombing war,
0:48:52 > 0:48:54this time in Vietnam.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56# Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall
0:48:56 > 0:48:59# For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled... #
0:48:59 > 0:49:02When 19-year-old Bob Dylan moved to New York in 1961,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05he was already immersed in the world of folk.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08My dad had a book shop at the corner of 8th street and MacDougal,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11and down MacDougal Street was where Bob Dylan got his start.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13# The times they are a-changin'. #
0:49:14 > 0:49:17I remember hearing A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
0:49:17 > 0:49:20for the first time as a... How old would I have been?
0:49:20 > 0:49:22'62, I'd have been 11.
0:49:22 > 0:49:23And I loved it immediately.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27I loved the guitar, I loved the raspy voice,
0:49:27 > 0:49:28I loved the way he used words.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32# A hard rain's a-gonna fall... #
0:49:32 > 0:49:37Dylan's idol at the time was another folk singer, Woody Guthrie.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40When Bob Dylan arrived, he was a Woody Guthrie jukebox.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42He was playing Woody Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, all the time.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44He started talking like Woody Guthrie.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47So Guthrie had an enormous impact on Dylan in particular.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49MUSIC: Pastures Of Plenty by Woody Guthrie
0:49:49 > 0:49:51Woody Guthrie was a major figure in the 1940s on the New York scene.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54He's part of this left-wing folk singer world.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59But Guthrie himself was influenced by Robert Burns.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04During World War II, Guthrie was a seaman and his ship was torpedoed,
0:50:04 > 0:50:06and he found himself in Glasgow, of all places.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10After the war, he writes this kind of poetic letter,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14To That Man Robert Burns, and he's addressing Burns directly,
0:50:14 > 0:50:16and telling him about how he'd ended up in Glasgow
0:50:16 > 0:50:19and walking the same clods of earth Burns did,
0:50:19 > 0:50:24and how he had picked up a cheap edition of Burns' poems.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27But he likens himself to Burns, he says, I'm like you.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29We both grew up in the countryside.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30We both grew up out of the cities,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33we've both been chased around by policemen, we both...
0:50:33 > 0:50:36We have a lot in common, you and I, Robert Burns.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39For that moment, he was very much touched by him as a kind of rapport,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43almost a brotherhood that he feels across the centuries.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45# This land is your land. #
0:50:45 > 0:50:47Other folk singers also influenced Bob Dylan.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50Bob Dylan's a sponge.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52And at the heart of the folk revival
0:50:52 > 0:50:58was the entire Anglo-Celtic American tradition in poetry and in song.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01There's a friend of mine who comes from Scotland
0:51:01 > 0:51:03who's also a good singer,
0:51:03 > 0:51:05and I asked her if she'd drop around here today.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger
0:51:08 > 0:51:10was also at the centre of the folk revival,
0:51:10 > 0:51:14as was the young Scottish singer, Jean Redpath.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16Jean Redpath, instead of me talking about your songs,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18I think the best thing would be for you to sing them.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21# And here's a hand
0:51:21 > 0:51:25# My trusty friend
0:51:25 > 0:51:26# And gie's a hand o' thine... #
0:51:26 > 0:51:30A Burns enthusiast who had memorised almost all of Burns' work,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Redpath shared a house in the Village with Dylan.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38Her goal was to record all 323 songs written by Burns.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40# For auld lang syne. #
0:51:40 > 0:51:43And it's impossible to imagine that Dylan would not have been listening
0:51:43 > 0:51:46to a good deal of Burns poetry at that time.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Where'd the song come from, anyway?
0:51:50 > 0:51:52- Robbie Burns wrote it.- He wrote it?
0:51:52 > 0:51:53Mm-hm.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Robbie Burr-ns. I thought it was Burns, but it's not.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59It's Burns in this country, it's Burr-ns in Scotland.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Burr-ns. Robbie Burr-ns.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Burns comes to him two ways.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09I mean, one is through this Celtic tradition,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Jean Redpath and all the rest, they're there.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14But he's also going to be reading Burns as a poet.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16I mean, he's very taken with Byron,
0:52:16 > 0:52:18he's very taken with Shelley and, you know,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Burns is not too far out of that mix,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23as far as Dylan would've been concerned.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Burns meant a lot to him,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28and he would've picked up on Burns in those days.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33I absolutely think there's a connection between Bobby Burns
0:52:33 > 0:52:35and Bobby Dylan. You know?
0:52:36 > 0:52:41Burns is a true, true influence for him.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43You can hear it in the way he sings.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46He actually has a song called Farewell,
0:52:46 > 0:52:48where he starts off the song saying,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50"Fare thee well, my own true love."
0:52:50 > 0:52:53# Fare thee well my darling true
0:52:53 > 0:52:57# I'm leaving in the first hour of the morn. #
0:52:59 > 0:53:02Bob Dylan has read and listened to Robert Burns,
0:53:02 > 0:53:06in poetry and in song, and, of course,
0:53:06 > 0:53:11he cites A Red Rose as one of the greatest songs ever.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15Both Burns and Bob Dylan are the great lyric poets of their day.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19I mean, Burns' verse is meant to be sung.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Well, Bob Dylan's verse is meant to be sung.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26So, in that sense, they are very much a part of the same brotherhood,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29and Bob Dylan really is the Bobby Burns of his day,
0:53:29 > 0:53:32and Robert Burns was the Bob Dylan of the end of the 18th century.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37Right, ready?
0:53:37 > 0:53:40O my Luve's like a red, red rose
0:53:40 > 0:53:42That's newly sprung in June
0:53:43 > 0:53:45O my Luve's like the melodie
0:53:45 > 0:53:47That's sweetly play'd in tune
0:53:48 > 0:53:50As fair art thou, my bonie lass
0:53:50 > 0:53:52So deep in luve am I
0:53:52 > 0:53:54And I will luve thee still, my dear
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Till a' the seas gang dry
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear
0:54:00 > 0:54:03And the rocks melt wi' the sun
0:54:03 > 0:54:05And I will luve thee still, my dear
0:54:05 > 0:54:07While the sands o' life shall run,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
0:54:10 > 0:54:12And fare-thee-weel, a while!
0:54:12 > 0:54:14And I will come again, my Luve
0:54:14 > 0:54:16Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!
0:54:18 > 0:54:20This man puts words together just like that.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22And that's what I love about it.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38America took the work of Burns to its heart in the 19th century.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41In the 20th, it gave his biggest hit back to the world
0:54:41 > 0:54:43with a whole new purpose.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50Auld Lang Syne had become so popular
0:54:50 > 0:54:54that it replaced A Man's A Man For A' That
0:54:54 > 0:54:56as the way to end Burns Night suppers.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59And by Victorian times,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01it was all purpose.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03For Auld Lang Syne this Halloween,
0:55:03 > 0:55:05For Auld Lang Syne on the Fourth Of July,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07For Auld Lang Syne for your birthday.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09It was for everything.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11Until Guy Lombardo got a hold of it.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13MUSIC: Auld Lang Syne
0:55:16 > 0:55:18It's Guy Lombardo and his band
0:55:18 > 0:55:22that is almost solely responsible for ensuring that Auld Lang Syne
0:55:22 > 0:55:25became the song for New Year's Eve.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28By the time I was a kid, New Year's Eve
0:55:28 > 0:55:32was about listening to Guy Lombardo's band, orchestra,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35on the television to, you know, ring in the New Year.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37And they'd always play Auld Lang Syne.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Auld Lang Syne had become the New Year's song long before that,
0:55:43 > 0:55:47but Guy Lombardo was absolute New Year's Eve kitsch.
0:55:47 > 0:55:48I mean, it was middle America,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50it was what people listened to.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52It was so corny, even we listened to it,
0:55:52 > 0:55:54us sophisticated villagers,
0:55:54 > 0:55:55because it was there.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Happy New Year, everybody! A very happy New Year.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05Especially from all of us and especially from Clairol,
0:56:05 > 0:56:08the first name in hair colour!
0:56:08 > 0:56:10It's kind of become a theme song
0:56:10 > 0:56:12for a very boring kind of drunken escapade
0:56:12 > 0:56:15on the 31st of every December.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20I wish we could detach it from New Year's Eve!
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Am I trying to do that accent?
0:56:22 > 0:56:24No, do what you gotta do. Just go through it, just read it.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26- All right.- Just read, that's all. - All right.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30It's an interesting poem about remembrance,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32and about loss, really.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36And we have to remember what we lose.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39- BOTH:- Should auld acquaintance be forgot
0:56:39 > 0:56:41And never brought to mind?
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Should auld acquaintance be forgot
0:56:44 > 0:56:46And auld lang syne!
0:56:46 > 0:56:48For auld lang syne, my dear
0:56:48 > 0:56:50For auld lang syne
0:56:50 > 0:56:53We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
0:56:53 > 0:56:54For auld lang syne.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56Yay! Woohoo!
0:56:56 > 0:56:58Give me a high five, friend!
0:56:59 > 0:57:03When Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
0:57:03 > 0:57:07made it their midnight song on New Year's Eve,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09people started to copy that.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13And, most importantly, it started to be copied in the movies,
0:57:13 > 0:57:15and the most famous occasion for that, of course,
0:57:15 > 0:57:17is in It's A Wonderful Life,
0:57:17 > 0:57:19when the brothers are reunited,
0:57:19 > 0:57:22and the whole town's there to support Jimmy Stewart,
0:57:22 > 0:57:24and they all break into Auld Lang Syne.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26To my big brother, George.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28The richest man in town!
0:57:28 > 0:57:29THEY CHEER
0:57:30 > 0:57:35# Should auld acquaintance be forgot
0:57:35 > 0:57:41# And never brought to mind?
0:57:41 > 0:57:46# We'll drink a cup of kindness yet
0:57:46 > 0:57:51# For auld lang syne. #
0:57:51 > 0:57:53It's meant to make you cry.
0:57:53 > 0:57:54And it usually works.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00Robert Burns once joked
0:58:00 > 0:58:03that he would be more famous after his death than during his life.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08He died with no concept of how, centuries later,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10he would be revered in America,
0:58:10 > 0:58:11thousands of miles from Scotland.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16No notion of how his poetry and songs could be reinterpreted
0:58:16 > 0:58:19or how his thoughts might inspire some of the most significant figures
0:58:19 > 0:58:23in American history, helping the lives of millions.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28Robert Burns never travelled to America.
0:58:28 > 0:58:29He didn't need to.