James Cosmo raises a glass for Burns Night
Scotland's top 10 Scots poems for Burns Night
Feel inspired by celebrated writers, evocative imagery and the unique lyrical quality of the Scots language with these well-loved poems.
1. To a Mouse, Robert Burns
Feel the nostalgia of Scotland's favourite Scots poem by the national bard, Robert Burns. Many Scots learn this poem in school, and you can see the special place it holds in Scotland with readers returning to it year after year on Burns Night.
Burns wrote the poem in November of 1785, and the eight-verse tale was radical for its unassuming subject matter: a mouse. In the poem, the narrator accidentally destroys the mouse’s nest while ploughing a field. This is the ideal poem for a cosy January evening, where you can curl up with a wee dram and enjoy the heartfelt subject matter and Burns' musings on tolerance and humanity to all. Some of its famous lines have even been used in other great pieces of literature, such as Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley"
Statua di Robert Burns, Dumfries
2. Tam O'Shanter, Robert Burns
“This truth fand honest Tam o’ Shanter, As he frae Ayr ae night did canter”.
Scotland’s second most popular Scots poem was another Robert Burns’ hit, set in the Scottish town of Ayr.
There’s no better poem to read on a stormy autumn night whilst you sit in front of the fire. It follows Tam’s journey home from a night at the pub and his encounters with supernatural beings, including witches, warlocks, and even the Devil himself playing the bagpipes.
Ayr town centre
3. A Red, Red Rose, Robert Burns
There's a reason Burns appears so many times on this list! He was one of the first published poets to write in Scots and his legacy remains integral to Scottish literature today. Best read on a stroll through a country garden so you can soak up the floral scents and inspirations behind A Red, Red Rose - one of the most romantic of Burns’ poems.
Said to have been written for his wife, Jean Armour, Burns declares the intense love he feels for his wife and compares his love for her to be like a rose, insisting that his love will last forever. The poem suggests that the narrator might be going through a separation from his love, and concludes the poem by insisting that his love for her will persist even when they are apart:
“And I will come again, my luve, Though it were ten thousand mile.”
O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June
The statue of Jean Armour, located in Mauchline, Ayrshire
© Ayrshire and Arran Tourism Group
4. Address to the Haggis, Robert Burns
This Scots poem is most often recited on Burns Night before the Burns Supper commences. Sit back and take in the enticing smells and rich tastes of a traditional Burns Supper, where the haggis is brought out to the table and this Burns’ poem is dramatically recited.
Burns wrote the humorous poem in 1786 to celebrate his appreciation of the haggis, and as a result, Burns and haggis are now forever linked.
"Discorso a un Haggis" durante una Burns Supper
5. A Man's a Man for a'That, Robert Burns
Be stirred by the lyrical depth of A Man’s a Man for a’ That, coming in as Scotland’s fifth favourite Scots poem.
The poem is famous for highlighting Burns’ open outlook on society, describing how the true worth of man is not defined by status, wealth, or possessions. Burns endorses equality for all in society. Interestingly, when Burns wrote the poem in 1795, he was not of a high enough social class to vote…
6. The Sair Finger, Walter Wingate
The first non-Burns Scots poem to make the top ten list is, The Sair Finger by Walter Wingate.
Walter Wingate was born in 1895 in the town of Dalry in Ayrshire. Get a real sense for what life and community was like in the early 1900s in Scotland with this poem. It's much-loved by Scots across the country and is a story about a "wean" (child) with a "skelf" (splinter) in his pinkie. The child in the poem has his splinter removed by the narrator, with the final verse telling us about another child who comes along to claim they have a splinter too: “Your finger sair ana’? Ye rouge. You’re only lettin’ on”. The “lettin’ on” shows that the other child is pretending to have a splinter so that they can have a bandage on their finger, too.
7. A Dug, A Dug, Billy Keys
A Dug, A Dug by Billy Key comes in as Scotland’s seventh-most favourite Scots poem, according to our survey. "Dug" is the Scots word for dog and the Billy Keys poem comes from "The Kist" – dig into this collection of Scots and Gaelic poetry and prose for a real flavour of the different languages and lyricism in Scottish poetry.
Get swept up in the poem's nostalgia, centring on a small child asking their dad for a pet dog, with the starting line: “Hey, daddy, wid yi get us a dug?”. The child longs for a dog so much that they ask for any breed of dog, saying they’d be happy to have “a big broon Alsatian”, “a wee white pug”, “a skinny wee terrier” or a “big fat bull”.
Un terrier scozzese in una stradina di campagna
© Forestry and Land Scotland
8. To a Louse, Robert Burns
Not to be mistaken with the most popular Scots poem, To a Mouse, this poem depicts something a little bit different than a little mouse in a field. Enjoy the knowing humour of ‘To a Louse’, about a head louse Burns spots in church crawling upon the hat of the lady sitting in front of him. In the poem, he observes the fact that the louse does not pay attention to class distinctions like humans do, and the louse considers everyone equally – as all humans are simply hosts to lice.
Burns' poetry is known for some very quotable lines, and this poem gives us one of them:
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us. To see ourselves as others see us”.
Una statua di Robert Burns presso il Burns House Museum, Mauchline
9. Willie Wastle, Robert Burns
Take your time and savour the descriptive Scots phrases that are less than complimentary about Willie Wastle’s wife, with Burns describing her throughout this poem as "dour" (grim), "din" (dingy-coloured), and "bow-hough’d" (hunched).
The narrator is openly negative about Willie Wastle’s wife, ending every stanza with the line “I wad na gie a button for” (I wouldn’t give a button for her), which is a metaphor to say that he dislikes her so much, he wouldn’t even give her as much as a button!
10. The Crocodile, JK Annand
And finally, Scotland’s tenth-most favourite poem is The Crocodile by JK Annand.
Annand was a Scottish poet born in 1908 in Edinburgh and worked as a teacher throughout his life, which undoubtedly provided him with a great source of inspiration for his work. You get a real sense of Scots humour, fun and personality in this poem, which tells the tale of a crocodile on the River Nile who has a conversation with the poem's narrator about how the crocodile brushes his teeth!
The crocodile replies that a bird cleans them for him because it saves him money at the dentist: “…saves me monie a dentist’s fee”.
How did we find the top 10 Scottish poems?
Each year in Scotland, children across the country eagerly practice reciting Scots poems as part of their homework in the hope of being crowned their school’s "Burns Champion" ahead of Burns Night – the annual birthday celebration of Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns.
To celebrate all things Scots language, we surveyed 1,000 Scottish adults to see exactly what their favourite Scots poems are. We’ve also teamed up with Game of Thrones actor and Scottish acting legend, James Cosmo, who has recited Scotland’s favourite Scots poem for us, To a Mouse by Robert Burns.
Interestingly, our survey found that out of Scotland’s top 10 favourite poems, seven are by Robert Burns! Check out the top 10 below.
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Watch James Cosmo’s Burns Night Q&A