POET AND PATRIOT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 147, 18 February 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

POET AND PATRIOT.

SCOTLAND'S GREATEST SON. BI'RNS'S SONGS OF WAR. A POWERFUL RECRUITING AGENT. (The intense patriotism, love of country, and reverence for h's illustrious ancestors" shown in the poems of Scotland's greatest s'nger, Robert Burns, formed the principal theme of a most interesting address delivered before the Scottish Society of New Zealand on a recent evening by Chief Charles Broun, on the occasion of the 157 th anniversary of the poet's birth. Following is that portion of Chief Broun's address wh'ch deals with this phase of Burns' character and works.) Especially characteristic of the Scottish people is their intense love of country. Wherever the Scot may roam, whatever position he holds in the uttermost parts of the earth, his love of home abides with him, and to him there is but one perennially delightful country, and that is Scotland. Our national poet was, perhaps on account of his poet c soul, the most intense patriot of all the Scots. The poetic sentiment overflows throughout his poems. In reading the life of Burns, one is conscious of the influence the thoughts of the heroic struggles of the past had on the mind of the poet. We read in a letter to Mrs Dunfop:— have no dearer aim than to have it in my power, unplagued with the routine of business, to make leisurely pilgrimages through Caledon a, to sit on the fields of her battles, to wander on the romantic banks of her rivers, and to muse by the stately towers or venerable runs once the abode of her heroes." ON HIGHLAND BATTLEFIELDS. On his tour to the Highlands, when he visited the grave at Falkirk of Sir John Graeme, who " wi' Wallace bled," our patriot bard did obeisance as on holy ground. At the- famous Borer.tone oi the field of Bannock burn, he knelt in supplication that, during the hour of her peril, Scotland might never lack a champion. Over Culioden Moor he walked bare-headed, for he knowthat it was devotion and fealty to their chiefs that in life animated the clansmen at rest be'.ow, and to that principle they were faithful unto death. A\ hen at another tune he was or. the Scottish borders, the scene of many a valiant fight against oppression, the poet crossed the boundary line, and, looking towards Scotland, repeated the words of that praper wh'ch forms the concluding stanza of the "Cottar's' Saturday Night" : Oh Thou, who poured the patriotic tide Tliat streamed through Wallace's undaunted heart; Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride, Or nobly die, the second glorious part, That patriot's God peculiarly Thou art -. His friend, insp.rer, guardian and reward; Oh, never, never Scotia's realm desert, But still the patriot and the patriot bard In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard. BURNS' WAR SONGS In pursuing this line of thought one does not search long through Burns' wor lis to find poetic matter reminiscent of battle and the patriot's struggles. In the song " Gae, fetch tae me a pint o' wine," there is a thought of the oldtime warriois, the Royal Scots, who were engaged in the French wars, who had to leave their homes for years--perhaps for ever. The song itself coiltains the glamour of a whole campaign condensed into one fiery mass of heroic imagery, leavened by the romantic cause of the soldier's griei, which alone makes him "langer wish to tarry." In the "Soldiers' Return," there is expressed on the other hand the joy, gratitude and felicity enjoyed " when wdd war's deadly blast was blown, and gentle peace returning." Of this song, a ree:.it writer, Makmson, says: "Th s ';..iad stands unapproached for delicate constructive touch, and in conversance with the soul's pure delight eonsequent on virtuous love. And throughout the stanzas —all are beautiful —there is that peculiar ring in the rhythm which captivates the understanding in a manner which has never yet been emulated since the Songs of Zion were sung by the ' sweet. singer of Israel.' " A vastly different tone is evident in the outburst of the Son of Mars rt Poosie, TVancy's Inn, during the gathering of the "Jolly Beggars'' when that ma'nied warrior, lacking an arm and a leg, smgs "Yet leth my country wed me. . . i'd clatter on my stumps at the sound of a drum." Similar doughty deeds arc foretold in the verse— Bring a Scotsman frae his hill, Clap in his cheek a Highland gill, Say, such is Royal Geordie's will, An' there's the foe; He has nae thocht but how to kill Twa at a blow. "SCOTS WHA HAE." But perhaps the best known poem of our illustrious Bard is surely '• Bruees' Address to His Army at Banliockburii.'' That world-renowned battle ode, "Scots Wha Hae," towering high above all kindred productions, like Ben Nevis in the hills, form a fitting climax to the martial poems of the Scottish bard. It has been described as the greatest war ode ever penned, and undoubtedly it appeals to the Scottish heart and mind as no other poem can. The moving reason is that its cadence fires the most immobile heart, and stirs to action the coldest blood. The power in tho avalanche of its patriotic zeal is fitted to carry along with it the most irresolute slacker, and to cause the sorriest coward to cast aside his craven soul. In a fewwords the ode marshals before Scotland her gloriops past, urging her by brave deeds to hand on, unimpaired, to the custody of her sons. as a sacred trust, her incomparable traditions; and above all. its tone is to a great extent responsible for that line spirit preva ling over Britain and the Dominions in the present struggle of principle over militarism, in wli.cli heroes of all ranks are so plentiful, and cowards are so scarce. "Now's the day, and now's the hour," is just as crowded with meaning to-day as it was on that famous day in June, 1311. BURNS IN UNIFORM. At a later period of his life, after his removal to Dumfries in 1795, at a time when Britain wa< threatened by invasion by our present allies Burns wrote, and had published in the "Dumfries Journal," a rallying song. "The Dumfries Volunteers." Does haughty Gaul invasion threat? Then let the loons beware, sir; There's wooden walls upon our seas, And volunteers on shore, sir. The Nith shall rin to Corsincon, The Criffel sink in Solway, Ere we permit a foreign foe On British ground to rally.

Be Britain still to Britain true, Amang oursel's united, For never but by British hand? Maun British wrangs be righted. The poem had an immense boom throughout Scotland at the time, and did much to rouse the national spirit and stimulate recruiting. But it was not only by his pen that Burns served his country. He enrolled himself amongst the gentlemen volunteers, and stood shoulder to shoulder with his friends, Maxwell. Stag, and Syme. Among his company the poet was a conspicuous figure with his swarthy face and forward stoop, and when, a year later, his course on earth was run, it was his lot to receive a soldier's funeral; his bearskin hat and sword lay on the coffin lid, mute testimony to his read ness to tight for that country of wh ch he became the great ornament and pride. As he is borne to the grave, through the lane of weeping mourners, we. can surely say that by example, as in preachment, Scotland's greatest son was a pre-eminent recruiting agent, whose words and actions have their reflex in the wonderful response made to the national call in the present grave crisis by Scotsmen the world o'er. And we pray that in the near future, when this present dsastrous strife is over, there may be the fulfilment of the poet's great prophecy. It's coming yet for a' that, That man to man the world o'er, Shall brithers be for a' that.