BURNS THE POET

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 262, 26 January 1928, Page 1

BURNS THE POET

HIS PLACE IN HISTORY ADDRESS BY MR. JOHN BARR Burns made articulate in the most universal manner possible—that was by his poetry —the hopes and aspirations of his countrymen, said Mr. John

Barr, when addressing the St. Andrew’s Society last evening on the occasion df the 169 th anniversary of the poet’s birth. Mr. Barr spoke on the subject of what Robert Burns meant to Scotland, and gave a most interesting address. In times of crisis, said Mr. Barr, a man will rise to

lead his fellows. There were numerous examples in history. At no time, in its history had Scotland so needed a leader as it did at the end of the 18th century. She required renaissance, morally and spiritually, and stimulation in her social and economic spheres. The man who inspired the nation to a sense of its worth was the ploughman of Ayr, Robert Burns. Burns’s poems had acted as a spiritual tonic which was such a force that it had endured to this day and acted as an inspiration to men not only in Scotland but to men all over the world.