- about as others see us — broad daylight

about ‘as others see us’

We both studied Robert Burns at school usually the best-known texts and of course everyone is aware of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ sung at Hogmanay and ‘To a Haggis’ at the Burns supper. It wasn’t until we undertook this commission that we realised the volume of the work he produced, how beautiful it is and it’s relevance today. All of our sitters knew at once which passage of Burns they wanted to choose and it was fascinating to see their interpretation of the text. Surely that is what Burns is about, speaking to each and every one of us. We hope through these words and pictures viewers will rediscover or discover Burns for the first time – a man ahead of his time.

Limited numbers of a printed edition of the ‘as others see us’ book are available for purchase via Paypal. For information on how to purchase a copy please get in touch using the contact page here.

A full colour ebook featuring Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Ashley Jensen and Jackie Kay recorded reading their chosen poems is also available. To purchase a copy of the ebook please click here.

Featured

Chosen poem: A Red, Red, Rose

"What I love about this poem is that Burns is doing what we all try desperately to do when we are in love: to make the other person understand just how deep our love for them is.”

Alexander Stoddart - sculptor

Chosen poem: The Vision

“But in essence this poem concerns the plight of the artist kept poor, only to find spiritual riches in a steady obedience to the command of the Genius.”

Andrew O'Hagan - novelist

Chosen poem: For a’ that and a’ that

“No other poet has Burns’ gift for camaraderie. To him, fellowship was a religion, and through his poetry we get to feel that empathy is the greatest triumph of human nature.”

Ashley Jensen - actress

Chosen poem: To A Louse

“One of the things I love about Burns is his ability to address themes as great as love and death and yet effortlessly switch his focus to the mundane and commonplace with equal passion.”

Brian Cox - actor

Chosen poem: Ae Fond Kiss…

“Ae Fond Kiss is one of the great romantic poems of all times written by the greatest lyric poet of all times.”

Christopher Brookmyre - novelist

Chosen poem: Tam O’Shanter

“'Tam O’Shanter' makes a riotous cautionary tale out of an uncomfortable national truth, pitting its vainglorious ‘everybam’ figure against demons both of the imagination and of the inner self.“

Denise Mina - novelist

Chosen poem: Epigram to a Painter

“This scrap of a poem is a painful reminder that no matter how much artists hope to capture angels, most of us are really documenting our devils and then charging the public to peer at them.”

Eddi Reader - musician

Chosen poem: Lovely Polly Stewart

“I went back to Dumfries to visit Burns’ last home and found the lines to half the verses engraved on a back window in a hidden room. I felt his company once more.

Thank you, Robert. I love you. x”

Edwin Morgan - poet

Chosen poem: The Address of Beelzebub

“This poem offers a very interesting, unusual slant on the Highland Clearances, as it deals with early attempts to prevent the Highlanders from emigrating to the New World. It made a strong impression on me as a poem, but it is particularly interesting that someone renowned as a lyric poet should also write such a powerful satirical work.”

Hardeep Singh Kohli - comedian and broadcaster

Chosen poem: Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

“Burns manages to rise above such petty politics to see the whole issue in context. He blames the Scots for selling their ain folk out; and the price was paid in English gold. This searing political insight was some two hundred years ahead of its time. Scotland's destiny rests in Scotland's hands.”

Jackie Kay - poet

Chosen poem: John Anderson, my Jo

“‘John Anderson my Jo’ is one of my favourite love poems in the world. What do I love about this love poem? I love the way it follows a relationship over the course of a lifetime in two short stanzas. I love the way that it includes friendship in a marriage. Jo is the old Scots word for friend.”

Ian Rankin - novelist

Chosen poem: Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

“For the frontispiece to what would become my first big seller, ‘Black and Blue’, I turned to Burns and ‘Parcel of Rogues’, a bitter poem about the rough wooing of Scotland. It chimed with one of the themes of the book and though I can’t recite it by heart, the hair on my scalp prickles whenever I hear it.”

Janice Kirkpatrick - designer

Chosen poem: Tam O’Shanter

“What Burns means to me. …Burns commemorative stamps in 1966. Laurieknowe Primary School and Burns by heart. Southwestern speak. Ca’ The Yowes, My Love Is Like A Red, Red, Rose, To A Mouse, To A Louse. The Observatory, the murderer’s clogs, the drowned man’s skull, Sawney Bean and Tam O’Shanter. Bogles…“

Janice Galloway - novelist

Chosen poem: Ca’ the Yowes to the Knowes

“I'm from Ayrshire, so Burns has always loomed large - school competitions and the like did not put me off. I sang 'Ca' the Yowes' at Burns suppers as a teenager, sometimes as the only woman present, and loved the eerie quiet of the words before I really knew what it meant.”

Kirsty Wark - journalist and broadcaster

Chosen poem: Halloween

“Halloween was a magical time for me as a child - especially growing up in Ayrshire - and I loved fairy stories. I was also knew about the story poem Tam O' Shanter from a young age, witches and warlocks were firmly embedded in the stories of the area. I chose Halloween out of a sense of place and because I think Burns writes the poem with such verve and passion.”

Neil Gillon - Ayrshire farmer

Chosen poem: To A Mouse

“When Burns wrote, ‘I'm truly sorry Man's dominion, Has broken Nature's social union,’ well, we are still doing that today. But here’s a man who wrote that 250 years ago before anyone was thinking about conservation or the environment. He was just a man doing a job and writing what he saw. But he was also asking us to look for ourselves.”

Nicola Benedetti - musician

Chosen poem: Ae Fond Kiss…

“For me, captured in this poem is what is throughout of Burns’ writing and music-making: an unbelievable level of empathy and sensitivity; the ability to capture, sometimes in the simplest way, a feeling that we can all relate to.”

Patrick Doyle - composer

Chosen poem: To a Louse

“‘ ‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us, 'To see oursels as ithers see us!’ I heard these lines many times growing up. I remember what a thrill it was when I first read this poem in Primary School and immediately recognised these two lines as words of wisdom plagiarised by my parents.”

Peter Capaldi - actor

Chosen poem: My Jean - a Fragment

“Is it because he was an awesome philanderer, or despite it, that Burns' understanding of love seems so acute? When he writes, as he often does, of melancholic partings, or the bittersweet victory of love in the battle against age and fate, he rises above the sentimental and presents us with a truth recognisable to everyone who knows what love is.”

Peter Howson - artist

Chosen poem: Holy Willie’s Prayer

“Burns intoxicated me; his legendary life of womanising, love making, drinking and debauchery just enthralled me. This was a man that could write such beautiful poems and yet could be so flawed and had endured such tragedy. I guess I recognised a kindred spirit in him; a tortured soul. He was simply a genius and this poem in particular is a work of genius.”

The Proclaimers - musicians

Chosen poem: Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

“He was a man of the people, but he was also a man of the world. So whether he was nationalist with a large ‘n’ or a small ‘n’ – he was definitely an internationalist, who understood that some people get a rougher time than others – he was always on the side of the under-dog.”

Tom Kitchin - chef

Chosen poem: Selkirk Grace

“The great Rabbie Burns’ words are as relevant now as they were back then. I absolutely second what he has said and believe we should be thankful for the incredible ingredients Scotland produces. As a chef, there’s no place I’d rather be.”

Walter Nimmo - entrepreneur and songwriter

Chosen poem: Ae fond Kiss….

“Everyone hates farewells but loves farewell songs. These lines published in 1792 in volume 4 of Johnston’s Scottish Musical Museum are a perfect description of sadness at leaving and thoughts of what might have been – the songwriter’s dream.”

Tommy Dreelan - mogul

Chosen poem: Epigram on Rough Roads

“For me Burns was one of the GREATEST poets and he continues to live through the lives of those who read his many poems. 'Tam O' Shanter' is a fantastic poem however, 'Epigram on Rough Roads' is my favourite and is witty and very much about life!!”