Robert Burns, Memorialisation and the "Heart Beatings" of Victorian Scotland

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Robert Burns was a worldwide phenomenon, a great humanitarian poet who was commemorated across the globe. Since 1945, he has been the most neglected of the major Romantic writers of the British Isles. What led to this unprecedented reversal in his reputation, and what is the reality of his global presence and influence, historically and today? Robert Burns in Global Culture sets out to answer these questions. It is a unique collection of essays which examines Burns' reputation, his role in German radicalism, and his links to French bawdy poetry, to the values of the infant United States, and to the erstwhile British empire. The public commemoration of Burns in statues is discussed alongside his influence on nationalist writing in minority languages. As Burns re-emerges as a key Romantic writer, this volume gives a sense of the scope of his presence and impact throughout our world, from Ayr and Arkansas to the United Nations.