Hа екран проектується портрет Р. Бернса.

С о m p e re: We begin our school party dedicated to Scotland's greatest poet, Robert Burns. Robert Burns was the most democratic poet of the 18th century. His birthday is celebrated in Scotland as a national holiday. Karl Marx and his daughters thought highly of his verses. Robert Burns was one of Marx's favorite poets. Burns is very popular in the Soviet Union. His first poems were translated into Russian at the close of the 18th century. Soviet people admire Robert Burns's poems and songs in the original and in the wonderful translations of Samuel Marshall. Now some pupils will tell you -about Robert Burns's life.

На екрані новий кадр: дім, в якому народився Р. Берн

The first pupil: Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, was born on January 25, 1759, in a small clay cottage at Alleyway, in Ayrshire, Scotland. His father, William Burns, was a poor farmer. He built this small clay cottage with his own hands. There were seven children in the family, and Robert was the eldest. His father knew the value of a good education, and he tried to give his children the best education he could afford. Robert was sent to school at the age of six, but as his father could not pay for the two sons, Robert and his brother Gilbert attended school in turn. When not at school, the boys helped their father with his work in the fields. But soon the teacher left, and so Burns's father along with his four neighbors invited a young school-teacher, John Murdoch, to teach their boys. When Murdoch left, the poet's father taught the children himself. Reading and writing, arithmetic, English grammar, history, literature. French and Latin - - that was Robert Burns's education.

William Burns died in February 1784 Later Robert Burns wrote about his father in his verses

 

 

 

 

„My Father Was a Farmer“

My Father Was a Farmer

Upon the Carrick border, O,

And carefully he bred me

in decency and order, О

. He bade me act a manly part,

though I had ne'er a farthing, O,

For without an honest, manly heart

no man was worth regarding, O.

Robert's mother knew many Scottish songs and ballads and often sang them to her son in his childhood. His mother's friend Betty told Robert many fantastic tales about devils, fairies and witches. Burns's mother died in 1820. She lived long and enjoyed the fame of her poet son. На экране появляются строки одного из стихотворений Р. Бернса.

The second pupil: Robert Burns became fond of reading. He read whatever he could lay his hands on. His favorite writers were Shakespeare, Sterne, Smollett, and Robert Fergusson, a talented Scottish poet (1750—1774). Fergus-son's tragic fate deeply touched Burns. Burns devoted many verses to Fergusson. In 1787, Robert Burns erected a monument over the grave of the Scottish poet Robert Fergusson at his own expense, when the book of his poems was pub­lished. Robert Burns began to write poetry when he was fifteen. He composed verses to the melodies of old folk-songs, which he had admired from his early childhood. He sang of the woods, fields and wonderful valleys of his native land. After William Burns's death the family moved to Mossgiel, where Robert and his brother Gilbert rented a small farm. The young men worked hard, but the land gave poor crops. The family began to live worse. Just at that time Burns fell in love with Jean Armour and was going to marry her, but the girl's father did not want to have a poor peasant for his son-in-law. Seeing that there was no way for a poor peasant to earn his living in Scotland, Burns decided to sail for Jamaica. To get some money for his passage, he published some of his poems. Six hundred copies of "Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" were printed in Kilmarnock in July 1786. Their success was complete. The edition was quickly sold out and Robert Burns became well known and popular.

На екрані новий кадр: памятник Р. Бернсу в деревне Аллоуэй (графство Эршир). The third pupil: Instead of going to Jamaica, Burns went to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. He had received a letter from several Edinburgh scholars, who praised his verses and invited him to come to the capital. In Edinburgh Burns was welcomed as one of the "wonders of the world". A new and enlarged edition of his poems was the result. But soon Edinburgh society grew tired of him and forgot about the poet.

Robert Burns left Edinburgh and returned to his native village with money enough to buy a farm and marry Jean Armour, his "Bonnie Jean". Burns devoted to Jean many beautiful poems, such as "I Love My Jean", "It Is Na, Jean, Thy Bonnie Face" and many others.

Though Burns's poems were very popular, he always remained poor. He worked hard on his farm. But in 1791 Burns went bankrupt and had to sell the farm. He became a customs officer in the town of Dumfries. The work was hard, and it destroyed the poet's health. He died in poverty at the age of thirty-seven. Burns was buried in Dumfries. His funeral was attended by a crowd of ten thousand. They were the common Scottish people whom he had loved and for whom he had written his poems and songs. In the picture you see the Monument to Robert Burns at Alloway, in Ayrshire. Compere: The poetry and songs of Robert Burns are famous all over the world. Burns is very dear to us, Soviet people. He was a democratic poet. His sympathy was with the poor, he hated the rich and hoped for a better future for the people, for equality and justice for all. Now you will hear his most popular poems. Listen to his poem "Is There for Honest Poverty".

 

 

 

 

Compere:   Robert Burns was a revolutionary poet. He wrote many revolutionary poems. "The Tree of Liberty" is the best of them.

The f i f th  pupil:

 

Compere:   Robert Burns was a revolutionary poet. He wrote many revolutionary poems. "The Tree of Liberty" is the best of them.

The f i f th pupil:

THE TREE OF LIBERTY

Heard ye o' the tree o' France?

I watna what's the name o't;

Around it a' the patriots dance,

Weel Europe kens the fame o't.

It stands where ance the Bastile stood,

A prison, built by kings, man,

When Superstition's hellish brood

Kept France in leading-strings, man. <...>

Let Britain boast her hardy oak,

Her poplar and her pine, man,

Auld Britain ance could crack her joke,

And o'er her neighbours shine, man.

But seek the forest round and round,

And soon 'twill be agreed, man,

That sic a tree cannot be found

Twixt London and the Tweed, man.

Without this tree, alake! this life

Is but a vale o' woe, man;

A scene o' sorrow mixed wi' strife,

Nae real joys we know, man. <...>

Wi' plenty o' sic trees, I trow,

The warld would live in peace, man;

The sword would help to mak a plough,

The din o' war wad cease, man.

Like brethren in a common cause,

We'd on each other smile, man;

And equal rights and equal laws

Wad gladden every isle, man.

Compere: Burns had a deep love for Scotland, its history and folklore. His favourite national hero was William Wallace, the leader of the uprising against the English oppressors. In many of his poems Burns sings the glorious past of his native land. The sixth pupil:

SCOTS, WHA HAE

Compere:    Burns also sings the beauty of his native land. The seventli pupil:

MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart

is not here,

My heart's In the Highlands a-chasing

the deer,

A-chasing the wild deer and following

the roe —

My heart's in the Highlands, wherever

I go!

All hail to the Highlands, all hail

to the North,

The birthplace of valour, the

country of worth!

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

The hills of the Highlands for everl love.

Farewell to the mountains high cover'd

with snow, Farewell to the straths and green

valleys below, Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging

woods,

Farewell   to   the   torrents    and    loud-pouring floodsl

Adieu for a while, I can never forget thee,

The land of my fathers, the soilof the free,

I sigh for the hour that shall bid me retrace

The path of my childhood, my ownnative place.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart

is not here,

My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing

the deer,

A-chasing the wild deer and following

the roe —

My heart's in the Highlands, wherever

I go!

Compere: The poem "John Barleycorn" is symbolic in meaning - - John Barleycorn personifies the strength of the common people which is immortal and cannot be done away with. The eighth pupil

JOHN BARLEYCORN

Compere: Burns was a remarkable lyric poet. In his lyrical poems and songs Burns glorifies true love and friendship. The ninth-pupil:

 

 

 

 

OF A' THE AIRTS THE WIND CAN BLAW

Of a¹ the airts the wind can blaw,

I dearly like the West, For there the bonnie lassie lives,

The lassie I lo'e best; There wild woods grow, and rivers row,

And mony a hill between; But day and night, my fancy's flight

Is ever wi¹ my Jean. I see her in the dewy flowers,

I see her sweet and fair; I hear her in the tunefu' birds,

I hear her charm the air; There's riot a bonnie flower that springs

By fountain, shaw, or green,

There's not a bonnie bird that sings

But minds me o' my Jean. <...>

Compere:     Some of Robert Burns's lyrical poems are popular as songs all over the world. Now a group of girls will sing a song "A Red, Red Rose" (words by R. Burns).  Студенти виконують пісню "А Red, Red Rose" на  вірші Р. Бернса .