Robert Burns (1759-1796) was a Scottish poet and lyricist, who is now widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland (much as a country might have a national symbol, anthem, and so on). Burns wrote many famous love poems — “O, Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast”, “A Red, Red Rose”, and “To a Mouse” are among the most popular of his pieces.

He is the best known poet to write in the language of Scots, but a great deal of his writing is also in English with a light Scots dialect incorporated. Thus, Burns’s popularity easily transcended the boundaries of Scotland and made him one of the most loved poets worldwide.

Robert Burns is considered a pioneer of Romanticism — and thus one of the immediate predecessors to the Romantic Poets: William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron.

In 2009, Scotland Television (STV) conducted a poll and Robert Burns was selected as the greatest Scot of all time.