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ROBERT BURNS UNPLUGGED

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From: The Boston Globe
Date: 20050807
Author:Scott Alarik

ALMOST ANYWHERE you go in the English-speaking world, when people talk about "the Bard," they mean William Shakespeare. In Scotland, it's Robert Burns. For more than 200 years, the late 18th- century Scottish poet and songwriter has been the defining national icon of his native land, his image emblazoned on cookie tins and souvenir banners, much the way the harp is displayed in Ireland. He wrote many of the most familiar poems of his age, including "Tam O'Shanter," and "To a Mouse," with its oft-quoted line "The best- laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft a-gley" (that is, "often go ...

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