A new £2 Coin for a Great Scottish Poet

For the coin celebrating the life and works of Robert Burns, the Royal Mint was keen to see a non-portrait based design which, focusing on language, would convey the nature of the contribution Robert Burns has made to the culture of Britain generally and of Scotland in particular.In the event, a calligraphic reverse was indeed chosen, the design featuring words taken from Auld Lang Syne while the edge inscription carries the first line of the song - SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT.

A wonderful song celebrating friendship, Auld Lang Syne was described by Burns as 'the old song of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing'. He had been so impressed with it that in a letter to Mrs Dunlop in December 1788 he praised its composer saying 'light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired Poet who composed this glorious Fragment'.

Auld Lang Syne became one of Robert Burns most famous songs and is still sung every year on New Year's Eve in the English-speaking world. Chosen by The Royal Mint Engraving Team, Auld Lang Syne now provides a splendid and appropriate reverse design for the coin celebrating Robert Burns, the words appearing exactly as they were written down by Burns 'from an old man's singing'.

Robert Burns 1759 - 1796

Robert Burns was a passionate poet and lyricist as well as a witty satirist of his religious and political peers. He was born on 25 January 1759 in a humble cottage built by his father, a struggling farmer, in Alloway, Ayrshire and there he spent his first seven years. They were happy years and the village of Alloway and the surrounding countryside, celebrated in works such as Tam O'Shanter, The Cotter's Saturday Night and Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon, remained a constant source of inspiration to Burns throughout his life as did the Scottish folk songs and legends taught him by his mother.

His was to be a short but colourful life. In 1784 he fell in love with Jean Armour, the 'jewel' of the six 'Belles of Mauchline ', and she was to make him a devoted wife, bearing him nine children. Burns had many love affairs, however, and remembered them all with tender affection in his works perhaps the most poignant being Mary Campbell (Highland Mary) whom he once vowed to marry. By his own admission it was love that inspired him: 'For my own part I never had the least thought or inclination of turning Poet till I got heartily in Love, and then Rhyme and Song were, in a manner, the spontaneous language of my heart'.

The 'Heaven-taught Ploughman'

Robert toiled on his father's farm during his youth but felt compelled to write poetry from a young age. He was persuaded to publish his first collection of poems in 1786 to finance a voyage to the West Indies:Jean's father had refused to affirm their 'marriage' despite the fact that Jean was expecting a child and, feeling rejected, it seems he intended to emigrate to Jamaica taking Mary Campbell with him.The enormous success of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, however, as well as the birth of Jean's twins in September, delayed his departure and, since Mary died in October, he was never to leave this 'much lov'd shore'.

The Kilmarnock Edition

He published his first collection of poems in 1786. Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was printed in Kilmarnock and received such acclaim that Burns was immediately shot to fame. Although his poetry did not bring him financial security, he remained a prolific writer. Thus when he died on 21 July 1796, he left a wonderful legacy of joyous songs and poems that, in celebrating humanity, touched the hearts and minds of people the world over.

BURNS NIGHT - To The Immortal Memory

Each year, on 25 January, Scots the world over celebrate the birth, life and works of 'Rabbie' Burns with a Burns Night Supper. The first supper was held on the fifth anniversary of his death and remains an annual event though the date has changed to the anniversary of his birth. Nevertheless, the ritual remains much the sameand always concludes with a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne.