Robert Burns (1759–1796), the national poet of Scotland, had a natural gift for poetry and was largely self-educated. He chose his style deliberately from the Scottish folkloric and literary traditions.

Burns was the son of an unsuccessful farmer who valued books and learning but died and left his young sons with responsibility for the farm. At fifteen, Burns fell in love for the first time and soon afterward began to write poetry. By the age of twenty-seven, he had written the renowned "Kilmarnock edition" of his verse (so called because it was published in the town of Kilmarnock) and had become famous among intellectuals. His best poetry is written in Scots, his native dialect. During his lifetime, he wrote hundreds of songs about love, work, friendship, patriotism, and the nobility of common men and women.

A social rebel, Burns had great sympathy for the revolutions in America and France, which took place during his lifetime. Strongly opposed to Calvinism, the religion in which he had been raised, he was considered to be a social radical, one whose lifestyle left him open to criticism.

In his late twenties, Burns settled down, married Jean Armour, and began working as a tax inspector in Dumfries. Extremely patriotic and passionate about Scotland, during his last years he worked feverishly to preserve his country's music in published form. Although often in need of money, he would take no financial compensation for his work on volumes of Scottish lyrics. He continued to work on the Scottish anthologies until he died of heart disease at thirty-seven.