English Language and Literature Commons^™

Burns's Politics 'In Another View': Late 1792/Early 1793, Robert P. Irvine

Studies in Scottish Literature

Presents a reconsideration of Burns's political views in 1792-1793, examining in detail the original performance context of his poem "The Rights of Woman," in the Dumfries Theatre in November 1792, and the political context of his song "Why should na poor people mow," as first sent in letters to Robert Cleghorn in December 1792 and to Robert Graham of Fintry in January 1793, arguing that such "political" poems might be read less in terms of French or metropolitan revolutionary politics than in terms of major cultural and social changes in the Scottish community and networks to which Burns belonged.