This poem is both a celebration of a birth and a defiant response to his critics. Burns’ first daughter’s mother was Betty Paton. They were not married and as a result he faced stern moral criticism.
Tam O’Shanter - Tam is an ordinary, flawed human being who finds great enjoyment in ‘normal’ activities like drinking with his friend and is saved by his horse, a very down-to-earth and ordinary part of country life
To a Mouse - the mouse’s nest is on a tenant farmer’s land, not a grand estate, and like ordinary people, it has modest needs in order to survive
Poem which challenges opinions of Burns’ day
Holy Willie’s Prayer - Willie represents the strict Calvinist ‘Auld Licht’, people who believed in a stern, vengeful God and in the doctrine of the ‘Elect’. Burns rejected these views completely and shows how negative and life-denying they are through the character of the hypocrite Willie