Is what you see, what you get?
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!"
If you need the author of the above to be identified, then you should be
thoroughly ashamed of yourself!
I have often been struck by the differences between the respective bards of
Scotland and our Southern neighbours.
Robert Burns, a man of the people, wrote of lice, mice and many “other
matters” which would not sit well within the covers of a church magazine.
William Shakespeare curried the favour of the rich and famous and did so in
linguistic style which few out with the ranks of the chattering classes could
easily comprehend.
Indeed, that is still largely the case with countless generations of school
children ploughing laboriously through prose and poetry festooned by “Hey
nonny” nonnies and “sceptered isles”.
(Always annoyed me, that one! Since when was England an island? But I
suppose this sceptered peninsula doesn’t scan quite as well?)
Shakespeare’s interpretations of history were as accurate as those of Dr
Goebbels and his agenda equally questionable - and that includes the
rampant anti-Semitism common to both of these men.
Yet who is the more honoured, remembered and revered throughout the
world?
I would love to claim that accolade for Scotland’s finest wordsmith, but it
wouldn’t be true!
Every January, the English dominated media patronises Robert Burns and
adds the odd stereotypical jest at our expense.
But let me offer some consolation.
Whose words welcome in every New Year in almost every country, and
whose anthem to equality and peaceful coexistence still resonates most in a
world where these concepts, sadly, remain mere aspirations?
Eat your heart out Will!!!
Anon
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