Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns by Alec Ross

[David Lockmiller]

(02-04-2024 08:30 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(02-03-2024 05:50 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Would be interesting to know when Lincoln first read Burns.

I thought it was New Salem, but I came across this -

In LINCOLN'S BOYHOOD: A Chronicle of His Indiana Years by Francis Marion Van Natter it says:

"As Lincoln's hunger for books mounted it was accompanied by increasing interest in Robert Burns' poems. Abe thought highly of the Scottish plowman's homey philosophy. Observed Isaac Arnold: "Burns he could quote from end to end."

Roger, A "Postscript" to the Alec Ross initial quotation:

Postscript – Lincoln’s lifelong fascination with Burns began when he met a guy called Jack Kelso, an immigrant Scot from Govan, when he was wee. Kelso gave Abe the collected works of Burns. Never looked back. Kelso, incidentally, was reputed to have one of the largest private libraries in America. He was previously a Glasgow schoolteacher.