Rhyme and Reason
Burns Night 25th January 2025
by Brian Radcliffe
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To encourage students to consider why poetry is important.
Preparation and materials
- You will need an image of Rabbie Burns and the means to display it. An example can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/3336as94
Assembly
- This coming Saturday night is of great importance to Scottish people. It’s what is known as Burns Night. It’s the annual celebration north of the border of the life and achievements of the Scottish national poet, Robert (or Rabbie as his friends called him) Burns.
- Show image of Rabbie Burns. An example can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/3336as94
Rabbie Burns was born in 1759 in Ayrshire, part of the Lowlands of Scotland. He was a poet, lyricist and songwriter whose topics engaged Scottish culture, love, drink, food and rural life. His popularity began in his own lifetime and has never waned. On Saturday night there will Burns Night suppers throughout the world. Those involved will read Burns’ poems, sing his songs, drink whisky and eat haggis, the Scottish national dish. Haggis is like a big, boiled sausage, made up of sheep’s insides, onions, oatmeal and butter. Many people think it is very tasty! - Many people have little knowledge of Rabbie Burns’ poems and songs. Outside of Scotland that’s not surprising as Burns’ poetry and songs were written in Scottish dialect and summon up Scottish history. Rabbie Burns was a political radical, a supporter of both the French and American Revolutions and he enshrines Scottish national pride and identity However, one example of his work we probably do know is the song Auld Lang Syne, that’s often sung at 12 o’clock on New Year’s Eve.
Time for reflection
Ask the questions, allowing time for discussion if possible:
Why would we celebrate a poet?
Is it something we’d choose to do ourselves?
Why is poetry considered valuable?
Let’s start by recognising how much poetry there is around us. It’s not just what’s on the English Literature syllabus, although hopefully there will be something that catches our attention.
Firstly, rap is fundamentally poetry with a backing track, often very clever in its use of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration. In fact, song lyrics in general are poetry set to music – they are all around us!
Secondly, adverts draw us in by their clever use of poetic devices. Some jingles are difficult to get out of our minds.
Finally, poetic phrases from Shakespeare or the Bible crop up in our daily speech without us realising. We’re surrounded by poetry.
What effect does poetry have on us? Why is it vital that we hold on to this skill?
Poetry isn’t always easy. It’s often entangled, full of allusions and images, with densely packed ideas. We don’t often get it the first time. Maybe that’s a good reason for tackling a poem every now and then. It’s rather like brain gym, we benefit from putting the effort in. It also releases our imagination and expands the way we look at the world. Imagery provides us with other ways of thinking about common subjects. Often the rhythm can become addictive, sucking us into the content. That’s particularly what makes the best rap so successful.
In the end it’s the message contained in the poem, lyric or rap that matters most. After we’ve listened to it or read it, the writer hopes we understand and appreciate the world in a different way. It’s been said that in a poem the truth has a habit of sneaking up on us.
So, who would you nominate as best examples of poetry? Would it be Stormzy? Would it be Benjamin Zephaniah? Would it be the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage with his band The Scaremongers? How about Rabbie Burns?
Tastes vary, but poetry’s value never changes.
Extension Activity
- Ask students to nominate their best examples of:
A poem
A rap lyric (but be careful about unacceptable language)
A song lyric - Organise a ‘Battle of the Bands’ session where they pit their choices against one another.
