A Study On Burns' Nostalgia Of Gaelic Culture In Poems Chiefly In The Scottish Dialect

Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect written by Robert Burns,upgrades the poet from an unknown pauper to a well-known national poet of Scotland for its enormous descriptions of Gaelic culture.Yet it seldom arouses critical interest especially from a geographical point of view,but the themes of liberty and national identity of Scotland from the perspective of politics.Hence,by adopting Zou Jianjun's criticism of “geographical gene” as the methodology,this thesis attempts to analyze the natural and human geographical genes embodied in the poems,to explore the causes and purpose of Burns' writing of Gaelic culture.In specific,this thesis studies Burns' nostalgia of Gaelic culture from three aspects — lifestyle,language,and belief,to explore the physical and human geographical genes that cause Burns' nostalgia of Gaelic culture.Firstly,the thesis explores the physical geographical genes that formed the unique lifestyle of Scotland which were destructed severely by the Industrial Revolution and colonization from England.Namely,this part analyzes the Gaelic living scene,costumes,and diet presented in the poems,to interpret the representations and causes of Burns' nostalgia of Gaelic culture.Secondly,the thesis studies the representations and reasons of Burns' adopting Gaelic language especially the vocabulary and way of narration in his poems: after 1707 Union,England kept imposing colonial policies on Scottish culture,among which the language unification,that is English became the official language of Scotland endangered Gaelic.As Gaelic is the principal carrier of Scottish traditional culture,its being endangered means the being extinct of Scottish culture.Hence,Burns appeals to the revival of Gaelic to resist the assimilation of English.Actually,Burns not only resists the oppression of English colonization at the physical level but also at the spiritual level.Therefore,the thesis thirdly studies the Gaelic superstitious activities and polytheistic belief embedded in Burns' poems,to explore the nature of Gaelic belief — pursuit of freedom.Burns considers this belief as the most important component of Scottish gene which was strongly contrastive with the rigid and degenerated church during this period.Hence,he advocates this belief to achieve individual and national liberty,to resist the oppression of English colonization.In summary,this thesis studies the physical and human geographical genes that influence Burns' writing,to explore the reasons and purposes of Burns' nostalgia of Gaelic culture: because of the colonization from England,Scots were confronted with severe destruction of their traditional material and spiritual life.In order to regain national independence and freedom,Burns calls on his people back to Gaelic culture — the gene of their nation.Consequently,the thesis hopes to offer a new perspective to study Burns' Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect and provide an effective case for the study of Scottish writers and Gaelic culture.