Burns Essay Winner 2006

Anna Alexandrovna Kokoshinskaya

Age 15 years

School 606

THE BIRTHPLACE OF VALOUR , THECOUNTRY OF WORTH

St Petersburg One doesn’t choose the place where to be born. For most people the word Motherland is sacred. The native countryside is dear to us and we tend to idealise both the places and the people living there. It’s common knowledge that being far away from your home, staying even in the most wonderful, exotic and stunning places most people miss their native land. Many people gave their lives for their homeland.

Love for one’s Motherland was mirrored in poetry and reflected in works of art at all times. Perhaps, Robert Burns is one of the most brilliant exponents of patriotic feelings in his creative work. His poetry is wonderfully simple, lucid, clear-cut. The most important human feelings, such as tender love, true friendship, endless devotion to Motherland, craving for a better future are interlaced and interwoven in his poems, songs and ballads.

Burns is very popular in Russia. The first translation of his works appeared in our country at the close of the 18th century, and since then he has always been widely read. We admire the plain Scottish peasant who became one of the world’s greatest poets.

Burns’ poetry is the bone of the bone and the flesh of the flesh of the Scottish common people. The great poet drew his inspiration from the treasury of Scottish folklore and his poems in their turn became the people’s property.

In his poems Burns glorifies joyous and clever Scots peasants, Himself poor, he sang about the honest poor contrasting them to cruel squires, greedy merchants, bigots and hypocrites. He wanted to write poetry about the people and for the people.

Robert Burns was a true son of the Scottish peasantry. His poems embody their thoughts and aspirations, their human dignity, their love of freedom and hatred to all oppressors. Independence of mind and honesty, sense and dignity – these are the qualities the poet appreciated.

It’s no in titles nor in rank,

It’s no in wealth like Lon’on Bank

To purchase peace and rest.

…

Nae treasures nor pleasures

Could make us happy lang;

The heart ay’s the part ay

That makes us right or wrang.

Burns’s verses mirror the best features of the enlighteners: their humanism, their firm belief in man’s strength, in the power of reason, in the good qualities of human nature.

No wonder that many verses of the poet were inspired by the great French Revolution, which he supported with all his heart. Burns praised the French revolutionaries who planted “the Tree of Liberty” in their country. He expressed his firm belief in a happy future, when people all over the world would live in peace and enjoy full equality.

Wi’ plenty o’ sic trees, I trow,

The warld would live in peace, man.

The sword would help to mak’ a plough,

The din o’ war wad cease, man.

Like brethren in a common cause,

We’d on each other smile, man;

And equal rights and equal laws

Wad gladden every isle, man.

It’s obvious that Burns had a deep love for Scotland, its history and folklore. “Address to Edinburgh” is a hymn to the common Scottish people:

The sons, Edina, social, kind,

With open arms the stranger hail;

Their views enlarg’d, their lib’ral mind,

Above the narrow, rural vale;

Attentive still to Sorrow’s wail,

Or modest Merit’s silent claim:

And never may their sources fail!

And never Envy blot their name!

The poet was deeply interested in the glorious past of his country, which he called

“The birthplace of valour, the country of worth”.

His favourite national hero was William Wallace, the leader of the uprising against the English oppressors. The Scottish people led by Wallace and Robert the Bruce defeated the English army in the battle at Bannockburn in 1314 and secured Scottish independence.

In many of his poems he sings of the beauty of his native land, where he spent his life.

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,

The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

In Burns’s poems, nature forms a part of the people’s life, though he doesn’t personify it.

In spite of his poverty, privations and never-ceasing toil, Burns was an optimist. The poet wished the future generation to be strong:

And may his great posterity

Ne’er fail in old Scot’land!

In all his works Robert Burns remains the bard of freedom. In the poem “Caledonia”, written on the same theme, Burns glorifies “brave Caledonia”, “A lambkin in peace but a lion in war”. Besides, Burns’s poetry may be regarded as a treasury of all that is best in Scottish songs, some of them being late echoes of much older ones.

I was born in Russia, and for me Russia, Sacred Russ, seems to be the only place in which to live. I love my country greatly. I feast my eyes upon the beauty of its nature, admire the unpredictable workings of mysterious Russian soul and unique character of some Russian people. I value their ability of self-sacrifice. It’s a well-known fact that lots and lots of suffering, hardships and privations befell the Russian people.

The newly introduced public holiday in this country on November 4 is dedicated to the liberation of Russia from Polish-Lithuanian invaders in 1613. Russia was then on the verge of losing its independence and territorial integrity.

Russian patriots Kuz’ma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky appealed to the people at large to take to arms and save Russia. In every city and town volunteers from among noblemen, riflemen, Cossacks and peasants joined together to drive the Poles out of Moscow. Their leader was Dmitry Pozharsky.

Kuz’ma Minin, a tradesman, addressed people urging them to hand in “all gold and silver and to sell property, if necessary” so as to arm detachments and liberate their Mother-land. The legend says that the vision of Saint Sergy Radonezhsky induced Minin to do that.

Finally on the 26th of October the Polish garrison quartered in Moscow capitulated. Moscow became free again. A monument to Minin and Pozharsky now stands in Moscow in Red Square. They were the people who awoke patriotic feelings of the people and led them to victory.

Many a time foreign invaders tried to encroach on the independence of our country.

In 1812 the army of Napoleon advanced towards Russia. The French Emperor wanted to capture Russia and make it part of his Great Empire. And again as in 1613 people defended their native land. It was indeed a Patriotic war.

Dreams of a better social order got hold of the minds of many officers, participants of the war of 1812. Their dream was to introduce The Constitution in the country, to abolish serfdom, to gain some social equality. The advanced people of that time were ready to give their lives for the renovation of Russia, for liberties and rights. On the 14th of December 1825 they raised an uprising in Senate Square in St. Petersburg. The uprising was put down, the leaders were hung. It required limitless valour and courage to challenge the autocracy but they did it not having spared themselves.

Our people showed unprecedented heroism during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Notwithstanding tremendous losses, starvation and suffering, the country struggled against the fascists and won a great victory. In my opinion, without any exaggeration we can call Russia the birthplace of valour, the country of worth.

In May 2005 Russia celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Great Victory over fascist Germany. We feel enormous gratitude to those people who gave their lives for our Motherland, for our future. The memory of the country’s defenders is sacred to all of us.

In the course of the country’s history there were many outstanding people who contributed a great deal to promote wealth and prosperity of Russia and of the whole world. Many great Russian scientists, thinkers, scholars, artists, men-of-letters and musicians are known all over the world for their discoveries, inventions and great achievements of different fields. I’d like to name only a few of those worthy men of whom we are extremely proud.

Alexander Popov devised the first aerial and a detector for radio waves.

Igor Kurchatov achieved great results in his research investigating the atom nucleus.

Dmitry Mendeleyev was the creator of the “Periodic System of Elements” which states that the chemical properties of the elements are dependant on periodic functions of their atomic weights.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to establish a worldwide reputation. His symphonies, piano concertos, violin concertos, operas, orchestral fantasies, chamber and vocal music are performed the world over.

Talking about the Russian contribution to American science and culture during the 20th century I can also mention some outstanding innovators.

Vassily Zvorykhin suggested the introduction of a so-called iconoscope as a transmitting device – which, in combination with a cathode-ray tube, allowed the size of electronic equipment to be diminished, whilst ensuring that a high quality image remained.

Igor Sikorsky created the first multi-engine aeroplanes called “Russian Knight” and “Ilya Murometz”; he also invented the helicopter, too.

Michael Zarotchintsev elaborated a system for quick refrigeration of products.

When in comes to the arts, the contribution of the Russians can be measured in three-digit figures: composers Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovitch, such star performers as Mstislav Rostropovich and Maxim Shostakovich, soloists Yasha Heifetz and Isaac Stern, painters Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich, writers Vladimir Nabokov and Alexander Solzenitzin, poet Joseph Brodsky… The list could be continued.

Many great people were born in Russia, they lived and worked here, and gave their lives for their Motherland. I think that the memory of what those courageous and gifted people did for their country shouldn’t ever be obliterated from our memory, the memory of the younger people. We should follow in their footsteps.

Indeed, my country is the country of valour and the country of worth. I have no doubt about it whatsoever.