This Companion, designed as an authoritative biographical and critical guide to Burns, is in six sections. Part I places Burns in context with a Chronology, 'The Burns Circle' and a Topography. Part II looks at the Burnsian issues of religion, politics, philosophy, drink, drama and sex. Part III an essay on Burns as a poetic phenomenon, is sure to provoke debate about the relevance of Burns to his time and ours. Part IV examines twenty-five poems, eighteen verse epistles and twenty-six songs as well as commenting on the letters, political ballads and Common Place Books. A Select Bibliography (Part V) and four Appendixes (Part VI) are followed by a glossary of Scots words, and index of poems and a general index.

Robert Burns is Scotland’s greatest cultural icon. Yet, despite his continued popularity, critical work has been compromised by the myths that have built up around him. McGuirk focuses on Burns’s poems and songs, analysing his use of both vernacular Scots and literary English to provide a unique reading of his work.