The Merry Muses of Caledonia is among Burns' best known, but least read, work. This collection of bawdy poems, some written by and some collected by Burns, ranges from celebrations of spirited women in "Ellibanks", to misogyny in "There was twa wives" and male fantasy in "Nine Inch will please a lady". These engaging poems are not lewd or distasteful but possess a great wit and charm. This new edition updates the 1959 printing, which with engaging accompanying material by James Barke and preface by J. De Lancey Ferguson have made this the definitive version, until now. "The Merry Muses" was always intended to be accompanied by music but the 1959 edition was left incomplete due to Barke's premature death. For the first time the book is completed as it was always meant to be with notes to the tunes created with reference to Barke's unpublished papers. "The Luath Merry Muses" edition also includes bonus material with specially commissioned illustrations from top political satirist Bob Dewar and an introduction by Burns scholar Valentina Bold. Ferguson's work is brought up to date with commentary on the latest critical responses. This new edition will make this classic of Burns' literature more accessible to modern readers.

Addressed to all readers of poetry, this is a wide-ranging book about the poet's role throughout the last three centuries. It argues that a conception of the poets as both primitive and sophisticated emerged in the 1750s. Encouraged by the classroom when English literary works began to be studied in universities, this view continues to shape our own attitudes towards verse. Whether considering Ossian and the Romantics, Victorian scholar-gipsies, Modernist poetries of knowledge, or contemporary poetry in Britian, Ireland, and America, The Modern Poet shows how many successive generations of poets have needed to collaborate and to battle with academia.