Pupil 1: R. Burns, a great Scottish poet. He was born in 1759 in a small village, which is called Alleyway. You can see this clay cottage where R. Burns was born and spent 7 years of his life.

His father, William Burns, was a small farmer, Robert learned from his father to love and understand people. From his mother he learned something important. As she worked she often sang old countryside songs. In the evening she told the children popular folk songs (tales).

Pupil 2: William Burns was poor, but wanted to give his children an education. Robert and his brother went to school, but they had to help their father with the farm work.

Let’s speak about R. Burns poems. R. Burns began to write poems when he was fifteen years old. In his poems he described with love and understanding things and people.

Wherever I wander,
Wherever I rove,
The hills of the highlands
Forever I love.

 Pupil 3: His first love song was dedicated to Nell, a country girl. Nell was thirteen at that time and Robert was a year old. “My handsome Nell” becomes the most popular song in the neighborhood.

Once I loved a bonny lass
And, oh. I love her still.

Pupil 4: R. Burns represents the generation of Romantic writers. In his poems he described with love and understanding the single life he knew.

Listen the song “There Is No Pease in my Heart” from the film “Office Romance”. The words have been translated by S. Marshak and written by R. Burns.

He wrote:

My heart’s in the highlands,
My hearts is not here
My hearts in the highlands
A chasing the deer…
A chasing the wild deer and
Following the roe
My heat is in the highlands,
wherever I go.

Звучит мелодія «Реве та стогне Дніпр широкий».

 Pupil 5: This poem reminds “My Testament” by Taras Shevchenko a famous Ukrainian poet. T. Shevchenko his poem wrote in:

When I dead them bury me
In my beloved Ukraine
My tomb upon a drave mound high
Amid the spreading plain
So that the fields, the boundless steppes,
The Dnieper’s plunging shore
The eyes could see, my ears could here
The mighty river roar.

Pupil 6: T. Shevchenko was born on 9 March 1814 in Morintsi, Kiev gubernia, He died 10 March 1861 in Petersburg, Russia. Shevchenko has an important place in Ukrainian history. Maxim Rylskiy a famous Ukrainian poet said:

Кобзарем його ми звемо,
Так від роду і до роду
Кожен вірш свій і поему
Він присвячував народу.

Pupil 7: Although Shevchenko is seen mainly as a poet, he was also a highly accomplished artist.

Shevchenko was poor, a true poet of Ukraine. He was not only a poet. Taras Shevchenko is known all over the world. His poems the poems have been translated in many languages. He was a highly accomplished artist. He died in 1861, and was buried near Kaniv.