One of seven children born to a cotter in Ayrshire,Burns(1759-96)has become the virtual personification of all that's best in Scottish writing.Hisundiminished popularity is reflected in the celebrations held all over the world on 'Burns Night',25 January,his birthday;and his lyric 'Auld Lang Syne' has become synonymous with New Year festivities.Equally comfortable whether in his antive Scots or in English,Burns enjoyed immediate success with his volume POEMS,CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH(1786),but had suffered considerable financial and domestic hardship prior to its publication.He had a complicated love life,and even when married got involved with a string of women,some of whom are mentioned in his verse.