On occasion, I have to confess, I have been known to take liberties with the Bard’s poetry. If I believe that a point can be made more strongly by changing a nuance here or there – nothing big, you understand, but maybe toying with the punctuation or the odd pronoun – I don’t hesitate to make those changes. Let me defend this position:
Much of Burns’ work I view as a living, breathing organism, which he was only too happy to edit himself. Now I know I don’t hold a mandate from the man himself, but I feel so engaged with his poetry and song that sometimes it feels right to ‘improve’ slightly. Not very scholarly, I know, but then the majority of my readings are not with a scholarly aim in mind, rather to entertain, which I believe to be the prime directive of all Burns’ work.
It is always with some trepidation, therefore, that I engage in speaking competitions. Many Burnsians are terribly keen that the ‘words’ are stringently adhered to and indeed there must be some criteria on which the competitors are adjudged. There was a larger and stronger field at this year’s competition and I believe at least three were absolutely exact to the last letter. For myself, I am aware that there were one or two lapses and I am therefore delighted that this notwithstanding the judging panel viewed my performance as strong enough to win through.
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