Tam O'Shanter is Robert Burns' longest poem and is often cited as an excellent example of the narrative poem genre. The poem was written in 1790 and first appeared in Edinburgh Magazine in March of 1791. The poem also appeared in Francis Grose's Antiquities of Scotland which it was written for. Burns contributed three stories of witches to the volume of which Tam O'Shanter was one. Burns supposedly wrote the work in one day, but did mention in various letters that he subsequently edited it.
The poem Tam O'Shanter describes a night of drinking and carousing that ends with Tam witnessing the devil and assorted witches and demons cavorting around Alloway Kirk in Ayrshire. He is discovered and chased by the witches. He manages to escape when his horse reaches the Doon River. However, the witches caught up enough that they managed to grab the horse's tail, which came clean off. In his essay The Narrator of Tam O'Shanter, John C. Weston called the poem "a comic vision of the world torn between the pleasure of drink, camaraderie, song, dance, and sex on the one hand and Calvinistic duty, respectability, and restraint on the other." He also calls the poem "a burlesque of Burns' divided self."
In 1812, George Gleig, in his book A Critique of the Poems of Robert Burns, said the poem "combines the comic archness of (Matthew) Prior with the terrific subliminity of Shakespeare."
The protagonist of the poem is said to be based on Thomas Reid, a man who was employed by the poet's father William Burness when Robert Burns was born. Thomas left around the time Robert began working on the farm as a plough boy. He eventually inherited the Shanter family farm which failed. Thomas then became a drunkard and a carouser who opened his own pub on the banks of the Doon River, the river mentioned in Tam O'Shanter.
Tam O'Shanter is definitely one of Burns' greatest accomplishments in the field of poetry and it stands alongside the works of the great narrative poets throughout history. It also captures the divided feelings of many Scots of the time about the Church, including Burns himself.
So, be sure to get comfortable, grab your favourite beverage and read Tam O'Shanter at Robert Burns Country. I hope you will find it as wonderful as I do.
