Scotland's favourite Scots language poems have been revealed ahead of World Poetry Day this week.
With Wednesday marking the yearly event, VisitScotland surveyed 1,000 Scottish adults to uncover precisely which Scots poems are their favourites.
According to the results, ‘To a Mouse’ by Robert Burns is the nation's favourite Scots language poem, with 22 per cent of respondents declaring it their top choice. The poem was first penned in 1785, and concerns a mouse whose nest is ploughed by a farmer (who may be Burns himself).
Overall, Burns wrote seven out of the top 10 favourite Scots language poems identified in the research. Tam O'Shanter, A Red, Red Rose, and Address to the Haggis—all by Burns—round out the top five, receiving 21 per cent, 11 per cent, and nine per cent of the vote respectively.
The research also looked into the Scots language itself, which remains the most widely spoken minority language in the UK. According to the 2011 census, it has 1.5 million speakers despite not being standardised.
The study revealed that 86 per cent of respondents stated they have fond memories of learning Scots poems at school, with 91 per cent saying that they could read and listen to Scots poems and understand what most of the words mean.
World Poetry Day will be held on March 21. The event, which was declared by UNESCO in 1999, supports "linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard".
The nation's favourite Scots language poems
- To a Mouse by Robert Burns – 22%
- Tam O'Shanter by Robert Burns - 21%
- A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns - 11%
- Address to the Haggis by Robert Burns - 9%
- A Man’s a Man for a’ That by Robert Burns - 6%
- The Sair Finger by Walter Wingate - 4%
- A Dug, A Dug by Billy Keys - 4%
- To a Louse by Robert Burns - 3%
- Willie Wastle by Robert Burns - 2%
- The Crocodile by J. K. Annand - 2%
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