The difference between Scotland and England is that Scotland is educated while England, relatively, is not. All creative artists, literary, dramatic, musical ,graphic, are aware that Scotland is keener than England on the phenomena of art. The theatre and concert audiences of Glasgow and Edinburgh are far more alert than any London audience. I remember once being present at a performance of one of my own plays in Glasgow. The audience was unique in my long experience. It took every point. It saw jokes which have never been seen either before or since by a living soul - except myself. In England it has occasionally been my experience to be present when an audience has seen none of my jokes at all. A chastening experience for your correspondent.
True, Scotland has but one great poet. And she has made the most of him. Whereas England has about forty great poets, including the greatest in the world, and she has made the least of them. There is no recipe for emptying a West End theatre more efficacious than the mere name of Shakespeare.So, to Burns. For myself, I had reached quite a mature age before the notion of casting a casual English eye upon Burns occurred to me. I confess that Burns bowled me over completely. For weeks I kept saying: "This man stands alone!" And so he does - almost. What mighty inspiration, what free-flowing lyricism, what wit, what humour, what satire, what nerve, what reckless and abounding vivacity, what sheer resourceful skill. It is rather surprising that a poet so great should not have burst the borders of a country so small, and flooded England even unto Stratford-on-Avon. Hadrian must have built his wall in prophetic mood.
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