Like other works in the first series of English Men of Letters, Shairp's 1879 biography of Robert Burns (1759 96) is a work of both history and literary criticism that can be used as an entry point to a wider study of its subject. Literary scholar John Campbell Shairp (1819 85) was born in Linlithgowshire and educated at Oxford. His publications include the essay collection Culture and Religion (1870) and Studies in Poetry and Philosophy (1868), both of which ran to multiple editions. In 1877 he was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and held that chair in conjunction with the...
Like other works in the first series of English Men of Letters, Shairp's 1879 biography of Robert Burns (1759 96) is a work of both history and litera...