Robert Burns (1759-1796) the best-loved Scottish poet, is known not only for his verse and great love songs, but for his character, high spirits, hard drinking, womanizing and anti-church rhetoric. He came to fame as a poet at the age of 27. The son of a farmer, he was born in a cottage in Alloway in Ayr. In 1787 the first of his poems was published. He died when only 37, from rheumatic fever and will not be forgotten. His poems and songs are as popular today in Scotland as they were when they were written.