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Description: | In the introduction to this version of the poem in the Stair Manuscript, Burns confesses to it being his first, writing, 'It was completed when he was a few months more than his fifteenth year'. It tells of his love for Nell and describes all the features which Burns finds attractive in her.
In 1774 Burns was paired with a girl stooking corn sheaves in the harvest and fell in love. She was a farmers daughter Nell Kilpatrick from Dalrymple, who sang sweetly, a song written by a local Laird's son, and not to be outdone, especially by the gentry, Burns was provoked into writing a song for her, his first.
In the rest of the poem Burns continues to enumerate Nell's virtues, although she is indeed good looking Burns says that in itself would not make her the girl for him. It is that her looks are complimented by her neatness in dress and gentle manner but above all by her modest demeanor by which he is enchanted. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1774-01-01 - 1774-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Poem / song by Robert Burns: 'Handsome N | Go to resource |
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