Tag Archives: James Barke

The Song in the Green Thorn Tree by James Barke

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The Song in the Green Thorn Tree by James Barke was first published in 1947. It’s the second book in a four book series about the life of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.

At the end of the  first book The Wind that Shakes the Barley, William Burns, father of Robert and his many siblings  has died, really from overwork and poverty. Robert and his elder brother Gilbert have decided to take on another farm as tenants. They think that with hard work which they aren’t afraid of they can improve the soil and drain the land which will make it a good paying farm but in reality Mossgiel turns out to be just as bad a farm as the one that had killed their father, with thin and stony soil.  They’ve made exactly the same mistake that their father did. Mossgiel isn’t far from the village of Mauchline – or Machlin as for some reason it is named in the book.

Robert is soon introduced to the ‘howffs’ of Machline and although he’s not a massive drinker he enjpys the cameraderie of the places, especially Poosie Nansies which is frequented by the tinkers and lower classes. He’s drawn to the place as there’s always so much noise coming from it, fun laughter and singing.  It’s the songs that Robert is most interested in and he collects tunes and songs that otherwise would have been lost forever, songs which are still sung nowadays.

There’s no doubt that this was a formative period for Burns with his poems coming thick and fast. This was probbaly because he was immersing himself in the company of the young women of the neighbourhood, and they inspired him to write poems to them. But I think he had impregnated three women at this time, within a year – or was it four women? Anyway he was on the ‘cutty stool’ in the church, being berated by the minister for his shameless fornicating.

At the end of this book Burns is getting ready to sail for Jamaica where he has the promise of a job as a bookeeper, and he’s going to take his latest squeeze with him who is of course pregnant. At the last minute he gets a reprieve with the printing of his poetry in a book becoming popular and selling out,  and his friends think that he’ll be a star in Edinburgh.

I wasn’t at all sure about reading this series but I’m really enjoying them.

 

 

 

The Wind That Shakes the Barley by James Barke – Burns Day

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The Wind That Shakes the Barley by James Barke was first published in 1945 and it’s a fictional account of the early years of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.

His father William Burns has moved to the village of Alloway (an incomer) and built with his own hands the small cottage that we now think of as Burns Cottage, despite not being a builder. He intended to farm in a small way, and when he has finished the building he brings Agnes Brown to view it, she’s happy with it and they decide to marry. It’s a much tougher life than either of them would have thought, although William is a hard worker the soil is poor, stony and boggy, and it’s difficult to earn enough money to pay the rent to the landowner, never mind to feed and clothe the children that are born to them. William wants his sons to have an education so for a few years he determinedly pays for them to be tutored.

But that ambition falls by the wayside as money becomes tighter and the eldest son Gilbert and Robert are used to pull the plough, like animals, despite having little in the way of nourishment and strength.

William Burns is an Old Light (Auld Licht) Presbyterian, very strict in his religion, so by rights his God should smile on him, but things just get worse over the years. To make matters worse William realises that his second son Robert (Robin as they call him) has an eye for the girls, William’s not happy about it, and neither is Agnes. But Robert is always after the local girls, in love as he thinks but really in lust. His first illegitimate child arrives, but marriage was never on the cards. This book ends with the death of William, haunted by worries to the end.

This book was loved by readers at the time, but apparently the Burns scholars/fans of the day were not at all happy with it.  It’s well-written for the most part but at times it is  a bit clunky, particularly the love scenes. I was surprised that there’s not all that much in the way of description of Alloway and its surrroundings. We visited a few years ago and I was struck by how scenic and pretty the place is, it isn’t more to the fore, it’s described as a miserable area.

Most of the book is written in plain English but occasionaly it’s written in the Ayrshire dialect, which is probably a bit challenging for some people. I really liked this one which is the first in a four book series by the author. I read it to celebrate Robert Burns’s birthday, he was born on the 25th of January 1759.

You can see some of the photos that I took here when we visited Alloway a couple of years ago.