Scots-language literature his unfinished long poem, "Auld Reekie" (1773), dedicated to the life of the city. His borrowing from a variety of dialects prefigured the creation of Synthetic Scots in the twentieth century and he would be a major influence on Robert Burns. Burns (1759–1796), an Ayrshire poet and lyricist, is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and a major figure in the Romantic movement. As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of
Auld Lang Syne certainly derived from the same "old song". It is a fair supposition to attribute the rest of the poem to Burns himself. There is some doubt as to whether the melody used today is the same one Burns originally intended, but it is widely used in Scotland and in the rest of the world. Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Eve very quickly became a Scots custom that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots (not to mention English, Welsh and Irish people) emigrated around the world, they took the song with them. The