... it is his philosophy that 'fulfils great Nature's plan' (p. 140). In his preface, to the 1786 Kilmarnock edition of his poems, Burns says 'Unacquainted with the necessary requisites of commencing Poet by Rule, he sings the sentiments and manners, he felt and saw in himself and his rustic compeers around him, in his and their native language'1. This is a particularly important counterpoint in the cultivating of the bardic persona. Douglas Dunn says of Burns, 'he expresses his allegedly humble, local verse and stunted artistry in vigorous, virtuosic measures'2. These conflicting accounts illuminate the complexity of Burns's poetic power, veiled in apparent educational ineptitude, with none of the 'advantages of learned art' (p. 3). This veil of ignorance frees Burns from thematic censoring and being the 'Poet by Rule' or as Dunn also says, it allows Burns to convey an 'ironically subsumed indignation'3. Burns's use of structure, form ...

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