In his short life, Robert Burns gained widespread admiration for his poetry but what career would he have chosen if he was around today?
Scotland’s creative industries are thriving with a broad range of job roles on offer from sound engineers to make-up artists.
Like many creatives, both today and in the 18th Century, Burns often had to earn a living doing things other than writing poetry. Did you know that Robert Burns worked as a farmer, labourer and perhaps more surprisingly, a tax collector?
We’ve put together a list of jobs that we think would have suited Robert Burns more. Most of these jobs fall within the creative industries, while others would have appealed to Burns’s egalitarian spirit. Check out these jobs if you too possess a creative soul.
Online journalist
Much of Burns’s poetry concerned issues of class inequality and poverty. He was also an opponent of slavery. As a social commentator, Burns would have made a natural journalist and as a blogger or regular Twitter user he would have found an immediate platform for his commentary.
Musician
Burns was a lyric poet and as well as making original compositions, he also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. If Burns were alive today he may have turned his pen to writing the kind of wryly humorous and darkly romantic songs some Scottish Indie bands are known for.
Politician or political activist
Many of Burns’s poems relate to Scottish patriotism and republicanism. His poem ‘Scots Wha Hae’ is considered by some as a covert battle cry for the Radical movement that existed in Scotland at the time. If Burns were alive today he might have wanted to address similar issues by working as a politician or political activist.
University lecturer
Burns refused to be put forward for the newly created Chair of Agriculture at the University of Edinburgh. However, many other famous poets have worked at universities as lecturers and writers in residence.
Advertising copywriter
Some might object to the suggestion that Rabbie Burns would have wanted to write advertising slogans. However, given his talent for writing and ability to capture the national psyche, he may very well have made an excellent Don Draper from Mad Men. To say nothing of their shared love of women…
Want to work in a creative job? Find out more about the creative industries.
