SOURCE: "The Christis Kirk Tradition: Its Evolution in Scots Poetry to Burns, Part IV," in Studies in Scottish Literature, Vol. II, No. 4, April, 1965, pp. 234-50.

[In the following excerpt, MacLaine analyzes Burns's use of the Christis Kirk genre, which he describes as a "distinctively Scottish genre … [which] well demonstrates [Burns's] ability to make distinguished poetry out of the most ordinary stuff of life."]

It would seem almost inevitable that Burns, ardent student of Scots poetry that he was, would sooner or later try his hand at the Christis Kirk genre. As a matter of fact, he produced six substantial poems more or less closely related to the genre, a group of poems which, taken together, represent the last brilliant flowering and culmination of the Christis Kirk tradition. These poems were all composed in the years 1785 and 1786, the period of Burns's greatest creativity, as follows: "A Mauchline Wedding" (August, 1785), "Hallowe'en" (November, 1785), "The Jolly Beggars" (ca. November, 1785), "The Ordination" (ca. November, 1785), "The Holy Fair" (autumn, 1785), and "A Dream" (June, 1786). Three of these, "A Mauchline Wedding," "The Ordination," and "A Dream," may be treated briefly.

"Mauchline Wedding" seems to have been Burns's earliest experiment in the Christis Kirk genre. He enclosed the manuscript of this fragment in a letter to Mrs. Dunlop of August 21, 1788, but the piece was almost certainly composed in August of 1785, at the time of the actual wedding which it portrays. Slight though it is, "A Mauchline Wedding" is of considerable interest as a very early example of Burns's developing satiric style which was shortly to flower in masterpieces like "Holy Willie's Prayer." The poem is a burlesque description, mildly bawdy and high-spirited, of a local wedding in Burns's own country town of Mauchline. Written in the traditional stanza form, "A Mauchline Wedding" strikes the reader as a hastily written occasional piece, not intended for publication, but nevertheless marked by Burns's characteristic skill and vitality. Both in subject matter and form it obviously belongs to the Christis Kirk genre, and is even more closely tied into the tradition by the fact that Burns echoes passages in all three of the Christis Kirk poems of Fergusson. The opening lines of Burns's first two stanzas, for example, read as follows:

These lines are clearly similar in conception to the corresponding lines in the first two stanzas of Fergusson's Hallow-fair:

A picture of girls rising earlier than usual on a festive day also appears in stanza six of Leith Races. Much more conclusive than these passages, however, are the final lines of "A Mauchline Wedding," depicting the emergence of the bride's father:

Here Burns is unmistakably recalling the sparkling second stanza of Fergusson's The Election:

There can be no doubt about these verbal parallels, which clearly show that Burns, in this first casual attempt, was writing not only within the general limits of the tradition but also in direct imitation of Fergusson's masterpieces in this genre.

"The Ordination" is a daring satire on Ayrshire church politics. In general, it is concerned with the struggle within the Kirk between the rigidly orthodox Calvinists or "Auld Lichts" and the Moderates or "New Lichts," Burns, of course, favoring the latter. More specifically, the poem was occasioned by the presentation of James Mackinlay, a staunch "Auld Licht," to the Laigh Kirk in Kilmarnock, where he succeeds a series of Moderates and where he will be counted on by the orthodox, including Russell (a fellow minister in Kilmarnock), to extirpate the former heresies and restore the pure faith. Burns's method of attack in "The Ordination" is to write an ironic celebration of this victory of orthodoxy. He portrays, with mock approbation, the vulgar, gloating triumph of the "Auld Lichts" in such a way as to make them appear as repulsive and ridiculous as possible. He makes his poem read like a wild, bacchanalian celebration, and uses the swinging folksy rhythm of the Christis Kirk stanza, with conscious irony, to depict this theological victory over "common sense."

"The Ordination" lacks the kind of universal significance which has made "Holy Willie's Prayer" (also written on a local and ephemeral issue) one of the classic satires of all time. The poem is not great, but is very effective as far as it goes; and it remains quite readable today. Burns's satiric method here is a brilliant conception in itself, the product of a shrewd and powerful intellect, and serves the author's purpose admirably. One could scarcely think of a better way of ridiculing the "Auld Lichts" on this occasion. Burns here uses Ramsay's form of the Christis Kirk stanza, but he manipulates it deftly to suit the special effects he intends, using feminine rimes in the trimeter lines throughout to reinforce the tone of witty mockery. The execution of the poem as a whole is, in fact, masterly and highly original. This hard-hitting satire represents, indeed, a bold new departure in the Christis Kirk tradition, which is here for the first time adapted as a vehicle for an attack on local church politics, an extension of the genre which was probably suggested to Burns by Fergusson's success with The Election, a political satire.

"A Dream," the other political piece which Burns composed in the Christis Kirk stanza, is less successful than "The Ordination" and deserves only cursory comment. Apart from meter, "A Dream" bears little resemblance to the Christis Kirk type. It is really a monologue in which the poet addresses in a dream King George III and other members of the royal family at the birthday levee of June, 1786. The poet's remarks are not in the best taste, combining some rather forced expressions of respect and good wishes with condescending advice and unpleasantly familiar comments on the King's family. Stanza 5, in an admonishing vein, will illustrate the general tone:

Burns, of course, handles the Christis Kirk meter here with his usual skill and vigor (note the feminine rimes as in "The Ordination"); but the poem as a whole fails to ring true.

"Hallowe'en," Burns's second poem in the Christis Kirk genre, was written about November, 1785. This is a very ambitious piece, Burns's longest work in the Christis Kirk stanza, and was, as might be expected in an early attempt, strongly affected by the work of both Ramsay and Fergusson, though the immediate suggestion came from Mayne's Hallowe'en. Fergusson's influence shows up in Burns's use of four rimes in the octave, a modification of the traditional stanza which, as we have seen, was introduced by the Edinburgh poet. There are, moreover, one or two verbal echoes of Fergusson in the poem. But although Fergusson was undoubtedly the model for the skillful technique of the poem, Ramsay's influence on its content was decisive and unfortunate. We have noticed in Ramsay's sequels to Christis Kirk on the Green the antiquarian emphasis and the introduction of old-fashioned marriage customs, such as the "bedding" of the bride, the "creeling" of the groom, and "riding the stang." In "Hallowe'en" Burns builds his entire poem around the Ayrshire folk customs connected with this festival. As a result, "Hallowe'en" is a paradise for the folklorist, but rather a bore for the lover of poetry. Burns crams his twenty-eight stanzas with Hallowe'en superstitions recorded one after another. This self-conscious antiquarianism makes his description of a merry gathering of country folk on this night seem unnatural and forced; the characters are inadequately sketched and are made to go through a long series of superstitious rites. They do virtually nothing else in the poem. Burns simply puts them through their Hallowe'en paces, failing to render a really convincing impression of what such a celebration must have been like. Many of the customs he describes, morover, are very much of a kind and become monotonous. That Burns was fully aware of the studied antiquarianism of his poem is clear from his own foreword: "The passion of prying into Futurity makes a striking part of the history of Human Nature in its rude state, in all ages and nations; and it may be some entertainment to the philosophical mind, if any such should honour the Author with a perusal, to see the remains of it, among the more enlightened in our own." Since the poet had this objective in mind, it is no wonder that "Hallowe'en" gives the impression not so much of an actual party at which Burns had been present, but rather of an artificial conglomeration of all the Hallowe'en rites he had ever observed or heard about. And many of the customs he describes are of so specialized and local a nature that they are apt to be entirely lost on the general reader. Take, for example, stanza 4:

Burns apparently realized that such a stanza would be utterly unintelligible to many readers, and he was therefore obliged to prepare an elaborate set of notes to explain his poem to the uninitiated. His explanatory note on the stanza cited above, for instance, is much longer than the stanza itself.

It is unfortunate that Burns insisted on packing this poem with folklore, for in many respects "Hallowe'en" is an excellent piece of work. It is, of course, strictly within the Christis Kirk tradition, embodying most of the characteristics of the genre. We have here the typical peasant celebration as the subject, the use of dialogue, the frequent transitions, the satire of cowardice, the lighting up of individual characters and incidents, the broadly humorous treatment, and the point of view of the amused spectator. Notwithstanding the touches of genial satire, Burns's attitude toward the superstitious country folk in the poem is, of course, wholly sympathetic.

"Hallowe'en" is of further interest for its experimental technique. Burns takes the hint from Fergusson not only in his use of Fergusson's four-time octave, but also in his attempt at internal rime. We have noted that Fergusson introduced internal rimes sparingly and judiciously, once in Hallow-fair (stanza 2) and once in Leith Races 8). Burns in "Hallowe'en" tries this technique on a more ambitious scale, working internal rimes into the tetrameter lines throughout stanza 1, and in the first quatrains of stanzas 3 and 6. After stanza 6, he wisely gives up the attempt. In these passages Burns seems to be exercising his technical virtuosity for its own sake, without a sound artistic reason. Consequently, the internal riming in stanzas 1 and 3 appears heavy and forced. In stanza 6, however, where the internal rimes do not interfere with the natural development of the thought, he achieves a pleasing effect:

Despite this largely unsuccessful experiment with internal rime, "Hallowe'en" is, on the whole, brilliantly executed. The rhythm and movement of the poem are brisk and spirited; Burns handles the complex verse form with accomplished skill. As Ramsay and Fergusson had done before him, Burns frequently changes the pace of his stanzas by using feminine endings in the trimeter lines of a whole stanza or the second quatrain of a stanza. This device tends to vary the tempo and is often quite effective. In view of this fine craftsmanship, "Hallowe'en" might have been a first-rate poem had Burns been less self-conscious in the handling of his folk materials.

We come finally to two of Burns's greatest masterpieces, "The Jolly Beggars" and "The Holy Fair." In the immense variety of its materials, the multiplicity of its sources, and in its dazzling synthesis of distinct poetic styles, "The Jolly Beggars" is certainly the richest and most complex of all Burns's works. This unique poem (there has never been anything quite like it before or since) has had its sources traced, its main features clarified, and its extraordinary appeal analyzed by a host of commentators, including [William E.] Henley and [T. F.] Henderson [in The Poetry of Robert Burns, 1896-97], who, in a now famous sentence, epitomized it perfectly as an "irresistible presentation of humanity caught in the act and summarized for ever in the terms of art." It is not my purpose here to launch into a full discussion of this many-sided "cantata," but only to demonstrate its connection with the Christis Kirk tradition. Surprisingly enough, this connection has been neglected in the numerous critiques of "The Jolly Beggars," except that the bare fact that three of the stanzas are in the Christis Kirk form is usually mentioned. But the relationship to the genre is much closer, as I will try to show.

Let us look first at the verse forms of "The Jolly Beggars." Burns, in this piece, employs a great variety of meters, including the pure Christis Kirk meter in the three stanzas mentioned above which comprise the seventh Recitativo, Here Burns uses Ramsay's two-rime octave, but replaces the "that day" refrain with "that night" in the bob line as he had done in "Hallowe'en." The influence of the Christis Kirk meter, however, extends beyond this single passage. In addition, there are three other stanzas in the Recitativo sections which are in the Christis Kirk form without the final tag line: the single stanza of the second Recitativo (Ramsay's two-rime octave), and the two stanzas of the sixth Recitativo (Fergusson's four-rime octave). Taking all six stanzas together, we find that nearly half of the total lines of the Recitativo sections are in the Christis Kirk stanza or in a modified form thereof. Finally, the caird's song is also in this stanza, without the bob but with the internal rimes in the tetrameter lines which Burns had experimented with in "Hallowe'en." Altogether, some sixty-seven lines of "The Jolly Beggars" are in the pure or modified Christis Kirk stanza, a total which makes it by far the most important verse form in the poem, the Cherrie and the Slae stanza being second with forty-two lines. The full significance of this metrical influence from the Christis Kirk tradition upon "The Jolly Beggars" has never been recognized.

Secondly, I am convinced that Burns's careful study of the Christis Kirk poems had much to do with the original conception of "The Jolly Beggars" and with the handling of the materials in the poem. The obvious and immediate sources of the poem are, of course, well known. First of all, there was the beggar theme, which came to Burns from his keen observation of real beggars about the Ayrshire countryside and also, undoubtedly, from his reading of parts of the vast literature about beggars, a literature which had its roots deep in the medieval past. Burns certainly knew several specimens of this beggar-poetry, including The Gaberlunzie-Man and Jolly Beggar, ascribed to King James V of Scotland; The Merry Beggars and The Happy Beggars in Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany; and Gay's Beggar's Opera. As for his "cantata" form, Burns clearly got the idea for this from The Merry Beggars (which, incidentally, he echoes in several phrases of his poem), and from Ramsay's worthless effort, A Scots Cantata, with probably additional suggestions from Gay and from Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd. But in putting his beggar theme and cantata form together, Burns had another large body of poetry to draw upon—the Christis Kirk tradition. Burns had in the Christis Kirk poems, which he knew intimately and had already followed in "A Mauchline Wedding" and "Hallowe'en," a wealth of precedent for an ambitious and artistic poem of social description. In these poems he had observed descriptions of boisterous lower class celebrations, presented within a narrative framework and interspersed with dialogue. In "The Jolly Beggars" the cantata scheme required formal songs, which take the place of dialogue; but, except for dialogue, most of the ingredients of the Christis Kirk formula are there. We have the usual opening stanza, setting the season and the scene, and then move swiftly into the first brilliant little vignette, that of the "sodger" and his "tozie drab." In "The Jolly Beggars" as in all of the Christis Kirk poems, the technique is to light up an individual character (or group of characters) picked out from the general confusion of the celebration, show him in action, and then go on quickly to the next and the next. Through this highlighting of specific details, a vivid impression of the whole is achieved. A study of the Recitativo sections of "The Jolly Beggars" reveals that Burns here uses precisely the same kind of brief characterization, rapid transition, rollicking tempo, and broad humor which we have observed as typical of the Christis Kirk genre. The drunkenness, the horseplay, the tolerant satire are here, too, and the point of view of the superior and detached spectator. (It should be noted, though, that Burns's detachment is not complete: he seems at times to be putting his own sentiments into the beggars' mouths.)

Although there is no evidence that Burns had any particular Christis Kirk poem in mind when he wrote "The Jolly Beggars," the general influence of the Christis Kirk genre that he knew so well is, I think, undeniable. It is true that Burns found suggestions for his theme, his cantata form, and for specific details elsewhere; and it is equally obvious that there are many elements in this rich and complex poem that have nothing to do with the Christis Kirk tradition. Nevertheless, in view of the broad general resemblances noted above, it seems clear that in his overall conception of "The Jolly Beggars" and in his handling of the Recitativo sections Burns had his favorite Christis Kirk poems in mind and followed their traditional pattern as far as his cantata form would allow. The fact that he uses the Christis Kirk stanza more than any other verse form in the poem supports this position. In short, the Christis Kirk tradition is an important part of the background of "The Jolly Beggars;" and "The Jolly Beggars," uniquely different though it is, may legitimately be considered as part of the Christis Kirk tradition.

Apart from the trivial "Dream" (June, 1786), "The Holy Fair" was Burns's final effort in the Christis Kirk genre; and this magnificent poem makes a fitting culmination of the ancient tradition. "The Holy Fair" is a socio-religious satire, happily combining the familiar type of satiric social description with the new kind of anti-clerical religious satire on local themes that Burns had already tried in "The Ordination" and other works. The poem falls strictly within the Christis Kirk pattern, being in the traditional stanza, dealing with a rural celebration, and having all the other distinctive features of the genre. It describes a "Holy Fair" in Burns's village of Mauchline, an important religious occasion on which congregations from several parishes gathered together to hear their various ministers preach in turn. That most of the folk who came to this religious festival also took advantage of the opportunity for some hearty socializing is made delightfully clear in the poem.

In writing "The Holy Fair" Burns leaned heavily on earlier Christis Kirk poems, especially on Fergusson's Hallow-fair and Leith Races, though there are also a few verbal echoes from elsewhere. But the vital stimulating influence behind "The Holy Fair" was unquestionably Fergusson. Burns here uses the four-rime octave of Hallow-fair and Leith Races once again, and, significantly, parallels Fergusson's opening references to the season:

Hallow-fair provided Burns with several other scattered suggestions, including his opening description of sunrise ("The rising sun, owre Galston Muirs, / Wi' glorious light was glintin"), which follows Fergusson's ("Upo' the tap o' ilka lum / The sun began to keek"). Similarly, Burns's portrait of country farmers coming into the fair ("Here farmers gash, in ridin graith") parallels Hallow-fair ("Here country John in bannet blue"), while his reference to Sunday clothes ("'I'll get my Sunday's sark on'") echoes the same poem ("And eke his Sunday's claise on"). But more important than these incidental suggestions from Hallow-fair was Burns's imitation of the entire opening section of Leith Races. Burns takes over Fergusson's introductory machinery, transforming his "Mirth" into "Fun" and adding two extra mythological figures, "Superstition" and "Hyprocrisy." The two poems parallel each other with extraordinary closeness in these opening stanzas. Burns's "Fun" performs precisely the same function in the poem as her counterpart in Leith Races: she is a fresh and jolly girl who offers to accompany the poet to the fair for the fun of observing and laughing at the sights to be seen there, especially the antics of Superstition and Hypocrisy:

Moreover, as in Leith Races Burns's "Fun" sets the tone of light-hearted observation and tolerant satire which prevails throughout the poem. It should be noted further that, in addition to incorporating Fergusson's introductory method, Burns also follows in a general way the structure of Leith Races: after the mythological introduction, Burns portrays the various folk on their way to the fair, then the activities at the fair itself, and finally the aftermath. Burns's final stanza, incidentally, resembles in content the last stanza of Leith Races and, more closely, the ending of Ramsay's Christis Kirk, Canto II. These extensive borrowings from Fergusson and others in "The Holy Fair" are significant in showing that in this poem Burns was fully aware of the tradition in which he was writing and was consciously modeling his work on earlier masterpieces in the Christis Kirk genre.

Yet in spite of the fact that Burns here followed the traditional pattern in a general way, that he borrowed machinery and other suggestions from Fergusson and elsewhere, "The Holy Fair" remains inimitably Burns's own—a fresh, daring, and original piece of work. In "The Holy Fair" Burns recreates the age-old Christis Kirk tradition in terms of his own experience and special purposes; and he does so with superb artistry. Perhaps the most important feature of the poem, which sets it apart and makes it a different experience, is its mixture of religious and secular satire, its delightful emphasis on the paradoxes and incongruities emerging from the intensely human scene at the fair.

Notice the gay mockery of the Calvinist doctrine of Election implicit in the phrase "a chosen swatch." The whole poem is, in fact, brilliantly organized to show this glaring contrast between the ostensible religious purpose of the fair and the boisterous and throughly irreverent activities which go on there. Burns focuses attention in one stanza on the pulpit where the preachers are thundering out hell-fire sermons, and in the next stanza on the crowd of country folk round about, many of whom are thoroughly enjoying themselves, eating, drinking, gossiping, napping, and making love, utterly uninhibited by the sound of the preacher's voice bringing "tidings o' damnation." The poem flashes back and forth, illuminating the religious and social aspects of the fair in turn, as Burns makes hilarious fun of the different preachers and lights up humorous scenes in the crowd with breathtaking verve and rapidity. The final stanza, where the poet comments on secular love-making and drinking in terms of the theological jargon of the preachers, brilliantly sums up the point of the whole poem:

The fact that "The Holy Fair" is based on this two-fold satiric theme and skillfully arranged to illustrate a single, fundamental contrast gives it firmer structure, more clearcut direction, sharper emphasis, and more profound significance than either Hallow-fair or Leith Races, or, for that matter, any other of its predecessors in the pure Christis Kirk tradition. And the execution of the poem is equally brilliant. Burns had learned much from his study of the fine craftsmanship of Fergusson, and here he surpasses the Edinburgh poet in the incisive force and incomparable expressiveness of his style. "The Holy Fair" is an almost faultless poem, bursting with vitality, rich in its texture, delightful in its humor—every stanza a work of art. Take, for example, Burns's uproariously comic portrait of the preacher Moodie:

"The Holy Fair" is certainly one of Burns's very greatest performances, and it is also, in my opinion, the most perfect single poem in the long history of the Christis Kirk tradition.

It should be clear from what has been said above that Burns, in his Christis Kirk poems, followed the lead of Fergusson in making the genre a vehicle for social criticism, for the treatment of local and contemporary issues. But Burns went farther than Fergusson in this direction, treating political questions ("A Dream"), for example, even more specifically than Fergusson had done, and extending the subject matter of the genre in "The Ordination" and "The Holy Fair" to include religious satire. Additionally, in "The Jolly Beggars" he used the genre to expound revolutionary social ideas. Only in "Hallowe'en" does he hark back to a kind of Ramsayesque antiquarianism. Before Burns, all of the Christis Kirk poems (even Fergusson's) had been intended almost exclusively as entertainment; most of them were seasoned with good-natured social satire, it is true; but by and large they were meant only to delight and amuse the educated classes. Burns was the only poet to employ this ancient poetic tradition to attack what might be called "burning questions" of the day. His treatment is always, of course, comic in mood; but its implications are serious and pointed to an extent unapproached by any of the earlier practitioners in the genre with the possible exception of Fergusson in The Election. We find, then, a new kind of emphasis which gives Burns's poems added significance and power, a kind of undertone of vitality and passionate interest. Burns gives us something more than robust humor and whimsical observation. And in doing this as brilliantly as he has—at least in his three best poems in the genre, "The Ordination" "The Jolly Beggars," and "The Holy Fair"—Burns added a new dimension to the whole Christis Kirk tradition….