Today we are celebrating World Mental Health Day
In this talk, Dr Moira Hansen will explore Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, from the perspective of his mental health. She’ll look at how periods of disordered mood impacted his life, influencing his work and his relationships. She’ll also examine some of the ways he coped with and made sense of these experiences, through the support of friends and the outlet of his poetic creativity, offering a new insight into the genius of one of Scotland’s most famous citizens.
Dr Moira Hansen is an Associate Lecturer in English with The Open University. She was awarded her PhD in Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow in 2020 for a thesis which explored physical and mental health in the life and work of Robert Burns. As well as her teaching, she is now busy exploring her own research interests into the connections between 18th century medical practices, mental health and creativity. She is also currently Reviews Editor of the Burns Chronicle and Executive Secretary of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society.
'The Picture of thy mind’: Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Writings of Robert Burns