Poetic Architecture of Robert Adam: Burns’s ‘The Brigs of Ayr’

Abstract

This article investigates the discourse on architecture in the poem’s flyting dialogue to explain Burns’s humour directed at the culture and style of architecture (Neoclassic and Gothic) surrounding Robert Adam, famous Scottish architect, who was commissioned to design the New Bridge of Ayr. Concepts of ‘Tradition’ and ‘Modernity,’ apply not only to the Auld Brig and New Brig but also to Auld Ayr’s historic town and seaport and to Adam’s modern bridge with narrow roads fronting the harbour.