Podcast: Hector MacQueen talks Burns and Clarinda
Reading time: 1 minute
Professor Hector MacQueen
In 1787 Robert Burns met the woman who may have been the great love of his life.
Her name was Agnes Maclehose and she was already married, though separated, ensuring that this liaison would be scandalous in all respects.
The lovers adopted pen names to write to each other, Sylvander and Clarinda, and Burns finally said his poetic farewell to Clarinda in a poem that remains a popular song today, Ae Fond Kiss. But the letters turned up in court in 1804. Burns had died; Clarinda was alive, and vulnerable, as ever, to scandal.
Her uncle was among the judges hearing the matter. Professor Hector MacQueen, appearing on the Woman of Culture podcast, brings this passionate and dramatic story to life, explaining how he came to be fascinated by this timeless romance, and by the legal case that ultimately followed.
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