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When his father
died in 1784, Robert and his brother became partners in the
farm. However, Robert was more interested in the romantic
nature of poetry than the arduous graft of ploughing and,
having had some misadventures with the ladies (resulting in
several illegitimate children, including twins to the woman
who would become his wife, Jean Armour), he planned to escape
to the safer, sunnier climes of the West Indies.
However,
at the point of abandoning farming, his first collection "Poems-
Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect - Kilmarnock Edition"
(a set of poems essentially based on a broken love affair),
was published and received much critical acclaim. This, together
with pride of parenthood, made him stay in Scotland. He moved
around the country, eventually arriving in Edinburgh, where
he mingled in the illustrious circles of the artists and writers
who were agog at the "Ploughman Poet."
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