The motifs, patterns, and rhyme schemes of Burn’s poetry were ingrained in Lincoln’s mind, memorized by him as a youth in Indiana, and recited by him as an adult in New Salem and beyond. Much of Burns’s poetry deals with themes of poverty, enlightenment, independence, honesty, and the use of reason. At the 1895 annual banquet of the Washington, DC, Robert Burns club, Lincoln was asked to make a toast to the poet. He replied, “I cannot… I can say nothing worthy of his generous heart and transcending genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything which seems worth saying”

Michael J. Gerhardt “Lincoln’s Mentors”

Submitted by member, Clarke Ross