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My Heart's in the Highlands is a 1789 Scottish song and poem by Robert Burns. At this time, Burns lives and works on the Ellisland farm. In this picturesque foothill area, he built a house and ran his own farm, but all this was financially disadvantageous, he was looking for work in the city and apparently just at the time of writing the poem he received an offer to become an excise tax collector in Dumfries. The poet was sorry to part with his favorite places, with the northern nature, which he subtly felt and loved very much, and on this subject he wrote this poem. Burns’s homeland and nature are enlightened together in an enlightening manner, since this is not about specific historical and political instances, but about the eternal, “natural” lifestyle of a mountain Scotsman, not affected by modern trends. In the original, it is not just about the “mountains”, but about the Highlands – the northern, mountainous, “prehistoric” part of Scotland. In the minds of the Scotsman, Highlands is opposed to Lowlands – the southern, flat, more developed part of Scotland, both in agricultural and industrial relations. Although the south offers great opportunities, but the north is the birthplace of the lyrical hero, his heart has remained forever there.
