The Ploughman Poet

... should not be confused with the [Northamptonshire] Peasant Poet – John Clare (1793–1864).

Wikipedia gives "the Ploughman Poet" as one of many epithets by which Burns is known, along with "the National Bard, Bard of Ayrshire, ..., Scotland's favourite son, Robden of Solway Firth, and simply the Bard". It also mentions "Rabbie Burns" – although this, surely, is simply an informal Scots rendition of his actual name.

Wikipedia notes that "the Edinburgh literati" coined the term "heaven–taught ploughman" as part of their efforts to "sentimentalise Burns[, both] during his life and after his death, dismissing his education".

Burns was born into an impoverished farming family, and mainly schooled at home. His father had aspirations, however, and strove to give his seven children (of whom Robert was the eldest) the best education he could. According to Britannica, it was "once he began to be recognised for his poetry" (i.e. during his lifetime) that Burns became known as the Ploughman Poet.

In 1786, at the age of 27, Burns borrowed a pony and rode to Edinburgh, where he stayed for a little over a year. He was a great hit with literary society in the capital, and sold several volumes of poetry for handsome amounts. On returning to Ayrshire he took a lease on a farm, but ironically he was no more successful as a farmer than his father. In 1789 he took a job with the local Customs & Excise, and two years later he gave up the farm. He continued to write poetry, but his health deteriorated and he died in 1796, aged just 37.

Burns fathered twelve children, five of whom survived to adulthood. In 2019 he was said to have over 900 living descendants.