Scottish Lilies
Elizabeth Burns, a descendant of Robert Burns’s family, was educated in Edinburgh and studied English Language and Literature at the University of St Andrews. Her inspiration came from the earth and sky and ripples, spirals and reflections, themes that are reflected in one of her poem, “The Lilies”.
Elizabeth taught creative writing in Lancaster for the last 20 years of her life. She died in 2015, aged fifty-eight.
In October 2015, her poem “Spiral” was transformed into a huge banner and displayed on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to celebrate National Poetry Day. The poem was attached to scaffolding and, at 25 by eight metres, is believed to be the UK’s largest printed poem.