English: Burns included this poem in a letter to Mrs. Dunlop in February 1788 (letter no 198) as a "jeu d'esprit" and goes on to describe Alexander Cunningham as a "despairing Lover" who had taken him to meet his girlfriend Anna, which had moved Burns to write this short appreciation. (poem no 192). Here Burns has copied them out on a later occasion on page 5 of this collection of poems.

A short poem of love and despair which Burns wrote after having been introduced to Anna the girlfriend of his friend Alexander Cunningham.

Burns was moved the following year to write to Cunningham when he read that Anna had jilted him and married an Edinburgh surgeon. He later had the poem published in a newspaper saying that the girl had forfeited her right to the verses remaining private by her unfaithfulness.

Date: February 1788 (when composed) What: Poem by Robert Burns "Anna thy charms" Subject: Who: Alexander Cunningham [c 1763-1812] (friend of Burns in Edinburgh) Robert Burns [1759-1796] (author)

Where: Scotland, Edinburgh (where composed) | NT 275 735